Astronomers May Have Discovered the First Starless Galaxy

The galaxy known as Cloud 9 could be the first "failed" starless galaxy discovered by humanity. Although such galaxies contain vast amounts of gas and dust, they have virtually no stars. Located 14 million light-years from Earth near the spiral galaxy M94, Cloud 9 contains a massive hydrogen gas cloud with an estimated mass of one million times that of the Sun, along with dark matter equivalent to about five million solar masses.

It emits almost no starlight. The prevailing explanation for the formation of starless galaxies is linked to ultraviolet background radiation. Following the epoch of reionization in the early universe, the UV radiation field heated the gas in low-mass dark matter halos to temperatures high enough to prevent it from effectively cooling and collapsing to form stars.

https://arxiv.org/html/2608.20911v1 https://www.space.com/astronomy/galaxies/on-cloud-9-have-astronomers-discovered-the-first-starless-galaxy