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He universe still has many questions to answer for the human being and constantly discovering phenomena that challenge the knowledge we have of it.
Now an international team of astronomers has discovered some mysterious clouds of dense cold gas that come from the center of the Milky Way, our galaxy, and have been shot “like bullets.”
Scientists recalculate the mass of the Milky Way and it is larger than previously thought
It reaches almost two million light years and most of it is composed of dark matter
According to the researchers, who have published a study on the matter in the scientific journal “Nature”, This finding has important implications for understanding how can be the future of our galaxy.
Unknown origin
“The wind in the center of the Milky Way has been the subject of much debate since the discovery a decade ago in the called Fermi bubbles“explains astrophysicist Naomi McClure-Griffiths of the Australian National University in statements to Science Alert.
“If you lose enough, the galaxy loses its ability to form stars,” they warn
These structures are two gigantic orbs of hot gas, emerging from the center of the galaxy, perpendicular to its plane, and that emit radiation from different cosmic rays.
These bubbles have been a puzzle since their discovery, because it is not clear what caused them, several million years ago, but could have important consequences in the future.
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Those clouds of cold and dense gas that come from the center of the Milky Way and that escape are necessary for the formation of stars
“When you run out of a significant amount of mass, you lose some of the material that could be used to form stars,” adds McClure-Griffiths. “If you lose enough, the galaxy loses its ability to form stars“.
Black hole or star formation
In this way, according to astrophysicists, “being able to observe evidence of how the Milky Way is losing its ability to form stars is exciting, and makes you wonder what will happen next“.
“We are still looking for the definitive evidence, but the matter gets more complicated as we learn more about him.”
The research theorizes about two possible causes of these gas clouds. It is possible that periodic star formation over the past 50 million years could partially explain the volume of gas that is expelled, but models suggest that such clouds are fairly short-lived and it is unclear how long they would survive high acceleration, especially in a hot wind.
The “twisted” Milky Way: a new 3D map shows that the galaxy is deformed
Astronomers at the University of Warsaw have created a three-dimensional map that breaks with the classical view of the galaxy.
It is also possible for cold, high-velocity gas to form directly within the outflow by mixing slow, cold clouds and fast, hot winds. This would solve several problems, but current simulations have been unable to replicate the entire process.
“We are trying to find out if what produces this phenomenon is a black hole or star formation“says Enrico Di Teodoro, director of the study and researcher at Johns Hopkins University (United States).
“We are still looking for definitive evidence, but the matter gets more complicated as we learn more about him“, he concludes.
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