An strange “ open frame ” has been detected in the good galactic coiling limb to Earth . Astronomers have never seen anything quite like it , and they ’re not entirely sure how it got there .
New research publish in Astronomy & Astrophysics line a “ mellow pitch angle structure in the Sagittarius Arm . ” By “ eminent auction pitch , ” the astronomers are referring to the extreme angle at which this elongated clustering of stars sticks out from the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way . The fresh detected feature measures 3,000 light - years in distance ( that ’s less than 3 % of the entire diam of the entire galaxy ) , and it dwell of young stars and star - forming gas clouds . Astrophysicist Michael Kuhn from Caltech is the field ’s lead-in writer .
Mapping the various features within our galaxy ai n’t easy , and that ’s because we ’re living immediately inside the affair . As the newfangled paper says , “ it has been challenging to connect individual asterisk - forming regions to their large astronomical environs owing to our linear perspective from within the disk . ”
This illustration is our current best guess as to what the Milky Way looks like.Illustration: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Thankfully , astronomic tools and proficiency can serve in this gaze . In this typeface , Kuhn and his fellow analyse datum gathered by the Spitzer Space Telescope , which NASA retired just last year . Spitzer detected infrared light , make it an ideal tool for observe freshly birthed stars that would otherwise be blanketed by the thick clouds of gas and dust ( i.e. nebulae ) from which they formed . Specifically , the squad looked at data from a sight holler Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid - Plane Survey Extraordinaire ( GLIMPSE ) , in which Spitzer read more than 100,000 baby stars .
Data from the European Space Agency ’s Gaia mission was also analyzed , provide the team with exact measurements of distances between stars . This allowed them to create a 3D view of the Sagittarius Arm — a prominent coiling arm of the Milky Way galaxy .
“ When we put the Gaia and Spitzer data together and in the end see this detailed , three - dimensional function , we can see that there ’s quite a scrap of complexness in this region that just has n’t been plain before , ” Kuhn read in a NASApress expiration .
Graphic showing the location of the feature, and a close-up view of the “splinter” in the Sagittarius Arm.Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Sagittarius Arm is a well - studied feature of speech of the Milky Way , and it hosts several mammoth sensation - form regions , including the Omega Nebula , the Trifid Nebula , the Lagoon Nebula , and the Eagle Nebula , the latter of which control the famousPillars of Creation . For the new bailiwick , the researchers sought to map the position and speeds of star - forming regions in a section of the Sagittarius Arm .
The newly detected structure sticks out at a tar angle of intimately 60 degrees . The subdivision itself wind tightly around the Milky Way at a pitch angle of 12 degrees ( for context , a perfect forget me drug has a pitch angle of 0 degrees ) . Hence the description of the sliver as a in high spirits pitch angle complex body part .
“ Ultimately , this is a reminder that there are many precariousness about the magnanimous - scale structure of the Milky Way , and we want to face at the contingent if we want to read that bigger painting , ” explain Robert Benjamin , an astrophysicist at the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater and a principal detective for GLIMPSE .
The authors of the new paper are n’t entirely sure how the splinter formed , but the baby star within this sweep probably came into being at the same sentence and place . As closely relate siblings , these star should ’ve been affect by the same influence roil by the galaxy ’s gyration — power like gravity and shear . Thus , improved models of stars , both in terms of their distance to each other and their velocities , could throw light on this new astronomic whodunit and astronomic coil in oecumenical , which are likewise mysterious .
“ This structure is a small musical composition of the Milky Way , but it could tell us something important about the Galaxy as a whole , ” said Benjamin .
Astronomers have abide by odd - ball features in other spiral galaxies before , include thing called spurs and feathers , some of which stay out perpendicularly from spiral arm . gad are bright spots make by an abundance of star , while feathers are congeries of dust . The new feature see in the Milky Way is neither of these and is thus consider unique .
It ’s now an opened question as to whether other gamey lurch angle structures subsist in our Galax urceolata or elsewhere in the universe . This will be the focus of future study , along with further research to confirm the new feature film as a bona fide substructure with the Sagittarius Arm .
More : How dense is the Milky Way ?
AstronomyMilky WaySagittarius ASpitzer
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