NASA's Hubble telescope has discovered Cloud-9, the first confirmed starless dark matter cloud from the early universe
Dean Murray
11:45, 06 Jan 2026
Astronomers reckon they've stumbled upon "Cloud 9" in the cosmos.
Researchers wielding the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have identified an extraordinary astronomical phenomenon - a starless, gas-laden, dark matter cloud believed to be a "relic" from the dawn of galaxy formation. Dubbed "Cloud‐9," this marks the first verified discovery of its kind anywhere in the Universe.
The ESA stated: "The finding furthers the understanding of galaxy formation, the early Universe, and the nature of dark matter itself. This is a tale of a failed galaxy," said the programme's principal investigator, Alejandro Benítez‐Llambay of the Milano‐Bicocca University in Milan, Italy. "In science, we usually learn more from the failures than from the successes. In this case, seeing no stars is what proves the theory right. It tells us that we have found in the local Universe a primordial building block of a galaxy that hasn't formed.
"This cloud is a window into the dark Universe," explained team member Andrew Fox of AURA/STScI for the European Space Agency. "We know from theory that most of the mass in the Universe is expected to be dark matter, but it's difficult to detect this dark material because it doesn't emit light. Cloud‐9 gives us a rare look at a dark‐matter‐dominated cloud."
Scientists have labelled the entity a Reionisation‐Limited H I Cloud, or "RELHIC." The designation "H I" signifies neutral hydrogen, whilst "RELHIC" characterises a primordial hydrogen cloud from the Universe's infancy, an ancient remnant that never ignited into stars. For years, boffins have been on the hunt for evidence of such a theoretical ghostly entity.
It was only when they directed Hubble towards the cloud and confirmed its starless nature that they found backing for the theory. The unearthing of this ancient cloud came as a shock. "Among our galactic neighbours, there might be a few abandoned houses out there," quipped STScI's Rachael Beaton, a member of the research team.
ESA explained that Cloud-9 earned its name in a straightforward manner, being the ninth gas cloud identified on the fringes of a nearby spiral galaxy, Messier 94 (M94). These findings have been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters and were unveiled at a press conference during the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.