Scientists Discover Half a Million New Stars in Our Galaxy

Astronomers from the Gaia Observatory of the European Space Agency have conducted new research on the Milky Way and the Solar System using the eponymous space telescope. As a result of their observations, they have uncovered 500,000 new stars in the galaxy and identified 156,000 new asteroids within our Solar System, as reported by Gizmodo.

The discovered stars are located in Omega Centauri, the largest globular cluster of stars visible from Earth. This cluster is situated approximately 17,000 light-years away from our planet.

"With the new data, we can thoroughly study the structure of the cluster, how stars are distributed, how they move, and much more, creating a comprehensive large-scale map of Omega Centauri," said Alexey Mints, a participant in the Gaia project and the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam.

The scientific data obtained by Gaia is so extensive that it has been the subject of five scientific papers: one paper describes half a million newly discovered stars, another delves into the variability of stars, a third focuses on thousands of asteroids and their orbits, the fourth meticulously examines two mapped interstellar bands composed of gas and dust, and the fifth scrutinizes hundreds of potential gravitational lenses detected by the observatory.

During its observations, the Gaia telescope also detected over 380 gravitational lenses in space, which occur due to the warping of space by massive cosmic objects and focus light from distant corners of the Universe. Gravitational lenses enable astronomers to delve deeper into space, study ancient galaxies, and gain new insights into the nature of dark matter.

"Thanks to Gaia, we have learned that some of the objects we see are not just stars, even though they look like stars. In fact, these are very distant lensed quasars – extraordinarily bright, energetic galactic cores powered by black holes," noted  Christine Ducourant, an astrophysicist at the Bordeaux Astrophysical Laboratory.

Among the 381 candidates for high-probability quasars, 50 could be genuine, Ducourant added, which is an exciting prospect for astrophysicists hoping to better understand ancient active galactic cores.

The study of star clusters similar to Omega Centauri can provide vital information about the aging processes of stars and the evolution of galaxies.