The mass of the Milky Way is still a mystery. In the past, perhaps no one has been able to accurately measure the mass of the Milky Way. But now scientists have managed to measure the mass of the galaxy.
In a new way, scientists were able to calculate the actual mass of the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. Apparently, the measurement results were very surprising.
The Milky Way, which experts have estimated to have a fantastic mass, is actually much thinner.
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Scientists measure the mass of the Milky Way
The Milky Way is where the Solar System exists. It is actually one of the largest galaxies.
Historically, the Milky Way has been seen to have “swallowed” various other smaller galaxies around it. This causes the area of this galaxy to keep growing from time to time.
One of the big questions is, of course, the mass of this spiral galaxy. Surely this question was answered a long time ago, but only by conjecture.
Recently, a research team consisting of Chinese and foreign scientists managed to measure the mass of the Milky Way more accurately.
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Much thinner than expected
The research team of Chinese and foreign scientists has finally revealed the results of the research on measuring the mass of the Milky Way.
According to them, the mass of this galaxy is much leaner than previously thought. They revealed that the mass of this galaxy is about 550 billion times that of the Sun.
The latter estimate is almost half of the average value of the measurement results of other research groups. Previously, many research groups estimated that the mass of the Milky Way reached 1 trillion times the mass of the Sun.
Xue XiangXiang, the lead team member and researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), said the results of this study indicate that the Milky Way is much thinner than previously thought.
He also added that the results of this study also unlock the fact that there is far less dark matter, but it has a gravitational force than previously thought.
Xue also said that knowing the mass of the Milky Way is very important for studying its dynamics.
However, there was a high degree of uncertainty in the estimation due to limited observations.
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Measurement tools in research
In this study, the team of scientists was able to draw conclusions using data from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and China’s leading optical telescope.
In addition, they also use data from Gaia, a telescope belonging to the European Space Agency (European Space Agency).
Therefore, the large spectroscopic sample provided by LAMOST is one of the main advantages of this study over other research group studies.
In fact, this study of the Milky Way’s mass not only has large data, it also records the three-dimensional position, 3D speed, and even the various metals of each star. No wonder the results are much more accurate. (R10 / HR-Online)
