Universe: The Milky Way Double Discovery

An important question in astronomical physics is star formation. The cold cloud of gas and dust slides under its own gravitational pull, increasing the pressure and temperature inside the cloud until hydrogen melts into helium and the energy released by this nuclear fusion. Previous observations have shown that galaxies formed stars differently at the beginning of our universe, a mystery to science.

To clarify this question, the research team looked around Nicholas Salsenavar Cool molecular gas, the fuel for star formation with radio telescopes, from the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Vienna. They used integrated data from various Spanish radio telescopes. Molecular hydrogen is not directly visible in the radio range, but gas can be detected by observing carbon monoxide.

Salsenavar has already done the preparatory work for this project in his postgraduate dissertation on co-editing. Helmut Dannerbour Instructo de Astrofísica de Canarias described. Now At the Radio Astronomy Max Planck Institute, He will continue the nature of cold gas in distant galaxies as part of his doctoral research.

Sea Horse Galaxy

Scientists selected a galaxy whose brightness was enhanced by the gravitational lens of an intermediate galaxy. This effect causes very large cosmic objects with their gravitational force to bend the light of an object behind them, which acts like a magnifying glass. “The galaxy discovered in this way is strongly distorted in its shape by this effect and resembles a seahorse,” Sulzenauer told the APA about the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Study.

Mithilfe des 30-Meter-Radioteleskop des Institute of Millimeter Radio Astronomy (IRAMIn Sierra Nevada, they determined the distance of the galaxy’s nickname “Cosmic Sea Horse”: its light has already traveled 9.6 billion years. Along with observations from another 40-meter radio telescope near Madrid, they were also able to determine the physical properties of the fuel for star formation. “The gravitational lens effect converts both telescopes into instruments with bowls measuring 300 and 400 meters – in fact it is almost impossible to create,” says Danerbauer.

Analysis of cold molecular gas revealed previously unknown mechanisms before the birth of stars at a time when star formation was at its peak in the universe. The excitation of molecular gas by temperature and gas density is similar to that of the Milky Way in the oceanic galaxy – thus the conditions and efficiency for star formation are very similar. “We were able to show that the main sequence with a slowly forming star formation is called a galaxy,” says Bodo Ziegler, associate professor at the University of Vienna. The Milky Way galaxy is one of them.