Scientists measured the distance to the eight “star nurseries” Local sleeves.
“Local arm” of the milky way turned out to be four times longer than previously thought. This was reported in the online edition of Science Advances.
“We rarely paid attention to the sleeve of the Galaxy. Always thought that he is the same size as the milky way. After further research it was found that it is more than four times than we previously thought. The milky way is the most studied galaxy, but no one knows exactly what it is and how much distance between the stars. Using the VLBA radio telescope using a new technique for the parallax measurement, we measured the approximate length of the Local arm of the milky way. It turned out that he stretches for 20 thousand light-years or even more, but not 5 thousand light-years as previously estimated,” – said mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysical center in Cambridge.
See also: Scientists have created a three-dimensional map of the milky Way
Scientists note, this study is very important, because it indicated that our Galaxy is not a perfect form. It is present in “the third wheel” and is a “Local hole”. Perhaps in the future scientists will review some facts that relate to the process of forming the sleeves.
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