Astronomers have discovered that the dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies defy the accepted model of galaxy formation.

"The model predicts that dwarf galaxies should form inside small clumps of dark matter and that these clumps should be distributed randomly about their parent galaxy," said David Merritt, a professor of astrophysics at Rochester Institute of Technology, according to a press release issued by institute. "But what is observed is very different. The dwarf galaxies belonging to the Milky Way and Andromeda are seen to be orbiting in huge, thin disk-like structures."

Researchers found major problems with the notion that satellite galaxies support the standard model, according to the release.

The structures in their simulations did not look like observed planar structures.

"Either the selection of model satellites is different from that of the observed ones, or an incomplete set of observational constraints has been considered, or the observed satellite distribution is inconsistent with basic assumptions," the researchers wrote in a news release. "Once these issues have been addressed, the conclusions are different: Features like the observed planar structures are very rare."

Approximately 23 percent of the mass of the universe is shaped by invisible particles known as dark matter, according to the standard paradigm.

The standard cosmological model is the frame of reference for a number of astronomers and scientists around the world.

Future changes could be coming with it now in question, according to Merritt.

"Our conclusion tends to favor an alternate, and much older, model: that the satellites were pulled out from another galaxy when it interacted with the Local Group galaxies in the distant past," Merritt said. "This 'tidal' model can naturally explain why the observed satellites are orbiting in thin disks."

Research was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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