Table of Contents
Is the galactic core habitable?
According to astrobiologists the galactic habitable zone probably starts just outside the galactic bulge – about 13,000 light-years from the center, and ends about halfway out in the disk, 33,000 light-years from the center. Remember, we’re 27,000 light-years from the center, so just inside that outer edge. Phew.
How long does it take light to reach the Milky Way’s galactic core?
The disk of our home galaxy – the Milky Way – is bigger than we previously thought. A new study shows it would take 200,000 years for a spaceship traveling at the speed of light to go across the entire galaxy.
How hot is the galactic core?
The result of this paper is that gas in Galactic center gas clouds really is HOT. This study of 22 different positions in gas clouds in the central 100 parsecs finds gas temperatures from 50 K to over 100 K, with a typical temperature of 85 K.
Is the galactic core a black hole?
The Galactic Center (or Galactic Centre) is the rotational center, the barycenter, of the Milky Way galaxy. Its central massive object is a supermassive black hole of about 4 million solar masses, which powers the compact radio source Sagittarius A*, which is almost exactly at the galactic rotational center.
Are there planets in the galactic center?
Yet new research by astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows that planets still can form in this cosmic maelstrom. For proof, they point to the recent discovery of a cloud of hydrogen and helium plunging toward the galactic center.
Can a galaxy have a temperature?
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and other institutions have found that, on average, the temperature of galaxy clusters today is 4 million degrees Fahrenheit. That is 10 times hotter than 10 billion years ago, and four times hotter than the Sun’s outermost atmosphere called the corona.
What is the galactic core?
The galactic core, i.e., the central bulge of the Milky Way, is a region very densely populated by stars. It is a dangerous place. Stars regularly get close enough to each other to disrupt their respective solar systems.
What would life be like at the center of the Milky Way?
Living anywhere near the center of the Milky Way would be… different. It would depend on what part of that center the Earth had the misfortune to occupy. The closer you get to the heart of the galaxy, the tighter stars are packed together.
How many stars are in the Milky Way galactic center?
Galactic Center of the Milky Way and a meteor. The central cubic parsec around Sagittarius A* contains around 10 million stars. Although most of them are old red giant stars, the Galactic Center is also rich in massive stars. More than 100 OB and Wolf–Rayet stars have been identified there so far.
Where is the rotational center of the Milky Way galaxy?
Rotational center of the Milky Way galaxy. The Galactic Center, as seen by one of the 2MASS infrared telescopes, is located in the bright upper left portion of the image. The Galactic Center, or Galactic Centre, is the rotational center of the Milky Way.