It seems that rippling energies have rendered the Milky Galaxy in a state of flux, and according to astronomers, the cosmic body is in a high state of agitation.
Scientists compared the Milky Way galaxy to a flat, tranquil pool of water. When a stone is dropped, it disrupts this area of the universe, creating waves and oscillations in a calm pool of water. But it might be that it has happened more than once in the eons of existence, noted researchers and the galaxy have periods of this extreme agitation.
Milky Way Inorderly, No Longer Tranquil
A new study was posted on September 15 via the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, stating the scientists expound how the influence of a close-by mini-galaxy called the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy is the culprit of all this chaotic fluxing.
This smaller galaxy, called Sagittarius, seems to have collided with the Milky Way two or three times, resulting in flux and oscillation that can still be heard at various frequencies, reported Live Science.
Using information gathered from the Gaia space observatory of the European Space Agency, most of the movements of 20 million stars in the Milky Way were tracked. Still, the solar bodies located in the outermost arms of the galactic disc, in particular, are of greatest concern.
According to astronomers, findings indicate that the mysterious ripple, or oscillatory movement, is causing irregular movements in the Milky Way galaxy.
Stars in the Milky Way Behaving in Ripples
One of the study's authors, Paul McMillan, an astronomer at Lund University in Sweden, made a statement about the activity. The star is wobbling in an up and down movement at differing velocities.
What occurred has been compared to a galactic seismic event, also known as galactic seismology, a wave-patterned occurrence that is actually a ripple coming from something causing a disturbance. For a while, it made stars in the Milky Way act strange.
One conclusion drawn from the observational data is that these ripples, which are still visible today, are hundreds of millions of years old and were created during the collision of the Milky Way and the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy.
McMillian compared it to the ripples created by a stone on a still body of water, but he also noted that Sagittarius had collided after the initial galactic crash. The astronomical data shows that the result is the crazed throbbing of stars.
Sagittarius Collides with Milky Way
Studies about this more ancient galactic crash could suggest that the dwarf galaxy collided at the Milky Way's midpoint. From that point of impact, which let loose shockwaves spread from the center to the outer spiral arms due to the unimaginable energy released by the impact that affected all-stars then.
The study aims to unravel the turbulent past of Earth's home galaxy and the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. A mere shrimp compared to the Milky Way's estimated mass of 1.5 trillion suns, the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy is currently estimated to be 400 times the mass of the sun.
Scientists suspect that Sagittarius used to be much greater yet lost up to 20% of its bulk to the milky way after recurring collisions over a few billion years.
Ideas from the galactic crash in the 2011 study are it changed the mass and dimension, spiral arms came from it, and many stars were born from the collision. All these rippling energies came from a colliding dwarf galaxy and the Milky Way galaxy, remarked astronomers in the study.
