The recent discovery was made using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), located in the natural valley of Dawodang in Binh Duong County, Quy Chau Province, China.
Also known as the “Tianyan” or “Heavenly Eye,” FAST is currently the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. One of its primary objectives is to search for neutral hydrogen atoms beyond the Milky Way.
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST).
Recently, an international team of researchers led by Dr. Cheng Cheng from the South America Center for Astronomy (CASSACA), Chinese Academy of Sciences, used FAST to observe four galaxies.
The results were highly promising, as they detected hydrogen gas streams in three of the galaxies, according to a report published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters. This marks the first time hydrogen has been detected beyond the Milky Way.
“By measuring neutral hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO), scientists can estimate the mass of galaxies from different perspectives and study the distribution of baryons [a form of subatomic particles] and dark matter,” explained Dr. Cheng, emphasizing the significance of the new discovery, as reported by CGTN on July 4th.
Dark matter is believed to account for approximately 85% of the total mass in the universe, yet direct observation of this form of matter has remained elusive.
The telescope, with a construction cost of 1.2 billion Chinese yuan (3.94 trillion Vietnamese dong), is made up of 4,000 aluminum panels and is arranged to scan different parts of the night sky.
Dr. Cheng stated that his team is continuing to observe the sky with FAST to further investigate the characteristics of neutral hydrogen, with the hope of making progress toward understanding dark matter.