Huge extragalactic structure found hiding behind the Milky Way
A group of scientists from the Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, and Universidad Andres Bello have discovered proof of a massive extragalactic assembly that is hiding behind one region of the Milky Way galaxy. While waiting for their article to be accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the group has posted a paper outlining their findings on the arXiv preprint service.
For some years, astronomers have been aware that one region of the night sky is mostly hidden from view because of a galactic bulge. About 10% of the black sky is made up of what is known as the “zone of avoidance,” which has left scientists wondering what might be hidden there. The zone has not been extensively examined since it gives researchers so little to work with; as a result, nothing is known about what it might be hiding. In their latest endeavour, the researchers made use of a range of technologies to better understand what can be obscured from vision.
The zone of avoidance has been investigated by scientists using a number of approaches during the past few years. The researchers behind this new endeavour began by compiling all of the data that had already been gathered, and then later added additional using data they had recently acquired from the VVV Survey.
The European Organization for Astronomical Scientific in the Southern Hemisphere is an intergovernmental research organisation that is funding the VVV Survey. It involves numerous cutting-edge research centres spread over numerous locations. Instead of using visible light, the survey has been using infrared emissions to analyse the stars. These emissions can get past the gas, dust, and light from the bulge’s stars and reach instruments placed on Earth.
The researchers discovered that they were able to recognise numerous galaxies that are located far outside of the Milky Way after analysing the infrared imagery. Additionally, the researchers think that because of their combined size, they form what they refer to as a gigantic extragalactic structure. They speculate that the structure could contain as many as 58 galaxies.
More information: Daniela Galdeano et al, Unveiling a new structure behind the Milky Way, arXiv (2022). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2210.16332
