LONDON: The Milky Way has up to three times more star-forming material than previously thought, according to a new survey using Australia’s Mopra radio telescope.
The surprising discovery, reported in the Astrophysical Journal, has implications for how much longer our galaxy will keep making new stars.
“We thought the Milky Way would continue making stars at its present rate for another two billion years; it now seems more likely to be six billion,” said the study’s lead author Dr Peter Barnes of the University of Florida.
“These images show that we have probably underestimated the amount of material in these star forming clouds by a factor of two or three.
“This has important consequences for how we measure star formation, not only in the Milky Way, but also for galaxies beyond.”
The new findings are among the first results from the Three-millimetre Ultimate Mopra Milky Way Survey (ThrUMMS), the most comprehensive mapping survey ever undertaken of the galaxy’s star-forming clouds.
The survey, which provides new insights into the temperatures, gas density and location of the clouds, could help astronomers understand how the Sun, Earth, and the rest of our solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago.
The astronomers expected to find molecular clouds, which are mainly made of cold, dense hydrogen gas, in the galaxy’s spiral arms where most star formation happens.
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