INTUSK MAGAZINE

Tucana II is a dwarf galaxy located approximately 163,000 light-years from Earth. 

Researchers claim to have discovered a cluster of stars near the centre of Tukana II that are larger than previously thought. 

According to the journal Nature Astronomy, researchers from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia used images from the Australian National University's 1.3-meter Skymapper Telescope to locate stars in the Milky Way. In total, the team discovered and studied nine new stars. 

The newly discovered stars are approximately 3,500 light-years from the centre of the galaxy and contain far less metal than those already known 1100 light-years away. That means that these newly formed stars are much older. 

Researchers believe that the extraterrestrial clusters formed elsewhere, implying that the Tucana 2 galaxy is a fusion of two primordial galaxies, and that other galaxies may have formed similarly. 

Researchers say it's incredible to find these stars so far from the galaxy's centre, that by examining their orbits, the position of the stars has dropped, and that other objects can drag these stars away from the galaxy. 

Researchers also claim that the galaxy must have a large mass in order to hold the gravitational pull required to keep the stars in place, and that this mass could contain four times as much dark matter as previously thought.