Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2026

12 MARCH-APRIL 2026 ASTRO PUBLISHING early galaxy formation. Nicknamed “Cloud-9,” this is the first confirmed detection of such an object in the Universe. The finding furthers the understanding of galaxy formation, the early Universe, and the nature of dark matter itself. “This is a tale of a failed galaxy,” said the pro- gramme’s principal investigator, Alejandro Benitez-Llambay of the Milano-Bicocca University in Milan, Italy. “In science, we usually learn more from the failures than from the successes. In this case, seeing no stars is what proves the theory right. It tells us that we have found in the local Universe a primordial build- ing block of a galaxy that hasn’t formed.” “This cloud is a window into the dark Universe,” explained team member Andrew Fox of AURA/ STScI for the European Space Agency. A team using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a new type of as- tronomical object —a starless, gas- rich, dark-matter cloud that is considered a “relic” or remnant of Hubble examines Cloud-9, first of new type of object by NASA/ESA Bethany Downer