The European Space Agency (ESA) announced on Monday that there are new and improved details of the nearly two billion stars in our galaxy. For nearly ten years, the Gaia Space Observatory has been recording the locations of all celestial bodies visible to the probe. The goal is to create a multidimensional map of the Milky Way that is as accurate and complete as possible.

Earthquakes and “tsunami”

One of the most surprising discoveries made by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg and the Institute for Astronomy at the Center for Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg is that Gaia can detect so-called stellar earthquakes that change the shape of stars, the European Space Agency (ESA). mentioned. These are “small motions on the surface of a star”.

Gaya had previously been acquainted with the so-called radial vibrations. This causes the stars to periodically expand and contract while maintaining their spherical shape. But now, other vibrations that “behave like large tidal waves” have been detected. They only change the “universal shape” of the star and therefore it is not easy to recognize them. “Starquix has taught us a lot about stars, particularly about their inner workings,” said Connie Aerts of Belgium’s KU Leuven (Leuven), according to the ESA release.