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Published on 1/8/2003 Photo: This schematic figure illustrates what the European team’s view of the rings geometry, in relation to the spiral structure of the Milky Way.

Two separate groups announced at the 201st meeting of the American Astronomical Society the discovery of portions of what appears to be a giant ring of previously unseen and surprisingly old stars surrounding our Milky Way Galaxy. If an entire ring exists, theorists might have to rethink details of how the galaxy formed.

Astronomers generally think that most of the galaxy’s tens of billions of stars reside within this relatively thin disk and a thicker bulge near the center. Stars are expected to be more numerous toward the center of our galaxy, thinning out towards the edges. The newly discovered ring contains about 100 to 500 million stars. So it was really a surprise to find millions of stars out by the fringe.

The stars in the ring orbit the galactic center at about half the speed of our Sun, said study member Brian Yanny of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The ring appears to be about 10 times thicker than the disk, Yanny said.

"This ring is unusual in that it appears to consist only of old stars," Rodrigo Ibata of the Observatoire de Strasbourg in France and a member of the European-led team said. "Though there are several galaxies known with bright rings of young stars, none are known to have a ring similar to that of the Milky Way."

Although there are many interpretations about the ring’s forming, astronomers believe that this ring is still a puzzle.

Material sources:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/milkyway_ring_030106.html
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/01/06/galaxy.ring.reut/index.html

New Discovery: Ring of Stars Circle the Milky Way

Published on 1/8/2003 The newfound ring as envisioned by the American-led team.

Two separate groups announced at the 201st meeting of the American Astronomical Society the discovery of portions of what appears to be a giant ring of previously unseen and surprisingly old stars surrounding our Milky Way Galaxy. If an entire ring exists, theorists might have to rethink details of how the galaxy formed.

Astronomers generally think that most of the galaxy’s tens of billions of stars reside within this relatively thin disk and a thicker bulge near the center. Stars are expected to be more numerous toward the center of our galaxy, thinning out towards the edges. The newly discovered ring contains about 100 to 500 million stars. So it was really a surprise to find millions of stars out by the fringe.

New Discovery: Ring of Stars Circle the Milky Way

Published on 1/15/2003 Using the combined power of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Array (VLA) and the 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope, astronomers have discovered a huge jet coming from a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way.

NASA Published Hubble Space Telescope's New Discovery: Giant Radio Jet Coming from Spiral Galaxy

Published on 1/18/2003 Globular cluster 47 Tucanae seen from the ground (right) and space (left), has spawned dozens of millisecond pulsars. [Source: NASA]

Science Magazine: The Milky Way's Restless Swarms of Stars :Globular cluster 47 Tucanae seen from the ground (right) and space (left), has spawned dozens of millisecond pulsars. [Source: NASA]

Published on 1/18/2003 Globular cluster 47 Tucanae seen from the ground (right) and space (left), has spawned dozens of millisecond pulsars. [Source: NASA]

Science Magazine: The Milky Way's Restless Swarms of Stars :Globular cluster 47 Tucanae seen from the ground (right) and space (left), has spawned dozens of millisecond pulsars. [Source: NASA]

Published on 1/29/2003 HD 47536: The most massive star found so far with a known planet.The planet orbiting HD 47536 has a mass of about 5 to 20 times that of Jupiter. Its orbit is approximately 300 million kilometers in radius (roughly twice the distance from Earth to the sun), and it takes 712 days to orbit the star, somewhat less than two Earth years.

New Discovery: Giant Planet Found around Giant Star

Published on 2/15/2003 On February 11, 2003, NASA released the best "baby picture" of the Universe ever taken, containing such stunning detail that it may be one of the most important scientific results of recent years. (AFP photo).

Astronomers Discovered an Unknown Force Caused the Inflation of the Universe to Accelerate

Published on 3/21/2003

Photo of Cosmos Galaxy

Published on 3/21/2003 From the trajectory of the Pioneer, scientists found discrepancy predicted by the Law of Gravity.

From the Trajectory of the Pioneer, Scientists Find Discrepancy Predicted by the Law of Gravity

Published on 3/29/2003 On March 26, 2003, NASA published a group of images captured by Hubble Space Telescope. The images captured on May 20, September 2, October 28, and December 17, 2002, respectively showed the star named V838 Monocerotis or V838 Mon for short, grew hotter and swelled during a short period of time.

Hubble Captures the Light Echo from the Mysterious Erupting Star Called V838 Monocerotis

Published on 4/5/2003 All too clear? According to two new studies, Hubble should not be able to snap pictures as sharp as this 1996 image, part of the Deep Field project that discovered hundreds galaxies billions of light-years away.

Hubble Pictures Too Crisp, Challenging Theories of Time and Space

Published on 5/10/2003 Relying on the deepest visible-light images ever taken in space, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have reliably measured the age of the spherical halo of stars surrounding the neighboring Andromeda galaxy (M31).

Hubblesite: Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo