researchers from the Ohio state University (USA) during an online meeting of the American astronomical society, presented a new study of the halo of the milky Way. In their opinion, it was much hotter than previously thought.
a Brief report on the work published on the University website. The researchers argue that our galaxy surrounds the extremely hot halo. However, it is its characteristics may not be unique to galaxies.
In previous work astronomers from the same Ohio state University wrote that the halo surrounding the milky Way halo consists of clouds of dust, gas and dark matter. It was then discovered that it has extreme temperatures.
the Initial calculations showed that in some parts of the halo can be heated to about 10 million degrees Celsius. It was believed that it is at least 10 times hotter than any other halo of the galaxy.
a New study, though not allowed to perform the whole halo of our galaxy, but also showed that extreme temperatures may be present around the halo, not just its separate parts.
this is indicated by data obtained with the Japanese x-ray space Observatory Suzaku. He allowed to analyze the spectrum of the halo of the milky Way in four different directions. This analysis confirmed the conjecture that the halo is much hotter than was believed until now.
in addition, researchers asked the question: can these extreme temperatures be present in other galaxies? As the object for comparison, the scientists chose a galaxy called NGC 3221. It is located at a distance of about 200 million light years from us.
This galaxy is similar to milky Way in its form and size. The analysis showed that the surrounding halo is about as hot as the halo of the milky Way.
