An investigation conducted by scientists and Astronomy scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Discover Strange pattern in the stars galaxy. to perform this DiscoveryJohn Zink, the research leader, and his colleagues used information gathered by the Kepler space telescope a pot To perform a demographic analysis of the Milky Way.
Kepler space telescope, which was previously retired a pot Because its fuel was depleted in 2018, it set aside a nine-year period for the exoplanet inspection mission. During its stages known as Kepler and K2, the space telescope has detected more than 3,300 exoplanets, as well as several candidates awaiting final confirmation.
The team led by Zinke implemented state-of-the-art measures to prevent recorded interference and force an exoplanet census. Following a systematic line, planets with orbital periods of only 1 to 40 days were selected, leading to the final selection of the 2,038 exoplanets used in the study, Science reports. a pot.
In addition, the researchers applied high-resolution star maps derived from the Gaia mission, which was promoted by the European Space Agency, in order to accurately determine the positions of the planet’s host stars relative to the Milky Way.
Photo: European Southern Observatory/J. Beletsky
Scientists Find out That there is a “galaxy location direction”. Over tens of millions of years, stars undergo ups and downs as they orbit the center of the Earth. galaxy; However, those farther from the galactic plane have fewer exoplanets.
The article documenting this new finding provides different explanations for this phenomenon. The so-called “high-magnitude” stars, which are farthest from the Milky Way, are also likely to live longer as time progresses. If gravitational instability appears in these ancient systems, it could cause some of their planets to be ejected. Another view is that these systems can exhibit variations in the concentrations of some elements, which would primarily affect the planet formation process.