'Red Flag' energy source that permeates centre of Milky Way discovered by scientists

In new clues, scientists have discovered the amount of energy that permeates the centre of the Milky Way which reveals the fundamental source of our galaxy's power. According to a study published on July 3 in the journal Science Advances, scientists from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University have been able to identify the astrophysical sources and processes that power the cosmic rays to the Milky Way galaxy as a 'hydrogen source' sits in its centre.

Assistant professor of astronomy & physics at Embry-Riddle and co-author of those Science Advances paper, Matthew Haffner said that the Milky Way’s nucleus that thrums with hydrogen has been ionized, or stripped of its electrons so it is highly energized. He added, "With no ongoing source of electricity, free electrons usually find each other and recombine to return to a neutral country in a comparatively short quantity of time.” Further, he said, “Having the ability to see ionized gas in new ways ought to help us find the kinds of sources that may be responsible for maintaining all that gas energized.” 

Many past studies have measured the amount and calibre of ionized gas in the centres of thousands of spiral galaxies across the world. For the very first time, we had the ability to immediately compare dimensions from our Galaxy to that large population—Haffner.

According to the study, Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper, or WHAM, a telescope located in Chile was used for the team’s most up-to-date research. Haffner and UW-Whitewater Professor Bob Benjamin, an expert on the structure of stars and gas in the Milky Way collaborated with University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student Dhanesh Krishnarao, author of this Science Advances paper. Researchers peered through a kind of tattered dust cap in order to determine the total amount of energy or radiation in the middle of the Milky Way. While Milky Way harboured dark spots of interstellar dust and gas, the researchers found that it abounded in more than 200 billion stars and a mysterious scientific red flag — a shape. Caught on WHAM telescope, the protruding, free from any patchy dust cap flag was ionized hydrogen gas, like a “Tilted Disc”, as it deviated from rest of the Milky Way.  

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“Having the ability to make these measurements in optical lighting enabled us to compare the nucleus of the Milky Way to other galaxies a lot more readily,” Haffner said. As the team had an accurate 3-D image of the arrangement of the red flag, its gaseous, ionized structure was revealed and the structure seemed to be moving toward Earth. “Researching this extended ionized gas ought to help us know more about the present and past environment in the centre of the Galaxy.” 

Aspire to construct WHAM’s successor

Researchers, as per the study, aim to thoroughly study this source of the energy at the centre of the Milky Way and categorize it based on the level of radiation. However, Edwin Mierkiewicz, associate professor of physics said, “In the upcoming few years, we aspire to construct WHAM’s successor, which would give us a better view of the gas we examine.” Haffner added, saying, “Right now our map pixels’ are twice the size of the full moon. WHAM has been a fantastic tool for producing the very first all-sky survey of this gas, but we are hungry for more details."

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(Images Credit: Science Advances Journal)