Astronomers from the University of Michigan have , for the first time , measured the focal ratio at which the Milky Way ring is rotating , a discovery that could provide unexampled clues on how Galax urceolata form and evolve .
Our galaxy is skirt by a gaseous halo that draw out for many one C of thousands of light-headed - years from the center . It has a masses comparable to the whitish direction itself and it was believed to be still , compared to our quickly rotating galaxy .
" This fly in the face of anticipation , " lead author Edmund Hodges - Kluck articulate in astatement . " masses just assumed that the disk of the Milky Way spin while this enormous reservoir of hot gas is stationary – but that is wrong . This red-hot gas reservoir is rotating as well , just not quite as tight as the disc . "
The petrol in the annulus is unbelievably hot , millions of degrees , but very go around out so it ’s unmanageable to estimate how cursorily it ’s prompt . The research worker had to cautiously detect movement as the gas moved in front of very bright extragalactic source , like active supermassive black hole and quasar .
In a paper publish in theAstrophysical Journal , they cover that the gas is moving at about 180 kilometers per 2d ( 400,000 miles per hour ) , which is only slightly slower than the rotational velocity at the flange of the Milky Way ( 240 km / s , 540,000 mph ) .
" The gyration of the spicy gloriole is an unbelievable clue to how the Milky Way formed , " go forward Hodges - Kluck . " It order us that this red-hot atmosphere is the original source of a wad of the matter in the disc . "
galax are believed to have form when intergalactic materials begin to fall into the large gravitational wells formed by benighted matter . The rotation of the halo narrate us how quickly the material must fall towards the center , and also how quickly the Milky Way came together .
" Now that we know about the rotation , theoriser will begin to use this to learn how our whitish Way galaxy formed – and its eventual fate , " added Professor Joel Bregman , co - writer of the subject .
