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Stellar age distribution in the Milky Way has been mapped
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| FaceDeer | Date: Saturday, 09.01.2016, 04:33 | Message # 1 |
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Space Pilot
Group: Users
Canada
Messages: 117
Status: Offline
| A large "age map" for stars in various regions of the Milky Way has just been released, here's a BBC article about it. I had already known that the galaxy tended to have older stars in the central bulge and younger ones in the disk, but the distribution is a lot more striking than I had anticipated. I've not really paid attention to the distribution of stellar ages in Space Engine before but this suggests that different parts of galaxies should actually have significantly different populations of stars in them.
Combined with the galactic "habitable zone", this should make lifeworld-hunting into a bit more of a strategic thing rather than just sheer random chance.
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| JackDole | Date: Saturday, 09.01.2016, 09:32 | Message # 2 |
 Star Engineer
Group: Local Moderators
Germany
Messages: 1742
Status: Offline
| I'm afraid you interpret the map incorrectly.
The center of the galaxy would be where the two blue cones meet, where the youngest stars are.
And that is logical. In the center there are more larger stars that explode faster. Therefore, there mainly exist only young star.
But it should be a lot more heavy elements in the center, so really good condition for technical civilizations; when the stars were not so close together and would not so often explode. 
Don't forget to look here.
Edited by JackDole - Saturday, 09.01.2016, 09:37 |
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Saturday, 09.01.2016, 14:50 | Message # 3 |
 Cosmic Curator
Group: Administrators
United States
Messages: 8717
Status: Offline
| Quote JackDole (  ) I'm afraid you interpret the map incorrectly.
The center of the galaxy would be where the two blue cones meet, where the youngest stars are.
No, that's incorrect. The place where all the cones converge is the location of Earth, and the red portion is indeed the galactic bulge, which does have mostly older stars. Remember, that blue stars - which give the spiral arms their bluish color - can only be young, while redder stars can be any age. Therefore, bluer portions of the galaxy must have younger stars on average than redder portions. And that is exactly what this map shows.
All forum users, please read this!
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| JackDole | Date: Saturday, 09.01.2016, 16:43 | Message # 4 |
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Star Engineer
Group: Local Moderators
Germany
Messages: 1742
Status: Offline
| You're right. I just do not think that once again the earth was made to the center of the universe.
It seems to me however to be logical that the rise and fall of stars in the center is faster and there are therefore more younger stars. But there are probably still a lot of old stars there.
Don't forget to look here.
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| Watsisname | Date: Saturday, 09.01.2016, 21:24 | Message # 5 |
 Galaxy Architect
Group: Global Moderators
United States
Messages: 2613
Status: Offline
| Quote JackDole ( ) I just do not think that once again the earth was made to the center of the universe.
It isn't, but it is the center of our astronomical observational datasets.  The same effect is seen in galaxy surveys, too.
There are young stars in the galactic center, but the galactic bulge is also more densely populated there, and that is all old stars.
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| JackDole | Date: Tuesday, 12.01.2016, 09:52 | Message # 6 |
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Star Engineer
Group: Local Moderators
Germany
Messages: 1742
Status: Offline
| Quote Watsisname ( ) It isn't, but it is the center of our astronomical observational datasets. smile The same effect is seen in galaxy surveys, too.
I know that. But sometimes I think outside the conventional framework.  Sometimes this can be quite useful. But as you can see, not always.
Don't forget to look here.
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