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19 DC 2021 01:27 GMT

One of the main hypotheses is that they may be the remains of tidal weapons from the Milky Way’s disk that have been ejected by various satellites in the past.

An international team of astronomers They created A new map of the outer disk of the Milky Way reveals the existence of giant structures along the edge of the galaxy.

According to Cervin Laport, lead author of the study, this area has not been well explored due to the presence of dust that “severely covers most of the galaxy”. “Although dust affects the light of a star, it does not affect its motion. As a result, its path can be used to perform tomography on the outermost parts of the galaxy,” he explained.

In this way, massive spinning filaments of obscure evidence were identified. Experts speculate that these are the remains of tidal weapons from the Milky Way disk that have been ejected by various satellites in the past.

“Another possibility is that not all of these structures are actually authentic disk components, but instead form the vertical density wavemarks seen in the projection and create the optical illusion that the disk is highly structured,” Laporte added.

The discovery was made thanks to the European Space Agency’s Gaya Space Observatory, a project that seeks to map the Milky Way in three dimensions.

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