(ORDO NEWS) — A map of the “galactic underworld” has been created. It marks the “corpses” of once massive suns that have turned into black holes and neutron stars.
Neutron stars and black holes form when massive stars – more than eight times the size of our Sun – run out of fuel and suddenly collapse.
This sets off an uncontrolled reaction that tears the outer parts of the star apart in a giant supernova explosion, while the core continues to contract on its own until – depending on its initial mass – it becomes either a neutron star or a black hole. writes Phys.org.
The exotic remains of former stars were thrown into the darkness of interstellar space by the supernova that created them. For many years they eluded scientists.
But now experts at the University of Sydney have recreated the full life cycle of ancient dead stars and drawn the first detailed map showing where their “corpses” hide.
“One of the problems with finding these ancient objects is that until now we had no idea where to look for them,” says Peter Tuthill, professor at the Sydney Institute of Astronomy.
“The oldest neutron stars and black holes were created when the galaxy was younger and had a different shape, and then underwent complex changes spanning billions of years.
Modeling all of this to find them was a big challenge.”
According to scientists, the created map of the “galactic underworld” may be shocking, since its shape is very different from images of the visible part of the Milky Way.
In particular, our galaxy’s characteristic spiral arms disappear entirely in the “underworld” version.
They are blurred due to the age of most of the remnants and the effects of the supernova energy impacts that created them.
Also, the “underworld of the galaxy” looks more “puffy” than the Milky Way.
Experts note that the most exciting part of the study of the “star necropolis” is yet to come. While technologies are being developed to study it.
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