The Radcliffe wavea huge gaseous structure near the Milky Way made up of numerous star formations was discovered in 2020, and now scientists have discovered that it moves much like the “wave” created by fans in a football stadium.
A study published last Tuesday by the company Nature and who leads Harvard University (USA) used star movement baby births in gas clouds along the Radcliffe wave to trace the motion of their natal gas and show that it is indeed undulating.
Combining mission data Gaia from the European Space Agency, using a “3D dust mapping” technique, the team observed the formation of a pattern that led to the discovery of the Radcliffe wave, the vast chain of clouds that give rise to star clusters. 500 light years from the Sun at its closest point.
New research has found that this structure not only looks like a wave, but also moves like a wave, oscillating through space-timeHarvard University said in a statement. In total, the wave spans about 8,800 light years.
Using the new version of Gaia data, the team assigned 3D motions to the wave’s young star clusters and was able to determine that the entire wave is moving up and down, as what physicists call “traveling wave”.
understand behavior of this gigantic structure It now allows researchers to focus their attention on even more complex questions, such as determining what caused it to move and why it moves the way it does.
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So far, theories vary, from explosions of massive stars, called supernovae, to disturbances outside the galaxy, such as satellite galaxy a dwarf that will collide with our Milky Way.
The paper also includes a calculation of the amount of dark matter that could contribute to the gravity responsible for the motion of the wave.
As a result, no significant dark matter is needed to explain this motion gravity of ordinary matter alone is enough to drive the ripple.
