Over the years, astronomers have become quite good at studying stars and determining approximately how old they are.
This is done by looking at their size, brightness, and a variety of other factors that change over the course of millions of years while the star is burning up its fuel source.
It was surprising, therefore, that when scientists studied the stars that are present near the center of the Milky Way that appeared to be very young, relatively speaking.
This does not make sense because experts know the environments where new stars are born, and it is not found in that part of space.
A group of scientists from Stanford and Stockholm University have recently published a paper that proposes an explanation for why some of the stars in this region appear to be so young.
The paper explains that a computer model was used to determine that it is possible that the stars are remaining ‘forever young’ due to the fact that they are drawing in large amounts of dark matter that is believed to be present near the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
Of course, this is just a theory, and one that relies on dark matter to be real, which has not yet been proven.
The math, however, seems to work in a way that would allow these stars to remain in a fairly constant state without the normal signs of aging that scientists would expect.
That is, at least according to the paper.
It is important to note that this paper has not yet been peer-reviewed. It will undoubtedly get reviewed by other scientists in the coming years.
Not surprisingly, there are also scientists who propose other explanations for why the stars seem so young.
One theory is that the stars are actually that young, and were able to develop in an area that supports new stars as they were being pulled toward the massive black hole.
Whatever ends up being true, it is fascinating to find that there are unusually young stars at the center of our galaxy.
Even if they only appear to be young.
If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.