The Milky Way's halo might be thousands of times hotter than the sun's surface
A new study finds that the Milky Way halo could be much hotter than originally believed.
by Jordan Strickler June 2, 2020
Artist’s illustration of the halo of hot gas surrounding the Milky Way galaxy (Credit: NASA)
Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, contains a halo that consists of a hazy fog of dust, gas, and dark matter. Scientists already believe the enormous halo to measure at least 300,000 light-years across (as a reference point, the Milky Way itself reaches 100,000 light-years across space).
Now, a new study out of Ohio State University (OSU) suggests that the extreme temperatures the researchers found in a previous OSU analysis — up to 10 million degrees Kelvin, or about 18 million degrees Fahrenheit — could possibly be found throughout the whole halo. Prior it was believed that only certain parts of the halo could reach the high temperature.
“We can’t say for sure that it is everywhere, because we have not analyzed the entire halo,” said Smita Mathur, professor of astronomy at OSU. “But we know now that the temperatures we saw in the first study definitely are not unique, and that is very exciting.”
A recent April study out of the University of California, Irvine found that the Milky Way could be flinging stars into the outer halo. The movements are believed to be triggered by powerful supernova explosions. Supernovas occur when stars explode and lose most of their mass.
More:
https://www.zmescience.com/science/milky-way-halo-hotter-05235/
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