Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Dwarf galaxies

Planes of satellites no longer in tension with ΛCDM

Nature Astronomy volume 7, pages 376–377 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

The arrangement of dwarf galaxies in a thin plane surrounding the Milky Way has been thought to contradict the prevailing cosmological model of cold dark matter in the Universe. New work suggests that this arrangement may just be a temporary alignment, bringing our galaxy back into agreement with theoretical expectations once the radial distribution of satellites is taken into account.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: The unusual thinness of the plane of satellites in the Milky Way is heavily defined by two of the most distant satellites, Leo I and Leo II.

References

  1. Bullock, J. S. & Boylan-Kolchin, M. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 55, 343–387 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Pawlowski, M. S. Nat. Astron. 5, 1185–1187 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Sales, L. V., Wetzel, A. & Fattahi, A. Nat. Astron. 6, 897–910 (2022).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Ibata, R. A. et al. Nature 493, 62–65 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Müller, O. et al. Astron. Astrophys. 645, L5 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Boylan-Kolchin, M. Nat. Astron. 5, 1188–1190 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kang, X., Mao, S., Gao, L. & Jing, Y. P. Astron. Astrophys. 437, 383–388 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Pawlowski, M. S. Mod. Phys. Lett. A 33, 1830004 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Sawala, T. et al. Nat. Astron. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01856-z (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Gaia Collaboration. Astron. Astrophys. 616, A12 (2018).

  11. van den Bosch, F. C. & Ogiya, G. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 475, 4066–4087 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Errani, R. & Navarro, J. F. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 505, 18–32 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Pham, K., Kravtsov, A. & Manwadkar, V. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc 520, 3937–3946 (2023).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Libeskind, N. I. et al. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 363, 146–152 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Tollerud, E. J., Bullock, J. S., Strigari, L. E. & Willman, B. Astrophys. J. 688, 277–289 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Fattahi, A., Navarro, J. F. & Frenk, C. S. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 493, 2596–2605 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA

    Laura V. Sales

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

    Julio F. Navarro

Authors
  1. Laura V. Sales
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julio F. Navarro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura V. Sales.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sales, L.V., Navarro, J.F. Planes of satellites no longer in tension with ΛCDM. Nat Astron 7, 376–377 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-01924-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-01924-y

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing