Intergalactic ‘stream of stars’ 10 instances longer than the Milky Means is the first of its variety ever noticed
Astronomers have by chance found the primary recognized intergalactic path of stars. The big “stellar stream,” which is round 10 instances longer than the Milky Means, means that extra of those buildings could possibly be lurking in deep area, a brand new examine reveals.
Stellar streams are elongated threads of gravitationally entwined stars which have probably been ripped away from their mother or father galaxies or nebulas by the gravitational pull of different close by galaxies. Scientists have mapped dozens of those streams inside galaxies, together with the Milky Means. However till now, none had been found in intergalactic area, which means the area between galaxies.
Within the examine, which was printed Nov. 30 within the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the researchers recognized and mapped the first-ever intergalactic stellar stream, which stretches by means of the Coma Cluster, also referred to as Abell 1656, a gaggle of greater than 1,000 small galaxies positioned round 321 million light-years from Earth. The researchers named the first-of-its-kind construction the Large Coma Stream — so named as a result of additionally it is the biggest stellar stream ever discovered.
“This big stream crossed our path by coincidence,” examine lead creator Javier Román, an astrophysicist on the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, stated in a assertion. The group was initially finding out halos of dispersed stars across the Coma Cluster, in an try and measure the darkish matter that surrounds the galaxy group, after they got here throughout the starry path.
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Research co-author R. Michael Wealthy, an astronomer on the College of California, Los Angeles, made the primary observations of the Large Coma Stream together with his private telescope. The group then turned to the extra highly effective William Herschel Telescope, positioned on La Palma within the Canary Islands, Spain, to correctly examine the stream.
The researchers had been stunned to seek out the stellar stream lurking inside the galaxy cluster. The construction is “a fairly fragile construction amid a hostile atmosphere of mutually attracting and repelling galaxies,” examine co-author Reynier Peletier, an astronomer on the College of Groningen within the Netherlands, stated within the assertion. Usually, you’d count on one thing like this to be ripped aside by the extra large galaxies, he added.
The group is uncertain how the stellar stream has persevered and grown so massive, however one clarification could possibly be the elusive materials they had been initially in search of — darkish matter. Whereas this mysterious entity makes up a lot of the matter within the universe, it’s successfully invisible and could be detected solely by means of its gravitational interactions with seen matter. It is potential, the group stated, that darkish matter lurking inside the galaxy group helped to stretch the stellar stream into its present form.
The researchers are planning to review the stream with extra highly effective telescopes to study extra concerning the mysterious construction and its origins. In addition they hope to investigate particular person stars inside the stream to see if they’re distinctive in any manner.
The invention of the Large Coma Stream additionally opens the door for extra intergalactic stellar streams to be discovered. The researchers consider there could possibly be many extra on the market and hope that more and more superior telescopes, coupled with their findings, might assist different astronomers discover extra of those stellar streams.
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