News Astronomy A gas clump in the Milky Way’s neighborhood might be a ‘dark galaxy’ Dark matter–dominated galaxies, if they exist, may offer clues to galaxy formation High-resolution images from the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, a radio telescope in southern China, have helped pinpoint a potential “dark galaxy” in the Milky Way’s neighborhood. wonry/Getty Images By Mara Johnson-Groh 1 hour ago A potential dark galaxy — one made primarily of dark matter — may have been spotted in the local universe. Dark galaxies are theoretical, starless systems whose discovery could help astronomers better understand galaxy formation. The new candidate was found within a large, fast-moving cloud of gas first seen in the 1960s. High-resolution observations of the cloud, reported April 18 in Science Advances, revealed a compact clump of gas that might be a dark galaxy. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.