March 29, 2024

Gaia has been collecting data from the Milky Way for ten years

Gaia has been collecting data from the Milky Way for ten years

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), there are new details of nearly two billion stars in our Milky Way. This is thanks to the Gaia space probe, which is essential to astronomy.

The basics in brief

  • Gaia has been collecting data from our Milky Way for ten years.
  • The space probe was able to detect the so-called star earthquake for the first time.

The Gaia Space Observatory has been collecting data on our galaxy for nearly ten years and has now made surprising discoveries. The European Space Agency (ESA) has released more data about our galaxy that the probe has collected.

There are new and improved details for nearly two billion stars In our galaxy, the European Space Agency announced. For nearly ten years, the Gaia Space Telescope has been observing the sky and recording everyone’s attitudes to the probe Visible celestial bodies.

The scientists come from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and the Institute for Astronomical Calculations at the Center for Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg. The goal is to create a multidimensional map of the Milky Way that is as accurate and complete as possible.

Gaia monitors star earthquakes in the Milky Way

One of the most surprising discoveries was that Gaia was able to detect so-called stellar earthquakes, which form stars The change, the European Space Agency reported. These are “small motions on the surface of a star”. The probe had previously detected so-called radial vibrations.

leave this stars It swells and contracts regularly while maintaining its spherical shape. Will be But different vibrations which were discovered, “which are very similar to a large tsunami”. They only change the “universal shape” of the star and therefore they are not Easy to identify.

More on this topic:

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