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Astronomers have revealed the most accurate 3D map of the Milky Way yet, an achievement that promises to shed new light on the workings of the galaxy and the mysteries of the universe in general.
The vast electronic atlas was compiled from data collected by the European Space Agency’s Gaia observatory, which has been scanning the skies since it lifted off in 2013 from Kourou in French Guiana.
The map contains enough detail for astronomers to measure the acceleration of the solar system and calculate the mass of the galaxy. These in turn will provide clues to how the solar system formed and the rate at which the universe has expanded since the dawn of time.
Nicholas Walton, a member of the ESA Gaia science team at the Cambridge Institute of Astronomy, compared the effort to fill in the blanks in old maps that marked unknown regions to the claim that “here are dragons.”
“What we are really doing here is getting a very detailed map of the local universe that is in three dimensions for stars a few hundred light years away,” he said.
By mapping the positions and movements of the stars, the probe has discovered destructive processes beyond the edge of the Milky Way. A faint stream of stars between two nearby galaxies is evidence that the more massive Large Magellanic Cloud is constantly devouring the tiniest Small Magellanic Cloud.
Many of the bodies that Gaia observes are quasars, extremely distant and intensely bright objects powered by black holes a billion times the mass of the sun. By measuring the movement of the solar system in relation to these, the Gaia data shows that the solar system is falling towards the center of the Milky Way with an acceleration of about 7 mm per second every year.
Known as the Galaxy Surveyor, Gaia orbits the planet from a gravitationally stable position known as the Lagrange point 930,000 miles from Earth in the opposite direction from the sun. Over the past seven years, the probe has measured the positions and velocities of nearly 2 billion stars. In addition to revealing traces of cosmic consumption, the data allows astronomers to reconstruct the distribution of matter in the Milky Way, from which they will directly estimate its mass.
Lagrange points are regions in space where gravitational forces tend to make objects go still. For the Gaia observatory, this means that a minimum of fuel is required to maintain its location. The distant orbit has another advantage: It is far enough from Earth to prevent light pollution from spoiling your view of the stars.
Floor van Leeuwen, who manages data processing for Gaia at the Institute of Astronomy, said the trove of data enables astronomers to “forensically analyze our stellar neighborhood and address crucial questions about the origin and future of our galaxy.”
Caroline Harper, head of space science at the UK Space Agency, added: “For thousands of years, we have been concerned with noting and detailing the stars and their precise locations as humanity expanded understanding of our cosmos. .
“Gaia has been looking up at the sky for the past seven years, mapping the positions and speeds of the stars. Thanks to their telescopes, we now have in our possession the most detailed 3D atlas of a billion stars ever assembled, ”he said.
