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image source, ESA
The image shows the distribution of interstellar gas and dust in the Milky Way.
Earthquakes in stars similar to those that occur on Earth, and what stellar DNA is like.
These are some of the revelations that emerge from the new and more detailed map of the Milky Way created from the probe’s observations Gaia, of the European Space Agency.
This is the third release of information from the ESA mission, launched in 2013, whose goal is to create the most complete and multidimensional map of our galaxy.
The observations (conducted between 2014 and 2017) cover about 2,000 million starswhich represent about 1% of the total Milky Way.
Previous observations by the robotic probe had shown in great detail the movement of the stars.
Now, the new data adds details about your chemical compositiontheir temperature, colors, masses, and ages, as well as the speed at which they move toward and away from us.
These measurements reveal thousands of stellar earthquakes (the “starquakes”) that are like cataclysmic tsunamis on its surface.
These unexpected events provide valuable information about the inner workings of these stars, which will contribute to a better understanding of both the origin and evolution, as well as the past and structure of our galaxy.
“Starquakes teach us a lot about stars, especially about their inner workings,” explains Conny Aerts, a project researcher from KU Leuven University in Belgium.
“Gaia inaugurates a gold mine for the asteroseismology of massive stars”, adds the scientist.
stellar DNA
As for the composition of the stars -something that can provide information about their place of birth and their subsequent journey, and therefore about the history of the Milky Way-, the data collected by Gaia allows us to understand what they contain.
image source, ESA
Gaia observations cover about 2 billion stars.
Some, for example, have more heavy metals what others.
“Some stars in our galaxy are composed of primordial material and others, like our Sun, contain enriched matter from previous generations of stars,” explains the ESA statement.
And he adds that the stars closest to the center of our galaxy are richer in metals than those that are further away.
On the other hand, Gaia also managed to identify stars that originally came from galaxies other than our own, thanks to the analysis of their chemical composition.
The mission will continue to collect data on stars and other objects inside and outside the solar system and beyond our galaxy until 2025.
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