Large Magellanic Cloud
An international team of astronomers has recorded an unexpectedly large number of massive stars in a nearby galaxy. It is about the territory of the star birth of 30 Golden Fish in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
For the review, the Very Large Telescope was used, which helped to observe 1000 massive stars in 30 Golden Fish - a large-scale stellar maternity hospital (Tarantula Nebula). Scientists have made a detailed analysis for 250 stars with masses 15 and 200 times the solar one in order to reveal the distribution of massive stars - the initial mass function (NMF).
Massive stars are important to astronomers because of their influence on their environment. At the end of life, they are able to explode in the form of supernovae, forming one of the most exotic universe objects — neutron stars or black holes.
Until recently, the presence of stars up to 200 solar masses was strongly disputed, but an analysis shows that the maximum mass of 200-300 solar is quite likely. Studying the Universe, scientists came to the conclusion that the stars are becoming less and less truly massive. NFM predicts that most of the stellar mass is in objects with low mass and only less than 1% appears with a massiveness that is 10 times greater than the solar one. The team chose to study 30 Golden Fish, as in this area of star birth are some of the most massive stars. A large sample allowed scientists to derive the most accurate segment of the NFM and show that there are much more massive stars than previously thought. Moreover, now the findings suggest that a larger volume of stellar mass is located precisely in massive objects.
Stars act as space engines, creating most of the chemical elements. During its existence, massive stars release a huge amount of ionizing rays and kinetic energy due to powerful winds. It is the ionizing rays that influenced the re-clarification of the space after the period of the Dark Ages.
Research can open up the Universe for us in a completely different way. Already, the analysis shows 70% more supernovae, three times more chemical yields and 4 times more ionizing radiation. Yes, and the rate of formation of black holes can be 180% higher. It is now important to understand how universal these conclusions are and how they will affect spatial evolution.
