The key was not in the stars, but in his birth

If there is something more difficult than putting doors in the field, it is possibly finding the edge of our galaxy. Or any other, really. They are not perfectly well-defined spacesbut rather a kind of cloud with fuzzy edges. Even so, science has been trying to find the limits of our own galaxy for many years: the milky way. Until now it had been impossible, but an international team of scientists, led by the University of Malta, has discovered that we were defining the borders in the wrong way.

Almost 40,000 light years. According to this new researchthe closest thing to an edge of the galaxy would be the place where stars stop forming. This, based on their calculations, is located approximately at a point between 36,800 and 39,600 light years from the center. That would be the radius.

There are stars further away. Until now, the error was in considering that the edges of the Milky Way are those that house the most distant stars. This concept of edge is constantly being redefined. The better the tools for detecting stars, the farther away they are. However, these scientists observed that there are stars that move after their formation. Especially when a supernova explosion occurs nearby. Therefore, they could not help us define something like a border. In fact, there are stars up to 10,000 light years away. further of what these researchers have defined as a possible limit.

In this case, the radius is measured in kiloparsecs, which are equivalent to 3,262 light years each.

This is how stars are born in a galaxy. The first stars are born in the centers of galaxies, where there is a greater density of gas and dust. Then, as gravity allows small pockets of condensed gas to form, they can form further and further away as well. Therefore, the oldest stars are those in the center and the most distant ones are the newest. That’s not counting those that disperse and move to other points in the galaxy. Precisely the ones that had made it so difficult to find those supposed galactic borders.

In search of stable orbits. The authors of the recently published study focused on analyzing stable orbits. Those whose stars have barely migrated beyond their point of origin. Thus, they have found the limit of stellar birth. Telescopes can look further.

The materials are there, but something is missing. Beyond these borders there is still gas and dust. However, it has not condensed enough to guarantee star birth. Possibly, it is due to the absence of sufficiently intense gravitational processes. In any case, despite having found something resembling a diffuse edge for the first time, it is important to insist that doors cannot be placed on the Milky Way, like the field. And much less borders.

Image | Freepik | University of Malta

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