[ad_1]
A large neighboring galaxy hidden behind the disk of the galaxy has discovered an international team of astronomers by badyzing Gaia data from the European Space Agency.
Scientists have called it a "ghost" since it is about a nearby galaxy whose existence has escaped the attention of astronomers who thought they were mapping accurately our galactic neighborhood.
The galaxy, named Antlia 2 (or Ant 2), managed to stay invisible partly because of the very low density of its stars and secondly because it was perfectly concealed behind the "veil" of our own galaxy.
As stated in the APE-MEP report, Ant 2 is about 130,000 light-years from our own galaxy. It's about a third of our own galaxy and is as big as the Magellanic cloud, another of our satellites, but it's 10,000 times lighter than this one.
The Gaia satellite has produced the most complete list of stars to date and has revealed new information about our galaxy and its "neighbors". To date, about 60 of our satellite galaxies have been identified and scientists do not rule out that there are many more, so far unseen as Ant2.
Gaia is an ESA space launch mission successfully launched on December 19, 2013, initially for a five-year mission, and that was extended until the end of 2020. Its main scientific product is a list of the position, movement, luminosity and color of more than a billion celestial bodies (mainly stars). The project was selected in 2000 as the cornerstone of Horizon 2000+. The data collected will improve our knowledge of the structure, creation and evolution of our galaxy, and will contribute significantly to a better understanding of the solar system, the exoplanets (the planets of other astral systems). from our neighboring galaxies. but also fundamental physics.
A GAIA download video:
[ad_2]
Source link
