Recent discovery challenges what scientists thought about birth of galaxies

Pieter van Dokkum via AP

The “Dragonfly” telescope helped find the large, thin galaxy called NGC1052–DF2 in the northern constellation Cetus.

P. van Dokkum/NASA/ESA via AP

This Nov. 16, 2017, image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the diffuse galaxy NGC 1052-DF2, lighter area in center. Several other galaxies can be seen through it.

Dark matter is an invisible and mysterious substance that is thought to be crucial to the formation of galaxies.