Stellar streams are lengthy, ribbon-like teams of stars that orbit round a galaxy corresponding to our Milky Way. These teams of stars all transfer collectively in lengthy, slender strains that type glittering arcs round a galaxy, typically containing whole plenty thousands and thousands of occasions the mass of the solar.

The streams are simply disrupted by gravitational results, to allow them to present the fingerprints of darkish matter by pointing to the place its gravity has disturbed the stream. Scientists know that darkish matter exists surrounding galaxies just like the Milky Way in a construction known as a halo, which comprises clumps of darkish matter. These clumps create gaps within the stellar streams which might be detectable by Rubin.

“Stellar streams are like strings of pearls, whose stars trace the path of the system’s orbit and have a shared history,” mentioned Jaclyn Jensen of the University of Victoria who will use Rubin knowledge for her analysis. “Using properties of these stars, we can determine information about their origins and what kind of interactions the stream may have experienced. If we find a pearl necklace with a few scattered pearls nearby, we can deduce that something may have come along and broken the string.”

It has been troublesome for astronomers to check these stellar streams earlier than as a result of there are such a lot of different stars within the Milky Way that it is robust to identify which specific stars are a part of a stream. So researchers will search for clues just like the movement of sure stars to see whether or not they’re transferring collectively as a part of a stream and can use Rubin’s ultraviolet capabilities to assist determine the actual stars they’re in search of.