A group of astronomers presents thousands of unpublished galaxies behind the Milky Way in the Vatican

A group of astronomers has presented a catalog with almost 20,000 galaxies “never seen before” behind the Milky Way, at the “VVVX Survey” conference organized at the historic Vatican Observatory.

The team, according to a statement released today by the Holy See, has been dedicated to observing the internal parts of our galaxy with infrared over the last twelve years through the VISTA telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile. In this way, they have generated a database of more than one billion stars that also includes their changes and luminosity over time.

The central regions of the Milky Way are the darkest in the night sky due to the presence of gas and dust, creating a “shadow zone”, but by studying the infrared wavelength they have been able to peer into distant galaxies beyond our own.

A catalog of 20,000 galaxies

During the conference at the “Specola Vaticana” the scholars presented their results, among which a catalog of almost 20,000 galaxies never seen before stands out.

The study has been led by the Italian scientist Laura Baravalle, and integrated by Fernanda Duplancic and Sol Alonso, from the universities of Córdona and San Juan, in Argentina.

At the symposium, Vatican Observatory alumnus Alonso Luna of Chile's Andrés Bello University presented his work on “hyperspeed” stars in the heart of the galaxy.

The scientist points out that these extremely fast stars, which move at speeds greater than 2 million kilometers per hour, have been ejected by the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.

On the other hand, doctor from the British University of Hertfordshire, Phil Lucas, has announced the discovery of “a new type of variable stars in the nuclear disk of the Milky Way.”

It is a “rare” celestial body that presents “sudden variations” of unprecedented luminosity compared to any other previously known light source.