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 El confín de la Vía Láctea infographic
El gráfico muestra la estructura del halo de la Vía Láctea.
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ESPACIO

El confín de la Vía Láctea

By Phil Bainbridge

January 10, 2023 - Astrónomos han descubierto más de 200 estrellas que forman el confín de la Vía Láctea en el halo estelar de nuestra galaxia – a medio camino hacia la galaxia Andrómeda.

Using data from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey they were able to detect 208 distant variable stars called RR Lyrae - old stars that because of their physical structure brighten and dim in a regular cycle of between 5 and 24 hours.

Because RR Lyrae have a uniform average brightness, it was possible to calculate the distance of the furthest star at around 1.04 million light years from the centre of the Milky Way, almost halfway to the Andromeda galaxy which is 2.5 million light years.

(1 light year = 9.461 trillion km)

Sources
PUBLISHED: 10/01/2023; STORY: Graphic News
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