Milky Way’s halo is spinning in the same direction and at comparable speed as the galaxy’s disk

a. Same

b. Different

c. Left

d. Right

 

In a first move of its kind, a team of astronomers have discovered that the Milky Way’s halo is spinning in the same direction and at comparable speed as the disk of the galaxy providing potential explanation for the galaxy’s missing mass.

• People just assumed that the disk of the Milky Way spins while this enormous reservoir of hot has is stationary, but this is incorrect.
• This hot gas reservoir is rotating as well, not quite as fast as the disk.
• New knowledge reveals how individual atoms have assembled into stars, planets and galaxies like our own and what the future has in store for these galaxies.
• Researchers used the archival data obtained by XMM Newton- an ESA telescope.
• As per the team, the galaxy’s hot gaseous halo is several times larger than the Milky Way disk and composed of ionised plasma.
• As the motion produces a shift in the wavelength of light, researchers measured such shifts around the sky using lines of very hot oxygen.
• Line shifts measured by the researchers displayed that the halo pains of the galaxy in the same direction as the disk of the Milky Way and at similar speed- 643737.6 mph for the halo versus 869045.76 kmph for the disk.