The Hubble Space Telescope’s recent discovery of a baffling trail of stars that formed eight billion million years ago has presented a challenge to numerous research teams. This very long, narrow structure, whose size is comparable to that of the Milky Way, has sparked a number of theories regarding its origin.
This trail of stars could be caused by a massive gas cloud passing through a supermassive black hole, according to a controversial initial hypothesis. The astronomical community was immediately captivated by this concept because it requires a large number of complex and exceptional circumstances. As a result, a number of scientific teams have continued to investigate alternative, less exotic explanations for the observations.
Researchers from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) recently concluded in a study that was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics that this unusual structure of stars could be interpreted as an edge-on galaxy without a bulge. These kinds of galaxies, also known as thin or flat galaxies, are fairly common.
“We also investigated the relationship between the assumed galaxy’s mass and its maximum velocity of rotation, and discovered that it is, in fact, a galaxy that behaves like a galaxy,”
Ignacio Trujillo, an IAC researcher who took part in the study.
Jorge Sanchez Almeida, an IAC researcher and the article’s first author, says, “The motions, the size, and the quantity of stars fit what has been seen in galaxies within the local universe.” It’s a help to have tracked down the answer to this secret. The new scenario that was suggested is much simpler. Although the existence of fleeing black holes is expected, this may have been the first one to be observed, which is unfortunate in some ways.
To help the speculation of the translation as far as a world, the group contrasted the secretive design with a notable nearby system without a lump, IC5249, which has a comparative mass of stars, and tracked down amazing understanding. “When we analyzed the velocities of this distant structure of stars, we realized that they were very similar to those obtained from the rotation of galaxies,” says IAC researcher Mireia Montes, who is also a co-author of the article. “We decided to compare a much closer galaxy and found that they are extraordinarily similar.”
Ignacio Trujillo, an IAC researcher who participated in the study, states, “We also looked at the relation between the assumed galaxy’s mass and its maximum velocity of rotation and discovered that indeed it is a galaxy that behaves like a galaxy.” He continues, “It is an interesting object because it is quite a large galaxy at a very great distance from Earth, where the majority of galaxies are smaller.”
Impending perceptions will permit the investigation of this item more meticulously.
More information: Jorge Sánchez Almeida et al, Supermassive black hole wake or bulgeless edge-on galaxy?, Astronomy & Astrophysics (2023). DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202346430
