A photo from open sources
Scientists say our galaxy is not perfectly flat, like previously thought, but curved and even twisted.
After analyzing the super-bright stars of the Milky Way, scientists noticed that they are not located in the same plane galactic disk. Usually flat depict the galaxy in popular science literature and other academic works.
Scientists from Warsaw have suggested that our galaxy has become bent after a grand collision with nearby galaxies. Astronomers constructed a three-dimensional map and published it in the journal Science.
A flat view of our Milky Way was formed on the basis of observations of 2.5 million stars out of 2.5 billion possible. Therefore, the appearance of the galaxy, as it is usually portrayed artists, it doesn’t look accurate, says Dorota, Ph.D. Skron.
The scientist also explained, we still do not know the inner structure and history of the Milky Way, therefore very difficult to measure the distance between stars that are significantly distant from each other.
Trying to get a clearer picture, scientists measured the distance between several superbright luminaries of the Milky Way, which are also called variable Cepheids.
Due to the fact that these stars shine hundreds or thousands of times brighter Suns, scientists have chosen these stars. Plus they pulsate with a constant interval, and the ripple frequency has a direct proportionality of their brightness. This feature allowed scientists calculate the distance between these luminaries.
Interestingly, most of these stars have already been discovered. US and Polish scientists when they studied dark matter The universe.
The first results obtained by the researchers are very strong. surprised astronomers. They showed that the Milky Way galaxy did not flat, as previously thought, but curved and twisted. Her the curvature is due to other galaxies that once faced with her.
Andrey Vetrov
Milky Way galaxies
