The Milky Way Galaxy is huge with our small solar system acting as just a grain of sand of the giant beach that is the galaxy. NASA previously estimated that the galaxy spans approximately 100,000 light years across. With each light year representing about 6 trillion miles, we are talking about an almost unimaginable distance. If you think that's large, new research now suggests that the Milky Way could be 50,000 light years larger than previously thought.
The new research all comes down to a band of stars called the Monoceros Ring. These stars were first discovered in 2002 surrounding the outer-reaches of the Milky Way. At first, scientists thought these stars to be "a tidal debris stream" left over from the remnants of a neighboring dwarf galaxy. But a debate has now arisen over whether these starts are actually a part of our galaxy.
"It looks to me like maybe these patterns are following the spiral structure of the Milky Way, so they may be related," astronomer Heidi Newberg said.
Newberg, who was involved in the initial discover of the Monoceros Ring, discovered the new information while seeking evidence that the star stream was actually not a part of our galaxy. The evidence she found suggests the opposite is true. This revelation surprised her and means that, if the theory she and her colleagues reached is correct, the Milky Way is actually 50 percent larger than the current estimates.
Scientist Yan Xu, from the National Astronomical Observatories of China explains "We identified an asymmetry in disk stars that oscillates from the north to the south, to the north to the south across the galactic plane in the anticenter direction," Xu said.
"What we see now is that this apparent ring is actually a ripple in the disk. And it may well be that there are more ripples further out which we have not yet seen," she also added.
These new discoveries are set to be published in the Astrophysical Journal this week. However astronomers are already hoping that 3D, high-resolution images of the ring of stars could provide more information that will allow them to make a more conclusive estimation of the size of the galaxy in which we reside. For further investigation, scientists will utilize the Gaia telescope in Europe. As part of the research, they will not only examine the Monoceros Ring, but also stars beyond the Monoceros filament. If scientists determine that these stars area also found to be a part of the Milky Way, the size of our galaxy could grow even larger.
