Astronomers have found a vast “graveyard” of dead stars that spans three times the height of the Milky Way, according to reports RT.
The first map of the “galactic underworld” revealed a group of suns that were once huge, and they have collapsed to morph into black holes and neutron stars, and these little dark objects are scattered around our galaxy, like cosmic tombs..
The map shows the remains of the suns that form a “graveyard” that extends three times the height of the Milky Way, where about a third of the ancient corpses are ejected from the galaxy..
For the first time, scientists have discovered that many objects that were inside our galaxy have been thrown out of it..
Dr David Sweeney, a student at the Sydney Institute of Astronomy at the University of Sydney and lead author of the research paper, said: ‘These compact remains of dead stars show a fundamentally different distribution and structure from the visible galaxy (the Milky Way as we see it).“.
He added: “The height of the underworld is three times greater than that of the Milky Way itself. And 30% of the objects have been completely ejected from the galaxy.”“.
Although billions of stars have formed since the galaxy was young, the strange corpses (stellar remains) have been hurled into the darkness of interstellar space by the supernova that created them. Therefore, until now it has hidden from the view of astronomers.
By recreating the entire life cycle of ancient dead stars, scientists have created the first detailed map showing where the stellar bodies have been..
Neutron stars and newly formed black holes match the shape of a galaxy today, so astronomers know where to look. But the oldest neutron stars and black holes “are like ghosts still haunting a long-demolished house, so they’re hard to find.”“.
“One of the problems with finding these ancient objects is that until now we had no idea where to look,” said Peter Tuthill of the Sydney Institute of Astronomy and co-author of the paper. “The oldest neutron stars and black holes arose when the galaxy was younger and formed differently, so it underwent complex changes over billions of years.“.
By building a complex model that takes into account all the intricacies of the movement of stars through space, the “underworld” version of the Milky Way looks very different from what we see..
In the maps created, the distinct spiral arms of the Milky Way in the “galactic underworld” version completely disappear due to the age of most of the remains and the nebulous effects of the energetic expulsion from the supernovae they created..
Even more intriguing, the side view shows that the “galactic underworld is more bloated” than the Milky Way we know today, due to the kinetic energy reached by the supernovae forming a halo around the visible Milky Way..
