Although the geography of the Milky Way is still little known, astronomers estimate that this extends along between 120,000 and 180,000 light years, around the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A *. The Sun is in a small structure called Orion arm or spur between the Sagittarius and Perseus arms, about 26,000 light years from the core. In this frantic activity it develops. In it more stars in the galactic suburbs where we live, and the most massive of them expel its outer layers in the form of extremely violent winds are created.At the same time, the entire region is crossed by supersonic shock waves, resulting from the gigantic explosions that end their lives the stars that have a several times greater than the mass of the sun.
Only four decades ago, nobody imagined that took place this fireworks show, but advances in astronomy and infrared astronomy has changed our view of the bustling galactic center.
Beautifully shaped, large and symmetrical, the Milky Way looks like a finished product, but in recent years we have discovered that is yet to end. Continues to collect cosmic material, gobbles as small and weak galaxies venturing nearby and risk being caught in its gravitational well. In fact, one of the most widespread hypothesis now is that our cosmic city, and others like it, have grown thanks to this slow but continuous work collection.
Today the process continues, albeit at a slower pace. Currently, a small spheroidal galaxy is falling on the disk of the Milky Way ;Fortunately, the other side of where we are. It was discovered by chance in 1994, and its mass is a 1?% Of ours. The severity of the Milky Way is stretching like a pastry chef does with its mass. In fact, a team of astronomers at the Institute of Astrophysics of theCanary Islands has with some of its rubble just over 18,000 light years from the center of our galaxy. Have you ever finish this intergalactic nosh? At least not in the next 4,000 million years. By then, the Andromeda galaxy and ours will merge into a long and deep cosmic embrace.
