Our galaxy has a twisted edge, which has baffled astronomers for years. However, they finally found the reason behind the mysterious warp in the Milky Way.
Milky Way's Warped Edge Due To Dark Matter
Astronomers may finally comprehend why the Milky Way is bent. They blame a halo of dark matter surrounding our galaxy for its edge being structured like a frisbee. The typical image of our galaxy looks like a flattened disk comparable to a vinyl record. However, the disk of our spiral galaxy also has a warp, which means it is somewhat more akin to a frisbee that has been stretched and twisted by an irate child, according to studies that have been done on the Milky Way's shape in great detail.
For a while, these features were somewhat mysterious. Still, now, calculations by astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and Smithsonian (CfA) suggest that the halo of dark matter surrounding the Milky Way may be "off-kilter," which may be the reason for the flared edge and warped shape of our galaxy.
The team has now expanded on that inference by determining that the orbit of those stars fits within a slanted, football-shaped dark matter halo using computer simulations. With its flared edge and warp, this was a very close match to the Milky Way.
According to study team member and CfA professor of astronomy Charlie Conroy in a statement, a slanted black halo is quite common in simulations. Still, its impact on the Milky Way has never been investigated. It turns out that the tilt provides a beautiful explanation for both the magnitude and the direction of the wavy disk of our galaxy.
The team's discoveries also lend credence to the theory that galactic collisions have caused the Milky Way to expand. Jiwon Jesse Han, study team head and a physicist connected to the CfA, asserted that if the galaxy were evolving independently, it would have had this lovely, spherical halo and this nice, flat disk.
Our galaxy's tilt and football-shaped halo point to a merger event in which two galaxies collide. This discovery may not only shed light on the history of the Milky Way but also on the nature of dark matter and how it affects galaxy evolution.
What Is Dark Matter?
Dark matter is a part of the universe whose existence is known more by the gravitational attraction than by the light it emits. Regarding dark energy, there are more questions than answers. Experts know that dark energy affects the expansion of the cosmos. However, nothing much about it is known besides that.
It turns out that 68% of the cosmos comprises dark energy. The percentage of dark matter is about 27%. Everything else, including all normal matter ever seen by our sensors, makes up less than 5% of the cosmos. Maybe it shouldn't even be considered "normal" matter because it makes up such a tiny fraction of the universe.
According to a previous analysis, dark energy, the force assumed to be responsible for the universe's expansion, can cause the cosmos to expand until it reaches a specific size and then contract once more. The universe will reportedly experience a significant crunch before reaching an infinite density, after which dark energy will cause a period of fast inflation and restart the cycle.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is starting a brand-new mission to investigate the dark universe in depth. Astronomers and scientists have been perplexed by dark matter and dark energy, but the Euclid mission from NASA and ESA may soon provide some clarification.
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