What is Circumgalactic Medium? HaloSat Spacecraft to Find Baryonic Matter around the Milky Way Galaxy
(Image Credit-Pexel.com)
Our Milky way galaxy is surrounded by a halo of hot gases that is coming through birthing or dying stars- according to a study published in Journal Nature Astronomy.
A halo, which is also known as “circumgalactic medium.”, is a large space filled with gas that surrounds a galaxy. This gaseous halo around the Milky Way galaxy could help the scientists to find where the missing matter of the universe might reside.
This findings come from a mission led by NASA' Astrophysics Division by using a spacecraft named HaloSat which is in a class of minisatellites called CubeSats. HaloSat was launched from the International Space Station in May 2018.
NASA's HaloSat’s X-ray detectors can view a much wider piece of the sky at once and therefore are optimized to doing the sort of wide-area survey needed to measure the galactic halo.
In this study, Scientists found that circumgalactic medium has a disk-like geometry, based on the intensity of X-ray emissions coming from it and the X-ray emissions are stronger above the parts of the Milky Way where star formation is more vigorous.
The study suggests the circumgalactic medium is related to star formation. Every galaxy has a circumgalactic medium but scientists wonder about the fact that how the universe progressed from a kernel of helium and hydrogen to a cosmological expanse teeming with stars, planets, comets, and all other sorts of celestial constituents.
HaloSat is searching for baryonic matter which is composed of protons, neutrons and electrons. Scientists believe that baryonic matter is missing since the universe’s birth nearly 14 billion years ago. Baryonic matter is different from dark matter. Dark matteris is invisible and does have any impact through any force except gravity.
Scientists wanted to know more about circumgalactic medium. If it is huge then it could house enough material to solve the missing baryon question but if it is mostly comprised of recycled material, it would be a relatively thin, puffy layer of gas and baryonic matter will be missing.
In the circumgalactic medium, the denser areas are regions where stars are forming, and material is being traded between the Milky Way and the circumgalactic medium. Scientists say it is look like the Milky Way and other galaxies are not closed systems and they are actually interacting, throwing material out to the circumgalactic medium and bringing back material as well
Scientists want to combine the HaloSat data with the data from other X-ray observatories to find out whether there is an large halo surrounding the Milky Way, and then to calculate the density. That might solve the missing baryonic matter puzzle.
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