In the first map of its kind of the Milky Way, scientists uncovered a massive 'galactic underworld' filled with the remains of what used to be massive suns and are now black holes and neutron stars.
The remnants were once massive stars more than eight times larger than our sun, the study found, until their fuel ran out and they collapsed, becoming black holes or neutron stars.
Younger neutron stars and black holes are relatively easy for scientists to find, but researchers said that older ones have been significantly harder to locate. "The bones of these rare massive stars had to be out there, but they seemed to shroud themselves in mystery," he said."...The oldest neutron stars and black holes were created when the galaxy was younger and shaped differently, and then subjected to complex changes spanning billions of years. It has been a major task to model all of this to find them.
That energy is so strong that Sweeney said"an amazing 30%" of the stars found in the galactic underworld were"completely ejected from the galaxy." Those stars will never return. For researchers, the most exciting aspect of this discovery is that they will, in a sense, get to use their astronomical skills for a kind of"ghost hunting."
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