Researchers created a new map of material located between the stars and the Milky Way. The findings could help researchers finally crack a stardust puzzle that has been unresolved for decades.
The work helps to uncover the location and composition of interstellar medium, which is the material found between the star systems within a galaxy, Johns Hopkins University reported. The material is mostly dust and gas left behind by dying stars; this often acts as the "building blocks" of new stars and planets.
"There's an old saying that 'We are all stardust,' since all chemical elements heavier than helium are produced in stars," said Rosemary Wyse, a Johns Hopkins professor of physics and astronomy who played a prominent role in the research. "But we still don't know why stars form where they do. This study is giving us new clues about the interstellar medium out of which the stars form."
To make their findings the researchers looked at a light feature in stars called diffuse interstellar bands (DIBS). Which were first observed as "dark bands" in 1922, indicating some of the starlight was "missing" and was most likely being absorbed. Over 400 of these bands have been identified, but researchers are unsure of what causes them to appear.
Researchers have suggested the absorption of starlight that creates the bands is caused by unusually large molecules, but findings on this theory have been largely inconclusive. Getting to the bottom of the mysterious material us important because it could provide clues as to the chemistry between stars; the new maps could help.
The maps were assembled from information collected over a 10-year period through the Radial Velocity Experiment, also known as RAVE. In the future the researchers hope to create more maps in hope of gaining insight into the phenomenon.
The findings were published in the Aug. 15 edition of Science.
