Stars circulate like a swarm of bees through the galactic center

June 14 () –

Young stellar objects discovered 30 years ago near the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A star at the center of the Milky Way, They behave differently than expected.

They describe orbits similar to the already known evolved young stars and are arranged in a particular pattern around the supermassive black hole, adopting formations reminiscent of a swarm of bees, according to a new study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Researchers from the University of Cologne, Masaryk University in Brno (Czech Republic), Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic), the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn participated.

These stars, also known as S stars, circle the supermassive black hole at speeds of several thousand kilometers per hour within a few years. The stars are surprisingly young and their presence is disconcerting, since according to popular theories, one would expect that there would only be old, faint stars in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole.

The technological progress that has occurred in recent decades and the long periods of observation of the galactic center with a modern telescope currently raise more questions. In 2012, for example, an object was discovered that researchers assumed was a cloud of gas that was “absorbed” by the supermassive black hole.

Although this theory has not been confirmed, It has long been unclear exactly what type of object it is.. In recent years, there has been increasing evidence that it could be a young stellar object (YSO) surrounded by a cloud of dust.

In addition to the S stars, researchers are studying a dozen objects in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole that also have very similar properties. They discovered that the objects were even significantly younger than the already known high-speed stars.

“Interestingly, these YSOs show the same behavior as S stars. This means that the YSOs circumnavigate the supermassive black hole at speeds of several thousand kilometers per hour within a few years,” explained Dr. Florian Peisker from the Institute of Astrophysics at the University of Cologne and corresponding author of the study.

ORGANIZED ARRANGEMENT

“S stars were found to be surprisingly young. According to conventional theories, the additional presence of a stellar kindergarten composed of YSO is completely unexpected,” added Dr. Peisker.

Furthermore, this group of high-speed objects composed of YSO and S stars appears at first glance to be a chaotic swarm of bees. However, In the same way that a swarm of bees has a regular pattern and formations, YSO and S stars also have it.

In this way, the researchers were able to show that both YSOs and S stars are arranged in a specific and organized way within three-dimensional space.

“This means that there are specific preferred stellar constellations. The distribution of both stellar variants resembles a disk, which “it gives the impression that the supermassive black hole forces the stars into an organized orbit.”Peisker said.