Astronomers discover a cluster of a thousand very young stars that is flying apart for unknown reasons
Astronomers using data from Gaia, which measured the precise distance and position of more than two billion stars, have discovered a very young cluster of a thousand stars that is flying apart for unknown reasons.
The cluster is about 650 light-years away in Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, and has been nicknamed “Ophion” in honor of its resident constellation. “Ophion is filled with stars that are set to rush out across the galaxy in a totally haphazard, uncoordinated way, which is far from what we’d expect for a family so big,” said Huson in a statement. “What’s more, this will happen in a fraction of the time it’d usually take for such a large family to scatter. It’s like no other star family we’ve seen before.”
You can read the peer-reviewed paper here [pdf]. The scientists proposed several theories that might explain what disrupted this cluster so early in its history, but none are very convincing, with the data available.
Astronomers using data from Gaia, which measured the precise distance and position of more than two billion stars, have discovered a very young cluster of a thousand stars that is flying apart for unknown reasons.
The cluster is about 650 light-years away in Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, and has been nicknamed “Ophion” in honor of its resident constellation. “Ophion is filled with stars that are set to rush out across the galaxy in a totally haphazard, uncoordinated way, which is far from what we’d expect for a family so big,” said Huson in a statement. “What’s more, this will happen in a fraction of the time it’d usually take for such a large family to scatter. It’s like no other star family we’ve seen before.”
You can read the peer-reviewed paper here [pdf]. The scientists proposed several theories that might explain what disrupted this cluster so early in its history, but none are very convincing, with the data available.