{"id":27905,"date":"2023-04-01T08:25:14","date_gmt":"2023-04-01T08:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2"},"modified":"2023-04-01T08:51:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-01T08:51:58","slug":"space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2","title":{"rendered":"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>The Gaia space probe on Monday unveiled its latest discoveries in its quest to map the Milky Way in unprecedented detail, surveying nearly two million stars and revealing mysterious \u201cstarquakes\u201d which sweep across the fiery giants like vast tsunamis.<\/p>\n

The mission\u2019s third data set, which was released to eagerly waiting astronomers around the world at 1000 GMT, \u201crevolutionises our understanding of the galaxy,\u201d the European Space Agency (ESA) said.<\/p>\n

ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher told a press conference that it was \u201ca fantastic day for astronomy\u201d because the data \u201cwill open the floodgates for new science, for new findings of our universe, of our Milky Way\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some of the map\u2019s new insights came close to home, such as a catalogue of more than 156,000 asteroids in our Solar System \u201cwhose orbits the instrument has calculated with incomparable precision,\u201d Francois Mignard, a member of the Gaia team, told AFP.<\/p>\n

But Gaia also sees beyond the Milky Way, spotting 2.9 million other galaxies as well as 1.9 million quasars \u2014 the stunningly bright hearts of galaxies powered by supermassive black holes.<\/p>\n

The Gaia spacecraft is nestled in a strategically positioned orbit 1.5 million kilometres (937,000 miles) from Earth, where it has been watching the skies since it was launched by the ESA in 2013.<\/p>\n

The observation of starquakes, massive vibrations that change the shape of the distant stars, was \u201cone of the most surprising discoveries coming out of the new data\u201d, the ESA said.<\/p>\n

Gaia was not built to observe starquakes but still detected the strange phenomenon on thousands of stars, including some that should not have any \u2014 at least according to our current understanding of the universe.<\/p>\n

\u2018Turbulent\u2019 galaxy<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a fantastic new gold mine to do the asteroseismology of hundreds of thousands of stars in our Milky War galaxy,\u201d said Gaia team member Conny Aerts.<\/p>\n

This handout image released by the European Space Agency (ESA) on June 13, 2022, shows four maps of the Milky Way made with new data collected by the ESA space probe Gaia.<\/p>\n

The maps show the galaxy\u2019s: \u201cradial velocity\u201d (Top L), the speed at which more than 30 million objects in the Milky Way (mostly stars) move towards or away from us; \u201cradial velocity and proper motion\u201d (bottom L) the velocity field of the Milky Way for ~26 million stars; \u201cInterstellar dust\u201d (Top R), showing the interstellar dust that fills the Milky Way; and a \u201cchemical map\u201d (bottom R) showing a sample the galaxy\u2019s stars, in which colour indicates the stellar metallicity, with redder stars being richer in metals.<\/p>\n

PHOTO\/AFP Gaia has surveyed more than 1.8 billion stars but that only represents around one percent of the stars in the Milky Way, which is about 100,000 light years across.<\/p>\n

The probe is equipped with two telescopes as well as a billion-pixel camera, which captures images sharp enough to gauge the diameter of a single strand of human hair 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away. It also has a range of other instruments that allow it to not just map the stars, but measure their movements, chemical compositions and ages.<\/p>\n

The incredibly precise data \u201callows us to look more than 10 billion years into the past history of our own Milky Way,\u201d said Anthony Brown, the chair of the Data Processing and Analysis Consortium which sifted through the massive amount of data.<\/p>\n

The results from Gaia are already \u201cfar beyond what we expected\u201d at this point, Mignard said. They show that our galaxy is not moving smoothly through the universe as had been thought but is instead \u201cturbulent\u201d and \u201crestless\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has had a lot of accidents in its life and still has them\u201d as it interacts with other galaxies, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps it will never be in a stationary state.
\n\u201cOur galaxy is indeed a living entity, where objects are born, where they die,\u201d Aerts said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Tens of thousands of exoplanets\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe surrounding galaxies are continuously interacting with our galaxy and sometimes also falling inside it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Around 50 scientific papers were published alongside the new data, with many more expected in the coming years. Gaia\u2019s observations have fuelled thousands of studies since its first dataset was released in 2016.<\/p>\n

The second dataset in 2018 allowed astronomers to show that the Milky Way merged with another galaxy in a violent collision around 10 billion years ago.<\/p>\n

It took the team five years to deliver the latest data, which was observed from 2014 to 2017. The final dataset will be released in 2030, after Gaia finishes its mission surveying the skies in 2025.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s release confirmed only two new exoplanets \u2014 and 200 other potential candidates \u2014 but far more are expected in the future. \u201cIn principle Gaia, especially when it goes on for the full 10 years, should be capable of detecting tens of thousands of exoplanets down to Jupiter\u2019s mass,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mauritius<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. The Gaia space probe on Monday unveiled its latest discoveries in its quest to map the Milky Way in unprecedented detail, surveying nearly two million stars and revealing mysterious \u201cstarquakes\u201d which sweep across the fiery giants like vast tsunamis. The mission\u2019s third data set, which was released to eagerly waiting astronomers around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":27902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[233,245,2415,241],"class_list":["post-27905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-esa","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"\nSpace probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Gaia space probe on Monday unveiled its latest discoveries in its quest to map the Milky Way in unprecedented detail ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Gaia space probe on Monday unveiled its latest discoveries in its quest to map the Milky Way in unprecedented detail ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-01T08:25:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-01T08:51:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680321385.88.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-01T08:25:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-01T08:51:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2\"},\"wordCount\":807,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680321385.88.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mauritius\",\"ESA\",\"Mauritius\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2\",\"name\":\"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way - Mauritius\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680321385.88.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-01T08:25:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-01T08:51:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The Gaia space probe on Monday unveiled its latest discoveries in its quest to map the Milky Way in unprecedented detail ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680321385.88.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680321385.88.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/\",\"name\":\"Mauritius\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way - Mauritius","description":"The Gaia space probe on Monday unveiled its latest discoveries in its quest to map the Milky Way in unprecedented detail ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way","og_description":"The Gaia space probe on Monday unveiled its latest discoveries in its quest to map the Milky Way in unprecedented detail ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2","og_site_name":"Mauritius","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-04-01T08:25:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-01T08:51:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680321385.88.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way","datePublished":"2023-04-01T08:25:14+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-01T08:51:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2"},"wordCount":807,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680321385.88.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Mauritius","ESA","Mauritius"],"articleSection":["all news","miscellaneous"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2","name":"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way - Mauritius","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680321385.88.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-01T08:25:14+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-01T08:51:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The Gaia space probe on Monday unveiled its latest discoveries in its quest to map the Milky Way in unprecedented detail ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680321385.88.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680321385.88.jpg","width":720,"height":480,"caption":"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/space-probe-reveals-secrets-of-restless-milky-way-2#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Space probe reveals secrets of \u2018restless\u2019 Milky Way"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/","name":"Mauritius","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}