The cause of the mysterious ripples in the Milky Way

Using data from the Gaia space telescope, researchers at Lund University in Sweden found that

large parts of the outer disk of the Milky Wayvibrate. It turned out that the ripples were caused by a dwarf galaxy that can now be seen in the constellation Sagittarius. It “shook” our galaxy as it passed by hundreds of millions of years ago.

In the Milky Way there are from 100 to 400billion stars. Astronomers believe that the galaxy was born 13.6 billion years ago, emerging from a rotating cloud of gas that consists of hydrogen and helium. Over billions of years, the gas collected in the rotating disk where stars like our Sun formed.

Using data from the European spaceGaia telescope, the research team examined a much larger region of the Milky Way's disk than before. By measuring how strong the ripples were in different parts of the disk, the researchers understood exactly how they appeared.

Scientists were surprised when they found out howThey were able to study most of the Milky Way using Gaia data. To date, the telescope, which has been operating since 2013, has measured the movement of approximately two billion stars across the sky.

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