This Hubble Image captures the amazing heart of our galaxy. Aging red giant stars live alongside younger sisters, resembling the Sun, in the crowded center of the Milky Way. Most of the bright blue stars are young, located on the galactic disk. Scientists studied 10,000 of these stars in the Hubble archive over a 9-year period in order to understand the evolution of our galaxy. The analysis shows that galactic bulge is a dynamic environment where stars of different ages freeze at different speeds. Movement differs based on the chemical composition of the object. The disordered motion is characteristic of stars rich in hydrogen and helium, but their speed is higher. The image consists of a set of exposures made in the near-infrared and visible light with a wide-angle camera 3
For many years, scientists only superficially concerned the study of the center of the Milky Way, namely the bulge - a quiet place that accommodates the ancient stars. But this site is so crowded that it was always difficult to understand the stellar motion. Recently, researchers have analyzed 10,000 sun-shaped stars in convexity, which showed that the center acts as a dynamic medium with objects of different ages moving at different speeds. The conclusion is based on the study of the Hubble archives for 9 years.
It turns out that the motion of stars in the bulge differ depending on the chemical composition. Stars with a huge amount of hydrogen and helium are endowed with disordered motion, but rotate faster than older objects.
There are many theories describing the formation of our galaxy and central bulge. Some believe that the bulge appeared 13 billion years ago. Then all the stars in it must be old and endowed with one movement. Others believe that the bulge appeared after the formation of the galaxy. Then some stars may be younger and differ in motion.
The image shows a huge edge of our galaxy. The Milky Way is expanding at the bottom right. This site is a galactic bulge. Considering the narrow region of the nucleus, scientists used the Hubble telescope to study the composition and motion of 10,000 sun-shaped stars. It turned out that convexity is a dynamic medium filled with stars of various ages and speeds. This study will affect the understanding of galactic evolution. The picture consists of several exposures made in the near-infrared and visible light of the wide-angle camera 3 The researchers divided the stars by chemical composition, and later compared the movements of each group. It turned out that chemically enriched objects move twice as fast as another population. The chemical composition was estimated using the Very Large Telescope.
Now only Hubble has a sharp enough resolution to simultaneously measure the movements of thousands of sun-shaped stars. The galactic center is 26,000 light-years distant from us.
The team focused on the stars, similar to the Sun, because they are numerous and are within the reach of the telescope. Early observations focused on brighter and more ancient red giants. The researchers plan to expand the analysis to create a three-dimensional sensing of the population in the convexity.
