Gaia Detects Star Earthquake Phenomenon in the Milky Way

PARIS – The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia space observatory detected the phenomenon ‘ star quake g’ which resemble earthquakes and tsunamis on Earth.

Gaia was launched in 2013 to study the Milky Way Galaxy and has produced a map of the galaxy. It reveals information about the star and its chemical composition including color, age, temperature and brightness.

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“The observatory also detects stellar earthquakes that change the shape of the star,” said the ESA as quoted by the Daily Mail Wednesday (15/6/2022).

These stellar earthquakes, known as non-radial oscillations, were detected in thousands of stars on the Gaia ISA mission, led by Cambridge University scientists.

When put together, these form a ‘DNA map’ – a multi-dimensional visual of asteroids, planets, stars and galaxies – and help identify the most habitable corners of these galaxies.

The map provides the largest-ever catalog of information about the stars in the Milky Way, including their chemical composition, co-stars, color, mass, age, and the speed at which stars are moving toward or away from us (radial velocity).

One of the most surprising discoveries to emerge from the new data is that Gaia is able to detect stellar earthquakes – tiny movements in the star’s surface – that change the shape of stars, something the observatory didn’t initially create.

Previously, Gaia had discovered radial oscillations that cause stars to swell and shrink transitively, while maintaining their spherical shape. But Gaia is now also seeing another tremor that astronomers describe as ‘more like a large-scale tsunami’.

These non-radial oscillations change the global shape of the star and are therefore more difficult to detect.

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