Scientists have found evidence of the birth of new stars and galaxy formation in an unusual gas cloud in the constellation Leo. In their view, these processes are due to a previously unknown mechanism that occurred only in the earliest stages of evolution of the Universe.

"If these gas clouds were prevalent in the young universe, they could lead to a large number of faint, and therefore has not yet been discovered dwarf galaxies do not contain dark matter and heavy elements," - wrote the authors of the study. Described in the article, the gas cloud, is a ring of Leo, has approximately 650,000 light years in diameter and revolves around the two galaxies in the constellation Leo. It consists mostly of hydrogen and helium, and was first discovered in 1983, radio astronomy, as in the visible spectrum is practically invisible. Attempts to locate any star in the Ring of Leo since its discovery so far been unsuccessful.

A distinctive feature of the Rings Leo is the almost complete absence in it of dark matter - is still mysterious to astronomers matter, detectable only by circumstantial evidence and the inevitable formation of galaxies. In addition, the cloud contains almost no heavy elements that are present in all modern star clusters. Nevertheless, the stars in this cloud formed and form the so-called dwarf galaxies. This was detected by their characteristic UV radiation, which was first managed to notch its high telescope NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), working in orbit since 2003 and in overseeing the universe, in the narrow ultraviolet region.

The huge size of the Ring Lion speak in favor of that gas, forming a cluster, never in contact with the central galaxies, around which it revolves, and has remained unchanged since the earliest moments of the formation of the universe. Therefore, the newly formed stars in it may be a good example for studying the processes of galaxy formation, there was only a young universe, virtually free of heavy elements. In the near future, scientists hope to get a more detailed picture of what is happening in the constellation Leo with large ground-based telescopes.