If you look at the picture below, it is clear that there are many stars in the Milky Way. Astronomers say that the galaxy is filled with streams of stars, but it seems that one of the streams contains almost 500 stars. In a new study, astronomers discovered 8292 star currents in the galaxy.
While star clusters appear in clusters, as the name implies, currents form linear patterns. Streams are called Theja, which is the Greek goddess of sight and heavenly light. Astronomers in the study used data taken from the ESA Gaia Space Telescope to study Theia 456 specifically and discovered that 468 stars in the stream were born simultaneously.
The entire elongated stream of stars moves in the same direction as a group across the sky. Study author Jeff Andrews of Northwestern University said most star clusters are formed together. Andrews says what’s exciting about Theia 456 is that it’s not a small bunch of stars together; it is very long and elongated.
The astronomer also notes that there are relatively few currents nearby that are young and so widely distributed. Stars usually form in clusters, which are spherical groups. Recent data has revealed other star patterns, including the long currents seen in Theia 456, which span 570 light-years across the Milky Way.
It took so long for astronomers to discover the massive galactic current, because it lives in the galactic plane that hid it from astronomers. The current is easily enveloped by the 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, as it is the galactic plane where most of the galaxy’s mass exists. Astronomers note that all the stars within 456 have a similar composition that contains about the same amount of iron. The composition suggests that they formed together about 100 million years ago.