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Is The Milky Way Producing More Stars Than Scientists Previously Believed?
Amaze Lab
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12/24/2024
Astronomers discover our galaxy is one heck of a baby star-maker.
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Learning
Transcript
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00:00
The Milky Way is our home, and like many other galaxies, it's a veritable star factory.
00:08
But according to new research soon to be published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics,
00:12
new evidence suggests it's a far more active manufacturer than we previously thought.
00:17
When stars enter existence, coming together as interstellar dust and debris accrete and
00:20
collapse into one of these burning giants, they emit tons of energy.
00:24
As that energy is sent out into space, byproducts of the birth are carried out with them, including
00:28
elements.
00:29
One of those elements we know of is called Aluminum-26, which tends to decay extremely
00:33
quickly, meaning it's a great marker not only for where stars have formed, but also
00:37
when.
00:38
Aluminum-26 produces gamma rays as it decays, and by recording those figures, astronomers
00:43
now believe they have a better idea of just how much star birthing is occurring in the
00:47
Milky Way.
00:48
And experts say our galaxy is actually producing stellar bodies at a rate of 4-8 times our
00:52
Sun's mass every year.
00:54
That's twice as much as previously believed, which the paper outlines comes to around 55
00:58
billion stars every Earth year.
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