A science team from Utah State University, Yale University and Stanford University have revealed the uniqueness of the Milky Way galaxy by studying its satellites. The results of the study have been published on the arXiv preprint server.
Companions are smaller galaxies that orbit a more massive host galaxy because of its gravitational pull. The Milky Way is also surrounded by several satellites, the most prominent of which are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. The SAGA astronomical survey was able to map these smaller galaxies around other parent galaxies, helping them compare them to the Milky Way system.
To conduct the study, scientists measured the redshifts of about 46,000 galaxies to identify companions among them. This method allowed them to identify 378 satellite galaxies in 101 Milky Way-like systems. The differences in the number of satellites indicate that the Milky Way has fewer satellites than most similar systems because it has recently acquired massive satellites such as the Large Magellanic Cloud.
It has also been shown that systems with large satellites tend to have a larger number of satellite galaxies. This is not the case with the Milky Way, which may be due to the fact that our satellites were added relatively recently by astronomical standards. Scientists also suggest that the interaction between the host galaxy and its satellites plays an important role in the evolution of systems.
The second study found that satellite galaxies that are closer to their host galaxy are more likely to stop forming stars. This fact supports the hypothesis that the environment influences the evolution of small galaxies, limiting their ability to form new stars.
The results extend the understanding of interactions in galaxy systems and also provide the astronomical community with valuable data on thousands of galaxies that can be used in future studies to study the evolution of galaxies and cosmic structures. | BGNES
