The disc containing most of the stars in the Milky Way can be much larger than the scientists previously thought.
A new data search of the Apogee and Lamost projects to obtain star spectra, researchers found that the stars on the disc are much further away than the previous estimates suggested.
Scientists now say that the disk is approximately 200,000 light-years in diameter.
A new data search of the Apogee and Lamost projects to obtain star spectra, the researchers found that the stars on the disk are much more advanced than the previous estimates
The new study of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) and the National Astronomical Observatories of Beijing (NAOC) compared the abundance of metals (heavy elements) in the stars of the galactic plane with those of Halo.
According to the researchers, there may be some stars that are situated more than four times the distance from the Sun of the galactic center.
"The disk of our galaxy is huge, about 200,000 light-years in diameter," says the main author of the study, Martín López-Corredoira, researcher of the IAC.
In the study, researchers found that there are disco and halo stars at great distances from the center.
Being a spiral galaxy, the Milky Way has what is known as arms and a spherical halo that surrounds it.
Using the star metals in the catalogues of high-quality spectral atlases of Apogee and Lamost, and with the distances in which objects are situated, we show that there is a appreciable fraction of stars with larger metallicity, disk characteristics Stars, farther than the previously assumed limit on the radius of the Galaxy disk, "says co-author Carlos Allende, a researcher at IAC.
The new study of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) and the National Astronomical Observatories of Beijing (NAOC) compared the abundances of metals (heavy elements) in the stars of the galactic plane with those of Halo.
How much is the oldest star on the dairy road?
Scientists from Spain have discovered one of the oldest stars of the Milky Way
A newly discovered star is believed to be one of the oldest of the Milky Way.
Scientists at the Canary Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) in Spain believe that it may have formed about 300 million years after the "Big Bang".
The IAC researcher, Jonay González Hernández, said: "The theory predicts that these stars could form soon thereafter and use material from the first supernovae, whose progenitors were the first massive stars of the galaxy."
The researchers expect the star, known as J0815 + 4729, which is aligned with the Lynx constellation, to help them learn more about the Big Bang, the popular theory about the evolution of the galaxy.
The director of the IAC, Rafael Grindstone, said: ' The lithium detection gives us crucial information related to the nucleosynthesis of the Big Bang. We are working on a high resolution Spectrograph and wide spectral range in order to be able to measure (among other things) the detailed chemical composition of stars with unique properties such as J0815 + 4729.
The disc of the Milky Way contains a large part of its stars, explains the researchers.
Besides, there are comparatively few stars.
The new study provides a new insight into the composition and speed of the stars on the disc and a more accurate measurement.
"We do not use models, which sometimes give us only the answers for which they were designed, but we employ only the statistics of a large number of objects," said Francisco Garzón.
"The results are therefore free from a priori assumptions, in addition to some basic and well established presuppositions."
DAILYMAIL.CO