10 fresh and amazing discoveries related to the milky Way galaxy

Our home galaxy is only the first frontier of space exploration. It may sound trite, but the more scientists know about it, the more amazing this system is. It has dark matter, strange signals, and many others, first discovered the phenomena and the phenomena. Although most new discoveries become examples for solutions to old scientific questions, some of them can tell us about a whole new phenomena that we did not know and did not guess.

Today we will talk about "the top ten" most interesting and amazing wonders discovered in the milky Way.

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APOP

In 2018, astronomers announced the existence in our galaxy of a unique system. It is located in the constellation of the Square and is a triple star system consisting of two stars wolf-Rayet and supergiant. Scientific name — 2XMM J160050.7-514245. For a simple she was called APOP. The name comes from the name of the deity from Egyptian mythology, a huge serpent, the embodiment of evil and Chaos, the eternal enemy of the sun God RA. Makes it unique is the fact that according to our theories have to be after her stellar collapse.

When the stars of the class wolf-Rayet die, they turn into supernovas and create a very powerful gamma-ray emissions. The last is the most powerful phenomenon of radiation energetically charged particles in the known Universe and has never been observed in the milky Way. Such bursts occur very rarely, but APOP delivers tangible hope.

Visually APOP is defined as two stars, but the lower the larger the star is actually a binary star wolf — Rayet, consisting of two stars located very close to each other. The third star orbits around a double star at a distance of about 1700 astronomical units (250 million km) orbital period in excess of 10 thousand years. The system is surrounded by clouds of stellar wind and cosmic dust. The wind speed here reaches 12 000 000 km/h and the speed of rotation of cosmic dust is 2 000 000 km/h.

Star wolf — Rayet with rapid rotation can theoretically produce a gamma-ray burst during supernova explosion. Star system 2XMM J160050.7-514245 fits this description and can generate the emission of two gamma ray jets from their poles. Potential gamma-ray burst from this system is not dangerous for life on Earth, since the angle of deflection of the axis of rotation of the star system relative to Earth is approximately 30 degrees. But the spectacle will be unforgettable.

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Goblin

Another treasure that astronomers are chasing is the so-called "Ninth planet". It is very big and could be somewhere outside the Solar system. At least according to the assumptions. However, scientists had discovered signs that may indicate the existence of this world.

In 2018, astronomers have discovered that being in the outer part of the Solar system transneptunian object undergoes a very strange gravitational influence of an unknown source. This source, scientists believe, could be "the Ninth planet". Since the discovery occurred shortly before Halloween, and the primary designation of the object contained the letters "TG", the scientists named the object Goblin ("The Goblin").

If not to take into account an interesting name and hints at the "Ninth planet", the object itself is of great interest. Especially interesting is its orbit around the Sun. It is very elongated. According to the scientists, to make a complete revolution around our sun at the Goblin takes about 40 000 years. Because the object is at the farthest reaches of the Solar system, we can see only 1 percent of its total orbit.

The discovery of the object allows us to enrich knowledge on the outer limits of our system. The Goblin is only the third known object, after Sedna and 2012 VP113 living in these surroundings. And the last two as the Goblin is also under the influence of a powerful source of gravity. Probably the same "Ninth planet".

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a Hurricane of dark matter

In the year 2017 scientists have discovered that our planet is moving something big. Further analysis of the data showed that we are not talking about the asteroid. We are talking about a much larger object. Rather General phenomenon. As it turned out, the scientists saw something that looked like a ribbon of stars hurtling through the milky Way region, which is our Solar system.

Called "S1 stream" stream is the remnant of a dwarf galaxy torn to shreds by the Milky Way. The danger for us, it is not, however, the scientists found that it contains not only stars. Physicists consider that S1 can contain a large supply of dark matter that was once bonded with a dwarf galaxy.

Despite the fact that a thread called "a hurricane of dark matter", its opening is very pleased scientists. Current technologies do not allow us to see dark matter. Moreover, we do not know what it is. However, we know that it exists. It affects all objects in space and this can be seen very well. There is a possibility that at the meeting of the dark matter of the hurricane and local dark matter, the latter may be a surge. The signal of this surge may be the first physical dimension of dark matter. In this case, we will finally be able to prove its existence.

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Mysterious signal

Scientists have long debated whether causing massive emissions of gamma radiation fromthe galactic center of the milky Way, the so – called galactic bulge. According to most assumptions, the source of these emissions can be dark matter. The emissions allegedly associated with the fact that dark matter particles (WIMP) running into each other or with ordinary matter. This is really some hint of the received data. For example, the smoothed signals, which scientists would expect from dark matter.

However, in 2018, an international team of researchers found evidence that the emission of gamma radiation is responsible not dark matter, a type of star formation near the center of the milky Way.

As the basis for the study the data were collected with the space telescope Fermi. The researchers saw that the gamma rays actually reflect the distribution of stars near the center of the galaxy — they are formed in the form of X, and, as one would expect if it were caused by the interactions of dark matter. Creating a model for the reconstruction of the processes, the team found that a more likely explanation would be a collection of millisecond pulsars (rapidly rotating neutron stars) — their combined radiation, it seems, have merged to create the signal that was originally attributed to dark matter.

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Toxic space fat

The Space might seem empty but it is filled with electromagnetic radiation, soot and dust. In 2018, the study team from Australia and Turkey decided to evaluate the quantity of one substance contained in the milky Way "space fat".

The Researchers found that only half of the carbon, a key element for life, who expected to find in space, present in pure form. The rest of the substance exists in two major chemical compounds: fatty (aliphatic) and aromatic (like naphthalene balls).

In the laboratory, the scientists simulated the process of synthesis of organic molecules in a stream of carbon stars, explaining the presence of the containing element of plasma in a vacuum at a low temperature. The material is then analyzed by several techniques. Using magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, scientists have determined how much the structure absorbs light of certain infrared wavelengths, a marker of aliphatic carbon.

It turned Out that for every million hydrogen atoms have about 100 atoms of hydrogen or fat from 25% to 50% of all available substances. In the milky Way, thus, is almost 11 billions of trillions of trillions of tons of oily substance. And all this weight is probably very dirty and toxic.

Now scientists want to estimate the concentration of aromatic carbon, which would require more complex research. By counting the number of each form of substance, they can determine how many item is available to create life.

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planet rogue or myself a star

About 20 light years from us is a very strange object. When scientists first discovered it in 2016, they thought that he had found a brown dwarf. These objects are also called "failed stars." In size, they more than the usual planets, but also stars them not to call. In their bowels as in the bowels of these stars occur thermonuclear reactions, however, the participation of hydrogen in them is minimal.

A Recent survey of the facility showed that its classification is complicated by one fact. SIMP J01365663+0933473 (the so-called object) is a space-body "outcast". In other words, he does not belong to any star system, and just wanders alone in space. In addition, his age is estimated at about 200 million years, which does not allow to call it a brown dwarf (too young).

Before us is a unique member – a cross between a failed star and a planet. The big guy about 70 times more massive than Jupiter and has a 200 times stronger magnetic field.
The presence of such a powerful magnetic field creates in the upper layers of its atmosphere auroras. Studying this object, scientists hope to kill two birds with one stone – to learn about magnetism and the stars, and planets.

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Old wound

Studying a detailed map of the galaxy, scientists have discovered something unusual – a strange cluster of stars showing unusual behavior. In General, they formed the disk along with the rest of the stars of the region, but outside the group, rotating around the galactic center. But they still revolved around each other. Visually it reminded me of the swirls on the shell of a snail.

In 2018, the researchers decided to "wrap in time". They took information about six millions of stars that contains information about their position and speed, and tried using them and computer simulation "expand" the shell of a snail. The result showed that the unusual shape of the cluster of stars is likely to be a kind of galactic "scar". About 300-900 million years ago a very strong gravitational pull caused by the unclear source, have hit the milky Way and literally tore the galaxy a small piece.

The Main suspect, the scientists chose a nearby dwarf galaxy Sagittarius. Previous studies have shown that approximately 200 million to 1 billion years ago, a galactic disk of Sagittarius could be affected by the galactic disk of the milky Way. These results fully correspond to what was observed in the following studies, referred to above. Our galaxy turned out to be very vengeful. now steals the stars of Sagittarius and aboutafter 100 million years to destroy (or absorb) a galaxy that hurt her.

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Dead galaxy

It May sound strange, but inside our galaxy is the corpse of another galaxy. In 2018, astronomers conducted a motion study of stars in the milky Way and in the course of this large-scale scientific research it was discovered that about 33 000 stars do not belong to our galaxy.

According to the movements of the stars, scientists can determine their nature, and because of this it was found that the detected stars do not belong to the milky Way, because their behavior was not like the other stars in neighboring systems. A more detailed analysis 600 of these luminaries have allowed researchers to identify the age and size of the galaxy, where they belonged, until they came to the milky Way. Scientists called it Gaia-Enceladus.

Astronomers say that our galaxy in the past have repeatedly swallowed their dwarf neighbors. The same fate was awaiting the galaxy Gaia-Enceladus. About 10 billion years ago its size was 1/5 the size of the milky Way, but this did not prevent the latter to swallow it whole.

Stars of the destroyed galaxy now make up a large part of the halo of the milky Way, and form his thick disk, giving it a pressurized form. In other words, if this collision did not happen, our galaxy would look quite different.

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the Lost twin

In the local supercluster of galaxies contains two heavyweight – our milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy, — as well as many dwarf satellite galaxies. They are the object of the M32. He "turns" near Andromeda, however, the composition and the form of the dwarf is so unusual that it is difficult to find an adequate explanation. It is very compact and almost has no old stars, and she has a very weak halo.

In 2018, astronomers have discovered that the local supercluster of galaxies once had a third very massive galaxy. In order to figure out what she's doing, researchers have turned their attention to the halo of Andromeda. The results showed that a large part of the stellar halo surrounding the Andromeda galaxy (M31) comes from one large galaxy M32p that 2 billion years ago collided with Andromeda galaxy, and the remnants of the lost galaxy now revolve around the Andromeda galaxy to the galaxy companion M32.

The discovery is another reminder of what kind of future awaits our milky Way. Our galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy, too, must face. As a result, our milky Way waiting for the fate of M32. Fortunately for us, it will happen no earlier than 4 billion years.

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a Strange thread

Recently, the astronomical Observatory of several countries eyes turned their telescopes on the same object – a black hole in the center of our galaxy. Because of this, scientists have obtained the most detailed at the moment, the image of Sagittarius A*.

Sometimes the radio telescopes capture image of some thermal radionica. They do not appear in the optical spectrum and while no one knows what it is. One such thread appeared on the image of the black hole Sagittarius a*. Its length is about 2.3 light-years and, apparently, one of its ends thrust into the center of a black hole.

Seen not yet be explained, but there are some assumptions in this regard. According to one put forward by earlier theorists versions radionici able to generate so-called synchrotron radiation produced by accelerating charged particles under the influence of a magnetic field. However, in this case, it is unclear how in principle are these charged particles? Who is their "loaded"?

According to another hypothesis, the yarn is nothing like a "rift" in space, the so-called topological defect, is theoretically occur under the action of changing the state of the vacuum. According to some opinions, these threads have a similar charge and mass of the galactic filaments, like a spider's web which covered the entire space of the Universe.

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