Research by the Poles published in the prestigious Science magazine on Thursday proved for the first time in history that the Milky Way’s disk of stars is not flat but twisted in shape, Polish state news agency PAP has reported.
The scientists produced a three-dimensional model of the galaxy by tracking thousands of young, pulsating stars called cepheids which are spread throughout our Solar System’s home galaxy, according to the Reuters news agency.
The Polish astronomers tracked the cepheids using a 1.3-metre telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile and then pinpointed their location on a 3D model of the galaxy, Science magazine said on its website.
According to Science, the study “helps us see the galaxy in a whole new way.”
The oldest stars in our home galaxy, the Milky Way, are said to have formed shortly after the Big Bang explosion that marked the beginning of the universe some 13.8 billion years ago.
(jh/pk)
Source: PAP/Reuters/Science