gary
16-02-2019, 11:12 AM
Using data from the Gaia satellite, researchers have identified a stream of
some 4000 stars that have been moving together through the Milky Way
since they formed some 1 billion years ago.
It is believed that the stars once formed a cluster in the Galactic disk
which was gravitationally torn apart by the Milky Way, now leaving this
"smoking gun" of a river of stars.
Remarkably we have been looking at them and through them all this
time without realising their likely origin.
Story and map here (click on image to enlarge) :-
https://phys.org/news/2019-02-river-stars-solar-neighborhood.html
Paper (free) "Extended stellar systems in the solar neighborhood" by Meingast et. al. :-
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2019/02/aa34950-18/aa34950-18.html
some 4000 stars that have been moving together through the Milky Way
since they formed some 1 billion years ago.
It is believed that the stars once formed a cluster in the Galactic disk
which was gravitationally torn apart by the Milky Way, now leaving this
"smoking gun" of a river of stars.
Remarkably we have been looking at them and through them all this
time without realising their likely origin.
Story and map here (click on image to enlarge) :-
https://phys.org/news/2019-02-river-stars-solar-neighborhood.html
Paper (free) "Extended stellar systems in the solar neighborhood" by Meingast et. al. :-
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2019/02/aa34950-18/aa34950-18.html