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New Disc of Stars Discovered in the Milky Way Galaxy

By Deepthi Balasunder | Update Date: Oct 29, 2015 09:04 AM EDT

A startling discovery was made, as a cluster of new stars in the form of a disc was located near the center of our home galaxy - the Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers are amazed and thrilled at this discovery as this sighting indicates that the Milky Way is continuing to produce new stars. Up until now it was believed that only old stars existed in the galaxy and that the capacity to produce new stars had long since vanquished, reports I4U News. The newly discovered disc of stars is less than a 100 million years old, meaning that our galaxy is still making stars.

According to Youth Independent, Astronomers led by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUCC) discovered this disc of young stars when analyzing data collected between 2010 and 2014 at the Paranal Observatory in Chile (a division of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

Using the observational data from ESO's powerful Vista Telescope, the stars were determined and classified as Cepheids. Cepheids are basically stars that brighten and dim at periodic intervals and that which helps in astronomical calculations. A total of 655 stars were discovered, of which 35 of them have been classified as classical Cepheids, reports Nature World News.

 "All of the 35 classical Cepheids discovered are less than 100 million years old. The youngest Cepheid may even be only around 25 million years old, although we cannot exclude the possible presence of even younger and brighter Cepheids.", proclaims Dante Minniti, of the Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile, according to I4U News.

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