Our galaxy is a thief
15 February 2006
by Richard
Conan-Davies
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Our Milky Way galaxy 'stole' close to one million low-mass stars from the near by star cluster called Messier 12. This is according to a recent study by the European Space Agency Moving in extended elliptical orbits these Globular clusters periodically go through the densely populated regions of our galaxy. When coming too close to the innermost dense regions of our galaxy, these cluster can be disturbed and shaken leading to the smallest stars being ripped away. Chief astronomer of the study, Guido De Marchi of the European Space Agency explained that "It is however clear that Messier 12 is surprisingly devoid of low-mass stars. For each solar-like star, we would expect roughly four times as many stars with half that mass. Our VLT observations only show an equal number of stars of different masses." It is estimated that Messier 12 lost some four times as many stars as it still has. This is about one million stars were ejected into the halo of the Milky Way. |
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Related Links
Original press release from ESA
Nature
& Science News
ClearlyExplained.com