Taurus Constellation Slowly Disappearing

The Taurus constellation may look very different in the future thanks to a “lump” of dark matter that is slowly tearing part of the constellation’s distinctive bull’s head apart. According to research published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics (via Space.com), the Hyades, a V-shaped cluster of stars that make up the head of the Taurus constellation has changed shape over the course of its estimated 600 million and 700 million year life, and that the changes might be a result of dark matter.

The study, in particular, sought to understand more about the cluster’s “tails”, two stretched-out groups of stars that are separate from the larger body of the overall cluster. One tail aims toward the center of the Milky way while the other trails away. While the so-called tidal tails are a natural formation due to gravitational interaction between groups of stars, they’re most commonly seen with merging galaxies. However, scientists have seen the tidal tails in star clusters as well and they can sometimes indicate the presence of objects unseen on telescopes.

“Stars [in tidal tails] may be seen to move faster in some direction, and this might indicate something is there which is attracting them,” Tereza Jerabkova, ESA research fellow told Live Science.

So what does this have to do with the Hyades and Taurus? When Jerabkova and the other researchers mapped the cluster’s tails, they noticed that the trailing tail appeared to be “dissolving” into space, leading to the conclusion that the cluster is being “disrupted by a massive lump” of matter and, with no such known lump nearby, a possible explanation is dark matter. Scientists already theorize that so-called halos of dark matter helped shape various galaxies and that leftover “sub-halos” may still exist. What’s messing with the Hyades cluster and, in turn, the Taurus constellation, could in theory be one of those sub-halos.

While long-term this probably isn’t great news for the Taurus constellation, the casual stargazer on Earth probably isn’t going to notice any major change in the constellation any time soon — the Hyades are around 150 light-years from Earth — the idea that dark matter is messing with the cluster’s tails is an important discovery according to Jerabkova, one that shows data from star-mapping mission might just help reveal more about the stars and planets but by various structures and objects that remain hidden in the sky.

What do you think about the idea that dark matter sub-halos might be tearing part of the Taurus constellation apart? Let us know in the comments.