. Scientists discovered that a small group of stars was occupying a region of the Milky Way thought to only contain older stars. Experts believed that only very old stars were able to inhabit the galaxy’s central bulge. The Milky Way, an area in our galaxy believed to be depleted of all raw material for the creation of new stars long ago. This was well before any young stars emerged. Astrophysical Journal Letters reports that it appears the bulge continues to create stars. This is according to a group of scientists. The Milky Way’s center is populated by young stars (red dots), which was where it had been thought that only old stars were present (the yellow star, our Sun). Image: European Southern Observatory. Dante Minniti, Santiago, Chile, was part of a team that analyzed data from several years at the European Southern Observatory’s Vista telescope, Chile’s Atacama Desert. The telescope was focused on the darkened center of the Milky Way, from 2010 up to 2014.. Cepheids were very bright, very luminous yellow stars. They change their brightness quite frequently with periods between peak and peak of approximately one to seventy day. Scientists can use their variability as a “benchmark” to determine their distance to Earth. Threety-five young stars were detected. However, only thirty-five of the 655 Cepheids observed at the centre of the Milky Way were considered ‘classical Cepheids,’ which are young stars. These stars are younger than those residing within the central bulge. The researchers discovered that the star-mapping team had formed a circle around the centre of the galaxy. According to the European Central Observatory, Istvan Dekany (lead author) said that the central bulge in the Milky Way was thought to be made up of a large number of older stars. The VISTA data revealed something completely new, and it is very young according to astronomical standards. Vista has the ability to see deep within this area thanks to its wide-field, high-resolution imaging at infrared wavelengths. Dekany stated that the study was a strong demonstration of Vista’s unmatched abilities for probing obscured regions of galactic space. According to the authors, this is evidence that new stars continue to be created at the centre of the Milky Way. The scientists explained that further research is needed to find out if these stars are created near the spot they were found or somewhere else (and then moved). They will use Vista once again to discover the truth. The journal’s Abstract stated that the discovery of classical Cepheids over a period of time (age spread) implies that there has been a steady supply of new stars in central regions of the Galaxy in recent 100 millions of years. Citation: I. Dekany and D. Minniti and D. Majaesss trace a thin and young stellar disk through the Galaxy’s bulge. The Astrophysical Journal Letters Volume 812, No 2. October 2015. October 2015.
Researchers have found young stars where older stars were believed to be absent in the Milky Way
