Dwarf galaxies orbiting in a plane

Astronomers studying the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) have found that about 30 dwarf galaxies are orbiting in a single plane, rather than in unrelated orbits as expected.

For several decades, astronomers have used computer models to predict how dwarf galaxies should orbit large galaxies, and every time they found that dwarfs should be scattered randomly over the sky. Powered by supercomputers, these efforts have resulted in simulations of ever-increasing fidelity. None of these computer-created universes have generated dwarfs arranged in a revolving plane like that observed in Andromeda.

“It is very exciting for my work to reveal such a strange structure,” said Anthony Conn of Macquarie University, whose research proved key to this study. “It has left us scratching our heads as to what it means.”

(via The Zingularity)