Inastronomy, theSagittarius Stream is a long, complex structure made ofstars that wrap around theMilky WayGalaxy in anorbit that nearly crosses thegalactic poles. It consists oftidally stripped stars from theSagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy, resulting from the process ofmerging with the Milky Way over a period of billions of years.
This stellar stream was originally proposed in 1995 byDonald Lynden-Bell after analyzing the distribution ofglobular clusters in the Milky Way.[1] The actual structure was identified by Newberg and associates (2002)[2] plus Majewski and associates (2003)[3] using data from the2MASS andSDSS surveys. In 2006, Belokurov and his collaborators[4] found that the Sagittarius Stream has two branches.
When the progenitor object was shredded apart during the interaction, it sent oscillations (analogous to sound waves) through the Milky Wayspiral arm structure. The effects of the oscillations are observed today as layers of alternately denser and sparserstar distributions, above and below theSolar System. Presently, the position of the Sagittarius Stream relative to the observed layers[5] make the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy the strongest candidate for this intruding object.
This star cluster–related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
Thisspiral galaxy article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |