“The famous Seven Sisters star cluster hides thousands of long-lost stellar siblings”, — write: www.unian.ua
The famous Seven Sisters star cluster hides thousands of long-lost stellar siblings
The Pleiades star cluster in the lens of the Hubble telescope and infrared light / UNIAN collage, photo WikipediaAstronomers from the University of North Carolina have found out that the Pleiades star cluster, also known as the “Seven Sisters” or by the popular name Stozhary, is actually much larger than previously thought. Stars have thousands of relatives scattered throughout the sky. A new study found that the cluster is about 20 times larger than previously thought, Interesting Engineering reported.
The publication reminded that stars are usually born in groups. However, over time, they fly so far apart that it becomes almost impossible to determine their common history. The UNC-Chapel Hill team was looking for just such “ancient brothers and sisters” of the Pleiades.
To trace their origins, scientists used the stars’ rotation speed as a “cosmic clock”: as they age, magnetic fields slow down their rotation. By combining data from NASA’s TESS telescope and Europe’s Gaia telescope, researchers have identified thousands of hidden stars. They belong to a large structure in the constellation Taurus, located approximately 410 light years from Earth.
“By measuring the rotation of stars, we open a new way to detect scattered groups. In fact, this is a new window into the hidden architecture of our Galaxy. This discovery changes our understanding of the Pleiades. We know that they are not just seven bright stars, but a huge family of stars scattered throughout the sky,” explained the significance of the discovery, the lead author of the study, Andrew Boyle.
The researchers plan to check whether other known clusters are fragments of large-scale star networks. In the long run, this could help answer the question of whether the Sun was once part of the same cosmic family.
The Pleiades became a cultural symbolThe Pleiades are one of the most famous star clusters in the night sky. There are hundreds of young stars in the cluster, but only a few of the brightest are usually visible to the naked eye. This stellar family helps astronomers study the evolution of young stars and the structure of the galaxy.
The Pleiades have had important cultural significance for centuries. They are mentioned in Greek mythology, the Old Testament and in the legends of New Zealand. However, human vision has always been limited to what could be seen without modern telescopes.
Exploring the nearest starIt will be recalled that scientists recently made a bold assumption that explains why the temperature in the Sun’s atmosphere is much higher than directly on the surface of the star. With the help of a modern telescope, scientists were able to prove that the Sun’s corona is heated by magnetic waves. And that is why the temperature there reaches millions of degrees Celsius.
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