Astronomers find universe's dimmest known galaxy

Astronomers have identified what appears to be the dimmest galaxy in the universe. Although it shines with the brightness of only a few hundred Suns, it seems to be full of dark matter, making it an ideal candidate to search for evidence of the mysterious material, they say.

The galaxy, known as Segue 1, is one of roughly two dozen dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way. It sits close to the Sagittarius stream, a river of stellar debris torn from another dwarf galaxy.

So far, only 24 stars are confirmed members of Segue 1. Because it is so dim, astronomers originally thought it was a tight-knit group of stars called a globular cluster.