On a clear, moonless night, a pale, faintly shining ribbon is thrown across the whole sky in a bright arc - Milky Way like a ring encircling the whole sky. Looking at it through a telescope, you are convinced that it is a huge cluster of very faint stars.

Since the Milky Way encircles the entire sky, dividing it almost in half, then, obviously, our solar system is located near this plane, near the galactic plane, as it is called.

The farther from the plane of the Milky Way, the fewer faint stars there are and the less distance the star system stretches in these directions. In general, our star system called The galaxy, takes up space that looks like a lens from the side. It is flattened - thickest in the middle and thinner towards the edges. If we could see it “from above” or “from below”, it would have, roughly speaking, the form of a circle (not a ring). From the side, it would look like a spindle. But what is the size of this "spindle"? Is the arrangement of the stars uniform in it?

It became clear already for last years, although this question is answered by a simple examination of the Milky Way, which all consists, as it were, of a pile of stellar clouds. Some clouds are brighter, they have more stars (as, for example, in the constellations Sagittarius and Cygnus), while others are poorer in stars. solar system also found in one of them called local system .

The Milky Way - How We Can See It From Earth

The most powerful clouds of stars are in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius - this is where the core of the galaxy is located, and it is there that the Milky Way is brightest. Considering that we see the Sagittarius constellation "from the side", it is logical to conclude that our solar system is far from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, but rather shifted closer to its edge.

Considering that the diameter of our Galaxy is almost 100 thousand light years, the solar system is 25 thousand light years distant from its center, that is, about half of its radius.

The solar system revolves around the center of the Galaxy, which lies 25 thousand light-years away in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, at a speed of 250 km / sec. The shape of its orbit is still not known properly, but if it is close to a circle, which is likely, then the Sun completes one revolution along it in 200 million years. This period, if you like, can be taken as a "cosmic year" for measuring very long periods of time.

The whole history of mankind in comparison with such a period is only a brief moment! If we could see how the Sun rushes and turns in its orbit, as we see a train turning on the curve of the track, then we could not keep track of the revolutions of the planets around the Sun: they would seem to be spinning faster than an electric fan.

When rotating around the center of the Galaxy, not all stars move in exactly the same way, and, for example, short-period stars lag behind the Sun by 100 kilometers per second.

The movement of our solar system at a speed of 20 km / sec towards our "neighbor" constellation Lyra is movement inside our star cloud, or local system. It is small and does not prevent us, together with the entire local system, to revolve around the galactic center.

How bright the center of our Galaxy - the clouds of the Milky Way stars in the constellation Sagittarius - would have seemed, if they had not been concealed, overshadowed by the absorption of light in the masses that fills the space between us and this center!

The mass of our Galaxy, estimated now different ways, is equal to two hundred billion solar masses, and one thousandth of it is contained in interstellar gas and dust. The mass is almost the same, and the mass of the galaxy in the Triangle is estimated to be twenty times less.

Looking at the Milky Way and other galaxies from the side, it seems that the stars are so close in it that they literally rub against each other. In reality, this is not at all the case.
If we construct a model of the Milky Way, in which the stars would be depicted as raindrops, then in order to give a correct idea of ​​the distribution of stars within a typical galaxy, the mutual distances of the drops would have to be approximately 65 km!

Consequently, for every cubic centimeter of stellar matter there are more than 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 cubic centimeters.

Paradoxically, we are in a very disadvantageous position to study the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy. We live in it and see it from the inside. It's like trying to imagine the look of your home, being in your apartment and looking out the window.

But if our home is a Galaxy, then other homes are other galaxies. Therefore, one can guess about the appearance of our house by studying other houses that we see from the window.

Observing the Milky Way in the sky.

However, no one bothers us to look in the sky and what is visible directly "from the window." So what will an observer from Earth see?

The Milky Way passes through the constellations Swan, Cassiopeia and Perseus... The Milky Way is almost invisible. It stretches along the northern side of the sky in a small and low arc from the northwest (where Perseus stands) to the northeast (where the Swan stands). The highest point of this arc, in Cassiopeia, is midway between the and the horizon.

The Milky Way Galaxy is very majestic, beautiful. This huge world is our Motherland, our solar system. All the stars and other objects visible to the naked eye in the night sky are our galaxy. Although there are some objects that are located in the Andromeda Nebula - a neighbor of our Milky Way.

Description of the Milky Way

The Milky Way Galaxy is huge, 100 thousand light years in size, and, as you know, one light year is equal to 9460730472580 km. Our solar system is located from the center of the galaxy at a distance of 27,000 light years, in one of the arms, which is called the arm of Orion.

Our solar system revolves around the center of the Milky Way galaxy. This happens in the same way as the Earth revolves around the Sun. The solar system completes a full revolution in 200 million years.

Deformation

The Milky Way Galaxy looks like a disc with a bulge in the center. He is not perfect shape... On the one hand, there is a bend to the north of the center of the galaxy, and on the other, it goes down, then turns to the right. Outwardly, such a deformation is somewhat reminiscent of a wave. The disc itself is deformed. This is due to the presence of the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds nearby. They rotate around the Milky Way very quickly - this was confirmed by the Hubble telescope. These two dwarf galaxies are often referred to as satellites of the Milky Way. The clouds create a gravitationally bound system that is very heavy and quite massive due to the heavy elements in the mass. It is assumed that they are pulling a rope between galaxies, creating vibrations. The result is a deformation of the Milky Way galaxy. The structure of our galaxy is special, it has a halo.

Scientists believe that in billions of years, the Milky Way will be swallowed up by the Magellanic Clouds, and after a while it will be swallowed up by Andromeda.

Halo

Wondering which galaxy is the Milky Way, scientists began to study it. They managed to find out that 90% of its mass consists of dark matter, which creates a mysterious halo. Everything that can be seen with the naked eye from Earth, namely that luminous matter, is approximately 10% of the galaxy.

Numerous studies have confirmed that the Milky Way has a halo. Scientists have drawn up various models that take into account the invisible part without it. After the experiments, the opinion was put forward that if there were no halo, then the speed of movement of the planets and other elements of the Milky Way would be less than now. Because of this feature, it was assumed that most of the components are composed of invisible mass or dark matter.

Number of stars

One of the most unique is the Milky Way galaxy. The structure of our galaxy is unusual, it contains more than 400 billion stars. About a fourth of them are large stars. Note: other galaxies have fewer stars. There are about ten billion stars in the Cloud, some others consist of a billion, and in the Milky Way there are more than 400 billion of various stars, and only a small part of it is visible from the Earth, about 3000. It is impossible to say exactly how many stars are in the Milky Way, because how the galaxy is constantly losing objects due to their transformation into supernovae.

Gases and dust

About 15% of the galaxy's constituent is dust and gases. Could it be because of them that our galaxy is called the Milky Way? Despite its enormous size, we can see about 6,000 light years ahead, while the galaxy is 120,000 light years across. Maybe it is larger, but even the most powerful telescopes do not see further than this. This is due to the accumulation of gas and dust.

The thickness of the dust blocks visible light, but infrared light does pass through it, and scientists can create maps of the starry sky.

What came before

According to scientists, our galaxy has not always been like this. The Milky Way emerged from the merger of several other galaxies. This giant conquered other planets, areas, which had a strong impact on size and shape. Even now, the planets are being captured by the Milky Way galaxy. An example of this are objects Big Dog- a dwarf galaxy located near our Milky Way. Dog stars are periodically added to our universe, and from ours they move to other galaxies, for example, there is an exchange of objects with the Sagittarius galaxy.

Milky Way View

No scientist or astronomer can say exactly what our Milky Way looks like from above. This is because Earth is located in the Milky Way galaxy 26,000 light-years from the center. Due to this location, it is not possible to take pictures of the entire Milky Way. Therefore, any image of a galaxy is either images of other visible galaxies, or someone's fantasy. And we can only guess how it really looks. There is even a possibility that we now know as much about it as the ancient people who considered the Earth to be flat.

Centre

The center of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius A * - a great source of radio waves, suggesting that there is a huge black hole in the heart. It is believed to be just over 22 million kilometers in size, and this is the hole itself.

All substances that try to get into the hole form a huge disk, almost 5 million times larger than our Sun. But even this pulling force does not prevent new stars from forming at the edge of the black hole.

Age

According to estimates of the composition of the Milky Way galaxy, it was possible to establish an estimated age of about 14 billion years. The oldest star is just over 13 billion years old. The age of a galaxy is calculated by determining the age of the oldest star and the phases preceding its formation. Based on the available data, scientists have suggested that our universe is about 13.6-13.8 billion years old.

First, the bulge of the Milky Way was formed, then its middle part, in the place of which a black hole subsequently formed. Three billion years later, a disk with arms appeared. It gradually changed, and only about ten billion years ago it began to look the way it is now.

We are part of something more

All the stars in the Milky Way galaxy are part of a larger galactic structure. We are part of the Virgo Supercluster. The closest galaxies to the Milky Way, such as the Magellanic Cloud, Andromeda and other fifty galaxies, are one cluster, the Virgo Supercluster. A supercluster is a group of galaxies that covers a huge area. And this is only a small part of the stellar neighborhood.

The Virgo Supercluster contains more than a hundred cluster groups spread over 110 million light years in diameter. The Virgo cluster itself is a small part of the Laniakea supercluster, and it, in turn, is part of the Pisces-Cetus complex.

Rotation

Our Earth moves around the Sun, making a complete revolution in 1 year. Our Sun revolves in the Milky Way around the center of the galaxy. Our galaxy is moving in relation to a special radiation. The relic radiation is a convenient reference point that allows you to determine the speed of various matters in the Universe. Studies have shown that our galaxy rotates at a speed of 600 kilometers per second.

Appearance of the name

The galaxy got its name from its special appearance, reminiscent of spilled milk in the night sky. The name was given to her back in Ancient rome... Then it was called "expensive milk". Until now, it is called the Milky Way, associating the name with appearance white stripes in the night sky, with spilled milk.

References have been found about the galaxy since the era of Aristotle, who said that the Milky Way is the place where the celestial spheres are in contact with the earthly ones. Until the telescope was created, no one added anything to this opinion. And only from the seventeenth century people began to look at the world differently.

Our neighbours

For some reason, many people think that the closest galaxy to the Milky Way is Andromeda. But this opinion is not entirely correct. The closest "neighbor" to us is the Canis Major galaxy, located inside the Milky Way. It is located at a distance of 25,000 light years from us, and 42,000 light years from the center. In fact, the Big Dog is closer to us than to the black hole in the center of the galaxy.

Before the discovery of Canis Major at a distance of 70 thousand light years, Sagittarius was considered the closest neighbor, and after that - the Large Magellanic Cloud. Unusual stars with a huge density of class M were discovered in Pse.

According to the theory, the Milky Way absorbed Canis Major along with all its stars, planets and other objects.

Collision of galaxies

Recently, more and more information has been encountered that the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way, the Andromeda Nebula, will swallow our universe. These two giants formed at about the same time - about 13.6 billion years ago. It is believed that these giants are capable of uniting galaxies, and due to the expansion of the Universe, they must move away from each other. But, contrary to all the rules, these objects are moving towards each other. The speed of movement is 200 kilometers per second. It is estimated that in 2-3 billion years Andromeda will collide with the Milky Way.

Astronomer J. Dubinsky created the collision model presented in this video:

The collision will not lead to a global catastrophe. And after a few billion years, a new system will form, with the usual galactic forms.

Lost galaxies

Scientists have carried out a large-scale study of the starry sky, covering about an eighth of it. As a result of the analysis of the star systems of the Milky Way galaxy, it was possible to find out that there are previously unknown streams of stars on the outskirts of our universe. This is all that remains of small galaxies that were once destroyed by gravity.

The telescope installed in Chile made great amount images that allowed scientists to assess the sky. The images estimate that our galaxy is surrounded by a dark matter halo, rarefied gas and scanty stars, remnants of dwarf galaxies that were once swallowed up by the Milky Way. With a sufficient amount of data, scientists have managed to collect the "skeleton" of the dead galaxies. It's like in paleontology - it's hard to tell from a few bones what the creature looked like, but with enough data, you can assemble a skeleton and guess what the lizard was. So it is here: the information content of the images made it possible to recreate eleven galaxies that were swallowed up by the Milky Way.

Scientists are confident that as they observe and evaluate the information received, they will be able to find several more new decayed galaxies that were "eaten" by the Milky Way.

We're under fire

According to scientists, the hyperspeed stars in our galaxy did not originate in it, but in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Theorists cannot explain many points regarding the existence of such stars. For example, it is impossible to say exactly why a large number of hyperspeed stars are concentrated in Sextant and Leo. After revising the theory, scientists came to the conclusion that such a speed can only develop due to the impact on them of a black hole located in the center of the Milky Way.

Recently, more and more stars are being discovered that do not move from the center of our galaxy. After analyzing the trajectory of superfast stars, scientists managed to find out that we are under attack from the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Death of the planet

By observing the planets in our galaxy, scientists were able to see how the planet died. She was consumed by an aging star. During the expansion and transformation into a red giant, the star engulfed its planet. And another planet in the same system changed its orbit. Seeing this and assessing the state of our Sun, scientists have come to the conclusion that the same will happen with our star. In about five million years, it will turn into a red giant.

How the galaxy works

Our Milky Way has several arms that rotate in a spiral. The center of the entire disk is a giant black hole.

In the night sky, we can see the galactic arms. They look like white stripes, reminiscent of a milky road that is strewn with stars. These are the branches of the Milky Way. They are best seen in clear weather during the warm season, when there is the greatest amount of cosmic dust and gases.

The following arms are distinguished in our galaxy:

1. A branch of a square.
2. Orion. Our solar system is located in this arm. This sleeve is our "room" in the "house".
3. Carina-Sagittarius Sleeve.
4. Branch of Perseus.
5. Shield Branch of the Southern Cross.

Also in the composition there is a core, a gas ring, dark matter. It supplies about 90% of the entire galaxy, and the remaining ten are visible objects.

Our solar system, Earth and other planets are a single whole of a huge gravitational system that can be seen every night on a clear sky. In our "house" a variety of processes are constantly taking place: stars are born, disintegrate, other galaxies are bombarding us, dust and gases appear, stars change and go out, others flare up, lead a round dance around ... And all this is happening somewhere, far away in a universe about which we know so little. Who knows, maybe the time will come when people will be able to get to other arms and planets of our galaxy in a matter of minutes, travel to other universes.

Milky Way (MP) Is a huge gravitationally bound system containing at least 200 billion stars, thousands of giant clouds of gas and dust, clusters and nebulae. Belongs to the class of barred spiral galaxies. The MP is compressed in the plane and in profile is similar to a "flying saucer".

The Milky Way with the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Triangle Galaxy (M33), and more than 40 dwarf satellite galaxies - their own and Andromeda - all together form the Local Group of Galaxies, which is part of the Local Supercluster (Virgo Supercluster).

Our Galaxy has the following structure: a core of billions of stars with a black hole in the center; a disk of stars, gas and dust 100,000 light-years in diameter and 1,000 light-years thick; in the middle of the disk, a bulge 3,000 light-years thick. years; sleeves; a spherical halo (corona) containing dwarf galaxies, globular star clusters, individual stars, groups of stars, dust and gas.

The central regions of the Galaxy are characterized by a strong concentration of stars: there are many thousands of them in each cubic parsec near the center. The distances between the stars are tens and hundreds of times less than in the vicinity of the Sun.

The galaxy rotates, but not evenly with the entire disk. With approaching the center, the angular velocity of rotation of stars around the center of the Galaxy increases.

In the galactic plane, in addition to the increased concentration of stars, there is also an increased concentration of dust and gas. Between the center of the Galaxy and the spiral arms (branches) there is a gas ring - a mixture of gas and dust that radiates strongly in the radio and infrared range. The width of this ring is about 6 thousand light years. It is located in an area between 10,000 and 16,000 light years from the center. The ring of gas contains billions of solar masses of gas and dust and is the site of active star formation.

The Galaxy has a corona that contains globular clusters and dwarf galaxies (Large and Small Magellanic Clouds and other clusters). The galactic corona also contains stars and groups of stars. Some of these groups interact with globular clusters and dwarf galaxies.

The plane of the Galaxy and the plane of the Solar system do not coincide, but are at an angle to each other, and the solar planetary system revolves around the center of the Galaxy in about 180-220 million Earth years - this is how much one galactic year lasts for us.

In the vicinity of the Sun, it is possible to track sections of two spiral arms, which are approximately 3 thousand light years distant from us. According to the constellations where these areas are observed, they were named the Sagittarius arm and the Perseus arm. The sun is located almost midway between these spiral branches. But relatively close to us (by galactic standards), in the constellation Orion, there is another, not very clearly defined arm - the Orion arm, which is considered an offshoot of one of the main spiral arms of the Galaxy.

The speed of rotation of the Sun around the center of the Galaxy almost coincides with the speed of the compaction wave that forms the spiral arm. This situation is atypical for the Galaxy as a whole: the spiral arms rotate at a constant angular velocity, like spokes in wheels, and the movement of stars occurs with a different pattern, therefore, almost the entire stellar population of the disk either falls into the spiral arms or falls out of them. The only place, where the speeds of the stars and spiral arms coincide - this is the so-called corotation circle, and it is on it that the Sun is located.

For the Earth, this circumstance is extremely important, since violent processes occur in the spiral arms, generating powerful radiation that is destructive for all living things. And no atmosphere could protect against him. But our planet exists in a relatively quiet place in the Galaxy and has not been exposed to these cosmic cataclysms for hundreds of millions (or even billions) years. Perhaps that is why life on Earth was able to be born and survive.

An analysis of the rotation of the Galaxy has shown that it contains large masses of non-luminous (non-radiating) matter called "hidden mass" or "dark halo". The mass of the Galaxy, taking into account this hidden mass, is estimated at about 10 trillion solar masses. According to one hypothesis, some of the hidden mass may be contained in brown dwarfs, in gas giant planets that occupy an intermediate position between stars and planets, and in dense and cold molecular clouds that have low temperature and are not available for normal observation. In addition, in our and other galaxies there are many bodies the size of the planet, which are not included in any of the circumstellar systems and therefore are not visible through telescopes. Part of the hidden mass of galaxies may belong to "extinct" stars. According to another hypothesis, galactic space (vacuum) also contributes to the amount of dark matter. Latent mass is not only in our Galaxy, it is in all galaxies.

The problem of dark matter in astrophysics arose when it became clear that the rotation of galaxies (including our own Milky Way) cannot be correctly described if we take into account only the ordinary visible (luminous) matter contained in them. In this case, all the stars of the Galaxy would have to scatter and scatter in the vastness of the Universe. In order for this not to happen (and this does not happen), the presence of additional invisible matter with a large mass is necessary. The action of this invisible mass is manifested exclusively in the gravitational interaction with visible matter. At the same time, the amount of invisible matter should be approximately six times higher than the amount of visible matter (information about this was published in the scientific journal Astrophysical Journal Letters). The nature of dark matter, like dark energy, the presence of which is assumed in the observable universe, remains unclear.

In our century, illuminated by hundreds of electric lights, the inhabitants of the city do not have the opportunity to see the Milky Way. This phenomenon, which occurs in our sky only at a certain period of the year, is observed only far from large settlements. In our latitudes, it is especially beautiful in August. In the last month of summer, the Milky Way rises above the Earth in the form of a giant celestial arch. This weak, blurry streak of light looks denser and brighter in the direction of Scorpio and Sagittarius, and paler and more diffused - near Perseus.

Stellar mystery

The Milky Way is unusual phenomenon, the secret of which was not revealed to people for a whole string of centuries. In the legends and myths of many peoples, it was called differently. An amazing glow was the mysterious Star Bridge leading to the heavenly tabernacles, the Road of the Gods and the magical Heavenly River carrying divine milk. Moreover, all peoples believed that the Milky Way is something sacred. The shining was worshiped. Even temples were built in his honor.

Few people know that our Christmas tree is an echo of the cults of people who lived in earlier times. Indeed, in ancient times it was believed that the Milky Way is the axis of the Universe or the World Tree, on the branches of which the stars ripen. That is why the Christmas tree was decorated at the beginning of the annual cycle. The earthly tree was an imitation of the eternally fruitful heavenly tree. Such a ritual gave hope for the favor of the gods and good harvest... So great was the significance of the Milky Way for our ancestors.

Scientific speculation

What is the Milky Way? The history of the discovery of this phenomenon goes back almost 2000 years. Plato also called this strip of light a seam connecting the heavenly hemispheres. In contrast, Anaxagoras and Demoxide argued that the Milky Way (which color we will consider) is a kind of illumination of the stars. She is the adornment of the night sky. Aristotle explained that the Milky Way is the glow in the air of our planet of luminous near-moon vapors.

There were many other assumptions as well. So, the Roman Mark Manilius said that the Milky Way is a constellation of small celestial bodies. It was he who was closest to the truth, but he could not confirm his assumptions in those days when the sky was observed only with the naked eye. All ancient explorers believed that the Milky Way was part of the solar system.

Galileo's discovery

The Milky Way revealed its secret only in 1610. It was then that the first telescope was invented, which Galileo Galilei used. The famous scientist saw through the device that the Milky Way is a real conglomeration of stars, which, when viewed with the naked eye, merged into a continuous faintly shimmering strip. Galileo even succeeded in explaining the heterogeneity of the structure of this strip.

It was caused by the presence of not only star clusters in the celestial phenomenon. There are also dark clouds. The combination of these two elements creates an amazing image of a nighttime phenomenon.

William Herschel's discovery

The study of the Milky Way continued in the 18th century. During this period, its most active researcher was William Herschel. The famous composer and musician made telescopes and studied the science of stars. The most important discovery of Herschel was the Great Plan of the Universe. This scientist observed the planets through a telescope and counted them in different parts of the sky. Studies have led to the conclusion that the Milky Way is a kind of stellar island in which our Sun is located. Herschel even drew a schematic blueprint for his discovery. In the figure, the star system was depicted as a millstone and had an elongated irregular shape... At the same time, the sun was inside this ring that surrounded our world. This is how all scientists imagined our Galaxy up to the beginning of the last century.

It was only in the 1920s that the work of Jacobus Kaptein saw the light of day, in which the Milky Way was described in most detail. At the same time, the author gave a scheme of the star island, which is as similar as possible to the one that is known to us at the present time. Today we know that the Milky Way is a Galaxy, which includes the solar system, the Earth and those individual stars that are visible to humans with the naked eye.

Structure of galaxies

With the development of science, astronomical telescopes became more powerful and more powerful. Moreover, the structure of the observed galaxies was becoming clearer. It turned out that they are not alike. Among them were the wrong ones. Their structure had no symmetry.

Elliptical and spiral galaxies have also been observed. To which of these types does the Milky Way belong? This is our Galaxy, and, being inside, it is very difficult to determine its structure. However, scientists have found an answer to this question as well. We now know what the Milky Way is. Its definition was given by researchers who found that it is a disk with an inner core.

general characteristics

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. At the same time, it has a bridge in the form of a huge interconnected gravitational force.

The Milky Way is believed to have existed for over thirteen billion years. This is the period during which about 400 billion constellations and stars, over a thousand huge gas nebulae, clusters and clouds, were formed in this Galaxy.

The shape of the Milky Way is clearly visible on the map of the Universe. When examining it, it becomes clear that this cluster of stars is a disk with a diameter of 100 thousand light years (one such light year is ten trillion kilometers). Thickness - 15 thousand, and depth - about 8 thousand light years.

How much does the Milky Way weigh? This (determining its mass is a very difficult task) is not possible to calculate. It is difficult to determine the mass of dark matter, which does not interact with electromagnetic radiation. This is why astronomers cannot definitively answer this question... But there are rough estimates, according to which, the weight of the Galaxy is in the range from 500 to 3000 billion solar masses.

The Milky Way is like all celestial bodies. It makes revolutions around its axis, moving in the Universe. Astronomers point to the uneven, even chaotic movement of our Galaxy. This is due to the fact that each of its constituent stellar systems and nebulae has its own, different from others, speed, as well as different shapes and types of orbits.

What are the links of the Milky Way? These are the core and the bridges, the disk and spiral arms, and the crown. Let's consider them in more detail.

Core

This part of the Milky Way is located in the core is a source of non-thermal radiation with a temperature of about ten million degrees. At the center of this part of the Milky Way is a compaction called the "bulge." This is a whole string of old stars moving in an elongated orbit. Most of these celestial bodies life cycle is already coming to an end.

In the central part of the core of the Milky Way is located This section of outer space, the weight of which is equal to the mass of three million suns, has a powerful gravity. Another black hole revolves around it, only of a smaller size. Such a system creates so strong that nearby constellations and stars move along very unusual trajectories.

The center of the Milky Way has other features as well. So, it is characterized by a large cluster of stars. Moreover, the distance between them is hundreds of times less than that observed on the periphery of the formation.

It is also interesting that, observing the nuclei of other galaxies, astronomers note their bright glow. But why is it not visible in the Milky Way? Some researchers have even suggested that there is no nucleus in our Galaxy. However, it has been determined that dark interlayers exist in spiral nebulae, which are interstellar accumulations of dust and gas. They are also in the Milky Way. These huge dark clouds do not allow the terrestrial observer to see the radiance of the core. If such a formation did not interfere with earthlings, then we could observe the core in the form of a shining ellipsoid, the size of which would exceed the diameter of a hundred moons.

Modern telescopes, which are capable of working in special ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum of radiation, helped people to answer this question. Using this modern technique, which was able to bypass the dust shield, scientists were able to see the core of the Milky Way.

Jumper

This element of the Milky Way crosses its central region and is 27 thousand light years across. The bridge consists of 22 million red stars with an impressive age. Around this formation is a gas ring, which contains a large percentage of molecular oxygen. All this suggests that the jumper of the Milky Way is an area where in the greatest number stars are formed.

Disk

This shape has the Milky Way itself, which is in constant rotational motion. It is interesting that the rate of this process depends on the distance of a particular area from the nucleus. So, in the very center, it is zero. At a distance of two thousand light-years from the core, the rotation speed is 250 kilometers per hour.

The outer side of the Milky Way is surrounded by a layer of atomic hydrogen. Its thickness is 1.5 thousand light years.

On the outskirts of the Galaxy, astronomers have discovered the presence of dense accumulations of gas with a temperature of 10 thousand degrees. These formations are several thousand light-years thick.

Five spiral arms

These are yet another constituent part of the Milky Way, located directly behind the gas ring. The spiral arms cross the constellations Cygnus and Perseus, Orion and Sagittarius, and Centaurus. These formations are unevenly filled with molecular gas. Such a composition introduces errors in the rules of rotation of the Galaxy.
The spiral arms exit directly from the core of the stellar island. We observe them with the naked eye, calling the light strip the Milky Way.

The spiral branches are projected onto each other, which makes it difficult to understand their structure. Scientists suggest that such arms were formed due to the presence in the Milky Way of giant waves of rarefaction and compression of interstellar gas, which move from the core to the galactic disk.

Crown

The Milky Way has a spherical halo. This is his crown. This formation consists of individual stars and constellation clusters. Moreover, the dimensions of the spherical halo are such that it goes beyond the boundaries of the Galaxy by 50 light years.

As a rule, the corona of the Milky Way contains low-mass and old stars, as well as dwarf galaxies and hot gas clusters. All these components produce motion in elongated orbits around the nucleus, making random rotation.

There is a hypothesis according to which the formation of the corona was a consequence of the absorption of small galaxies by the Milky Way. According to astronomers, the halo is about twelve billion years old.

The arrangement of the stars

In the cloudless night sky, the Milky Way is visible from anywhere on our planet. However, only a part of the Galaxy is visible to the human eye, which is a system of stars located inside the Orion arm.

What is the Milky Way? The definition of all its parts in space becomes most understandable if we consider the star map. In this case, it becomes clear that the Sun illuminating the Earth is located practically on the disk. This is almost the edge of the Galaxy, where the distance from the core is 26-28 thousand light years. Moving at a speed of 240 kilometers per hour, the Luminary spends 200 million years for one revolution around the core, so that during its entire existence it traveled around the disk, circling the core, only thirty times.

Our planet is in the so-called corotation circle. This is a place where the rotation speeds of the arms and stars are identical. This circle is characterized by elevated level radiation. That is why life, as scientists believe, could arise only on a planet near which there are a small number of stars.

Our Earth was such a planet. It is located on the periphery of the Galaxy, in its quietest place. That is why there have been no global cataclysms on our planet for several billion years, which often occur in the Universe.

Forecast for the future

Scientists suggest that in the future, collisions between the Milky Way and other galaxies are very likely, the largest of which is the Andromeda galaxy. But at the same time, it is not possible to speak specifically about anything. This requires knowledge about the magnitude of the transverse velocities of extragalactic objects, which are not yet available to modern researchers.

In September 2014, one of the models of the development of events was published in the media. According to her, four billion years will pass, and the Milky Way will absorb the Magellanic Clouds (Large and Small), and in another billion years it will itself become part of the Andromeda Nebula.

The science

Each person has his own idea of ​​what a house is. For some, it's a roof over their heads, for others, home is planet Earth, a rocky ball that prowls outer space along its closed path around the Sun.

No matter how big our planet seems to us, it is just a grain of sand in giant star system, the size of which is difficult to imagine. This star system is the Milky Way galaxy, which can also rightfully be called our home.

Sleeves of the galaxy

Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy that runs along the center of the spiral. About two-thirds of all known galaxies are spiral, and two-thirds of them are barred. That is, the Milky Way is included in the list most common galaxies.

Spiral galaxies have arms that extend from the center, like wheel spokes that curl in a spiral. Our solar system is located in the central part of one of the arms, which is called Orion arm.

The Orion Arm was once thought to be a small "outgrowth" of larger arms such as Perseus Sleeve or Centauri Shield Sleeve... Not so long ago, it was suggested that the Orion arm is indeed an offshoot of the Perseus arm and does not leave the center of the galaxy.

The problem is that we cannot see our galaxy from the outside. We can observe only those things that are around us, and judge what shape the galaxy has, being, as it were, inside it. However, scientists were able to calculate that this sleeve has a length of approximately 11 thousand light years and thickness 3,500 light years.

Supermassive black hole

The smallest supermassive black holes that scientists have discovered are approximately v 200 thousand times heavier than the sun. For comparison, ordinary black holes have a mass of only 10 times exceeding the mass of the sun. At the center of the Milky Way is an incredibly massive black hole, the mass of which is difficult to imagine.

For the past 10 years, astronomers have monitored the activity of stars in orbit around the star. Sagittarius A, a dense region at the center of our galaxy's spiral. Based on the movement of these stars, it was determined that in the center Sagittarius A *, which is hidden behind a dense cloud of dust and gas, there is a supermassive black hole, the mass of which 4.1 million times more mass Suns!

The animation below shows the actual movement of stars around a black hole. from 1997 to 2011 in the region of one cubic parsec in the center of our galaxy. When stars approach a black hole, they loop around it at incredible speeds. For example, one of these stars, S 0-2 moves with speed 18 million kilometers per hour: black hole first attracts her, and then sharply repels.

More recently, scientists watched as a cloud of gas approached a black hole and was torn to pieces its massive gravitational field. Parts of this cloud were swallowed up by the hole, and the remaining parts began to resemble long, thin macaroni more than 160 billion kilometers.

Magneticparticles

In addition to having a supermassive all-consuming black hole, the center of our galaxy boasts incredible activity: old stars die, and new ones are born with enviable constancy.

Not too long ago, scientists noticed something else in the galactic center - a stream of high-energy particles that extend over a distance 15 thousand parsecs across the galaxy. This distance is about half the diameter of the Milky Way.

The particles are invisible to the naked eye, but magnetic imaging shows that particle geysers occupy about two thirds of the visible sky:

What is behind this phenomenon? For one million years, stars have come and gone, feeding never stopping flow directed towards the outer arms of the galaxy. The geyser's total energy is a million times that of a supernova.

The particles are moving at incredible speed. Based on the structure of the particle stream, astronomers have built model magnetic field that dominates our galaxy.

Newstars

How often do new stars form in our galaxy? Researchers have been asking this question for many years. Managed to map the regions of our galaxy where there is aluminum-26, an isotope of aluminum that appears where stars are born or die. Thus, it was possible to find out that every year in the Milky Way galaxy is born 7 new stars and about twice in a hundred years a large star explodes to form a supernova.

The Milky Way Galaxy is not the largest producer of stars. When a star dies, it releases such raw materials into space, like hydrogen and helium... Hundreds of thousands of years later, these particles coalesce into molecular clouds, which eventually become so dense that their center collapses under their own gravity, thus forming a new star.

It looks like a kind of eco-system: death feeds new life ... Particles of a particular star in the future will be part of a billion new stars. This is how things are in our galaxy, which is why it is evolving. This leads to the formation of new conditions under which the likelihood of the emergence of planets similar to the Earth increases.

Planets of the Milky Way galaxy

Despite the constant death and birth of new stars in our galaxy, their number is calculated: the Milky Way is home to about 100 billion stars... Based on new research, scientists suggest that there is at least one or more planet orbiting each star. That is, everything in our corner of the Universe has from 100 to 200 billion planets.

Scientists who came to this conclusion studied stars like red dwarfs of spectral type M... These stars are smaller than our Sun. They make up 75 percent of all the stars in the Milky Way. In particular, the researchers drew attention to the star Kepler -32, who sheltered five planets.

How do astronomers discover new planets?

Planets, unlike stars, are difficult to detect as they do not emit their own light. We can say with confidence that there is a planet around a star, only when it stands in front of his star and obscures its light.

The planets of Kepler-32 behave exactly like exoplanets orbiting other dwarf stars M. They are approximately the same distance and are similar in size. That is, the Kepler -32 system is a typical system for our galaxy.

If there are over 100 billion planets in our galaxy, how many of them are Earth-like planets? It turns out not that much. There are dozens different types planets: gas giants, pulsar planets, brown dwarfs and planets on which molten metal rain falls from the sky. Those planets that consist of rocky rocks can be located too far or too close to the star, so they hardly look like Earth.

The results of recent studies have shown that in our galaxy, it turns out, there are more terrestrial planets than previously thought, namely: from 11 to 40 billion... Scientists have taken as an example 42 thousand stars similar to our Sun, and began to look for exoplanets that can revolve around them in a zone where it is not too hot and not too cold. Was found 603 exoplanets, among which 10 matched the search criteria.

By analyzing data on stars, scientists have proven the existence of billions of Earth-like planets that they have yet to officially discover. In theory, these planets are capable of maintaining temperatures for the existence of liquid water on them which, in turn, will allow life to arise.

Collision of galaxies

Even if new stars are constantly forming in the Milky Way galaxy, it will not be able to increase in size, if it doesn’t receive new material from somewhere else... And the Milky Way is indeed expanding.

Previously, we were not exactly sure how exactly the galaxy manages to grow, but recent discoveries have suggested that the Milky Way is cannibal galaxy that is, it has consumed other galaxies in the past and is likely to do so again, at least until some larger galaxy engulfs it.

Using a space telescope Hubble and the information obtained from photographs taken over seven years, scientists have discovered stars at the outer edge of the Milky Way, which move in a special way... Instead of moving towards the center or away from the center of the galaxy, like other stars, they seem to drift along the edge. The cluster is believed to be all that remains of another galaxy that was swallowed up by the Milky Way galaxy.

This clash appears to have happened several billion years ago and, most likely, it is not the last. Given the speed with which we are moving, our galaxy through 4.5 billion years will collide with the Andromeda galaxy.

Influence of satellite galaxies

Although the Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, it is not exactly a perfect spiral. In its center there is peculiar bulge, which appeared as a result of the molecules of gaseous hydrogen being ejected from the flat disk of the spiral.

For years, astronomers have puzzled over why the galaxy has such a bulge. It is logical to assume that the gas is drawn into the disk itself, rather than escaping outward. The longer they studied this issue, the more they got confused: the bulge molecules are not only pushed outward, but also vibrate at their own frequency.

What can cause this effect? Today, scientists believe that dark matter and satellite galaxies are to blame. Magellanic Clouds... These two galaxies are very small: together they make up only 2 percent from total mass Of the Milky Way. This is not enough to have an impact on him.

However, when dark matter moves through the Clouds, it creates waves, which obviously affect the gravitational attraction, amplifying it, and hydrogen under the influence of this attraction escaping from the center of the galaxy.

The Magellanic Clouds revolve around the Milky Way. The spiral arms of the Milky Way, under the influence of these galaxies, seem to sway in the place where they float.

Twin galaxies

While the Milky Way galaxy is unique in many ways, it is not uncommon. In the Universe, spiral galaxies predominate. Considering that only in our field of vision are about 170 billion galaxies, we can assume that somewhere there are galaxies very similar to ours.

But what if somewhere there is a galaxy - an exact copy of the Milky Way? In 2012, astronomers discovered such a galaxy. It even has two small moons that revolve around it and exactly match our Magellanic Clouds. By the way, only 3 percent spiral galaxies have similar companions, which are relatively short-lived. The Magellanic Clouds are likely to dissolve in a couple of billion years.

Finding such a similar galaxy with satellites, a supermassive black hole in the center and the same size is incredible luck. This galaxy was named NGC 1073 and it is so similar to the Milky Way that astronomers study it to find out more about our own galaxy. For example, we can see it from the side and thus better imagine what the Milky Way looks like.

Galactic year

On Earth, a year is the time during which the Earth manages to make full revolution around the sun... We return to the same point every 365 days. Our solar system in the same way revolves around a black hole located in the center of the galaxy. However, it makes a full turn in 250 million years... That is, since the dinosaurs disappeared, we have made only a quarter of a full turn.

In the descriptions of the solar system, it is rarely mentioned that it moves in outer space, like everything in our world. In relation to the center of the Milky Way, the solar system moves at a speed 792 thousand kilometers per hour... For comparison: if you were moving at the same speed, you could do trip around the world in 3 minutes.

The period of time during which the Sun manages to make a complete revolution around the center of the Milky Way is called galactic year. It is estimated that the Sun has lived only 18 galactic years.