The colossal, enigmatic warp of the Milky Way galaxy’s disk is a perplexing cosmic phenomenon. The prime suspect behind this phenomenon, one of the most common yet mysterious entities in the universe, is dark matter.
According to Science Alert, a research team led by Dr. Jiwon Jesse Han from the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) has been investigating the long-standing mystery surrounding an invisible, massive something that appears to be warping and twisting the disk of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
They point to the primary culprit as “dark matter,” an invisible substance that makes up a significant portion of the universe’s mass, according to many previous estimates. A halo of dark matter, contorted and entwined, enveloping our galaxy, has created this peculiar warp.
An invisible halo of dark matter is enveloping the Milky Way, distorting it and causing the galaxy’s disk to warp – Image: CfA
According to Dr. Han, this dark halo tilts in the same direction as the stellar disk, as revealed through data about the galaxy’s skewed stellar disk. Although it cannot be seen, it still influences the gas surrounding the stars, leaving traces behind.
This immense, nearly all-encompassing dark presence casts an eerie shroud over the Milky Way.
The research team has constructed a model based on this scenario, with the dark halo tilted at approximately 25 degrees, simultaneously calculating the orbits of stars and gas within the galaxy over 5 billion years. The model shows a perfect match with observations from the Gaia satellite, a sky-mapping warrior of the European Space Agency (ESA), and also serves as a means for humanity to gain insight into the shape of the galaxy it calls home.
However, the way it embraces the galaxy not only proves to be non-threatening but also potentially opens new avenues for astronomers to explore the formation history of the Milky Way.