Astronomers say they have identified a new type of astronomical object that challenges traditional ideas about how galaxies form.

It's been named Cloud-9, and it's a mysterious object about 14.3 million light-years away, near the spiral galaxy M94, which appears to be completely devoid of stars. Instead, it seems to consist mostly of dark matter wrapped in a cloud of hydrogen gas, lingering in space like a specter.

NASA's Hubble Telescope captured something unusual and came up with an accurate nickname. The newly discovered astronomical object appeared to be a starless cloud containing gas and dark matter. The object,

With "Cloud-9", a cosmic object has likely been discovered that has so far only been theoretically described: a small gas cloud with a lot of dark matter.

The researchers describe Cloud-9 as a failed galaxy, a "relic" or remnant of the processes that gave rise to early galaxies. Alejandro Benitez-Llambay suggested that the

Cloud-9 is located 14 million light-years from Earth, NASA said as it shared details of it's newest discovery.