According to astronomers, the Milky Way galaxy is being slowly twisted and deformed by the gravitational force of a neighbouring satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). In a study published in the journal of Nature Astronomy, researchers found that the Milky Way is being pulled by the gravitational force of the dark matter halo surrounding the LMC at the speed of 71,600 miles per hour. This has resulted in the deformation of our galaxy, which is home to more than 500 solar systems.
The new discovery challenges the belief that the Milky Way is static, and will require researchers to now develop a new model that describes the evolution of the galaxy. A statistical model was used to calculate the speed of the Milky Way’s most distant stars by researchers at the University of Edinburgh.
The lead author of the study, Dr Michael Peterson along with his team, found that the LMC crossed the Milky Way boundary around 700 million years ago. Previous research has shown that the LMC is surrounded by dark matter, which is a substance that does not reflect, emit or absorb light. The dark matter that surrounds the satellite galaxy strongly upset the fabric and motion of the Milky Way.
Petersen said in a statement, “The effects of this relatively recent collision are still being witnessed today — and should force a revision of the birth of the Milky Way.”It has now been proved that the attraction of the dark matter in LMC is pulling the Milky Way’s galactic disc at 20 miles a second. Researchers concluded, from previous studies, that our galaxy was not moving in the direction of the LMC’s current location, but was actually being pulled towards the constellation Pegasus in the northern sky. This is because the LMC is floating away at an even faster speed of 230 miles a second.The Large Magellanic Cloud is named after the first man to travel the Earth, the 16th-century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
The findings of this study will now require scientists to re-examine how the Milky Way galaxy was formed. The discovery also brings to light the dynamic interplay between the two galaxies.Follow Varsha on Instagram.
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FAQs
The Milky Way is being pulled by another galaxy, called the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), because of the force of gravity between the two galaxies. The LMC is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, meaning it is in orbit around our galaxy and is gravitationally bound to it.
Does the Milky Way have a gravitational pull? ›
Most galaxies are organized into galaxy groups or clusters. The Milky Way is part of a group of galaxies called the Local Group. All of these systems are held together by a force called gravity. Gravity is an attractive, or pulling, force that exists between all objects in the universe.
What is the Milky Way being pulled towards? ›
The Great Attractor (GA) is a gigantic mass in space which pulls our Milky Way galaxy, and many other galaxies towards it. The Great Attractor is known by its effect on the movement of galaxies across hundreds of millions of light years (mly). Its mass is equivalent to the mass of tens of thousands of Milky Ways.
What is the Neighbouring galaxy to the Milky Way? ›
Andromeda galaxy is the nearest to Milky Way. This galaxy is 2.537 million light years far from the Milky Way. The distance that light travels in 1 year in the space is called 1 light year.
What is the unknown force pulling the Milky Way? ›
The Great Attractor is a region of gravitational attraction in intergalactic space and the apparent central gravitational point of the Laniakea Supercluster of galaxies that includes the Milky Way galaxy, as well as about 100,000 other galaxies.
How does gravity affect the Milky Way? ›
Gravity affects the Milky Way galaxy. It brings it together, holds it together (stabilizing it) and keeps the stars within the galaxy.
How does gravity impact the Milky Way galaxy? ›
Milky Way), and that the arms of the galaxy are bound by gravity to form a coherent structure. Gravity works at every level of the galaxy and maintains a stable equilibrium between components, so that parts of the galaxy do not "drift off".
Is our galaxy being pulled? ›
Astronomers noticed 400 galaxies, including our own, were being pulled in the same direction. James is a published author with four pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.
Will the Milky Way collide with another galaxy? ›
Our Milky Way galaxy is destined to collide with our closest large neighbour, the Andromeda galaxy, in about five billion years.
Is the Milky Way collapsing? ›
Our Milky Way is on a collision course with another spiral galaxy called Andromeda. Today Andromeda is visible as a speck of light in the night sky, but about 5 billion years from now, it will be tangled up with us. Our galaxy's spiral arms will disappear, and so will our supermassive black hole.
The Andromeda galaxy, M31, is a faint fuzzy patch that appears, with binoculars, as a lens-shaped object. It is a galaxy rather like ours at a distance of about 2 million light years.
What's the closest galaxy to us? ›
The nearest galaxies to us are the two irregular galaxies called the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud. The nearest large galaxy is the spiral galaxy Andromeda.
Could humans leave the Milky Way? ›
The technology required to travel between galaxies is far beyond humanity's present capabilities, and currently only the subject of speculation, hypothesis, and science fiction. However, theoretically speaking, there is nothing to conclusively indicate that intergalactic travel is impossible.
What force is pulling galaxies apart? ›
Dark energy is thought to drive space apart. The diagram at right shows the changes in the rate of expansion since the universe's birth 15 billion years ago. The more shallow the curve, the faster the rate of expansion.
Can humans escape the Milky Way? ›
So, to leave our Galaxy, we would have to travel about 500 light-years vertically, or about 25,000 light-years away from the galactic centre. We'd need to go much further to escape the 'halo' of diffuse gas, old stars and globular clusters that surrounds the Milky Way's stellar disk.
Do galaxies have their own gravitational pull? ›
Galaxies are made up of stars, so all of a galaxy's stars together contribute to the overall gravity of the galaxy. This gravity is what keeps the stars all orbiting around the center of the galaxy.
What would happen if the Milky Way has no gravity? ›
In this scenario, the Universe would look completely dark, with no stars to illuminate it and blocks of rock and dust — those small enough to be held together by electrostatic forces alone — travelling endlessly across space.
Does the universe have a gravitational pull? ›
Every object in the universe — stars, planets, moons, even you—has gravity. Gravity is a force of attraction between all objects.
What has the most gravitational pull in the universe? ›
A black hole is a region of space, where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape from it, not even light. It has the strongest gravitational pull in the entire universe.
