Gaia probe reveals stellar DNA and unexpected 'starquakes'

[Judi Lynn]

The robotic spacecraft unravels the history of the our galaxy’s evolution – and could identify habitable regions of the Milky Way

Hannah Devlin Science correspondent
@hannahdev
Mon 13 Jun 2022 04.00 EDT

Astronomers have unveiled the most detailed survey of the Milky Way, revealing thousands of “starquakes” and stellar DNA, and helping to identify the most habitable corners of our home galaxy.

The observations from the European Space Agency’s Gaia probe cover almost two billion stars – about 1% of the total number in the galaxy – and are allowing astronomers to reconstruct our home galaxy’s structure and find out how it has evolved over billions of years.

Previous surveys by Gaia, a robotic spacecraft launched in 2013, have pinpointed the motion of the stars in our home galaxy in exquisite detail. By rewinding these movements astronomers can model how our galaxy has morphed over time. The latest observations add details of chemical compositions, stellar temperatures, colours, masses and ages based on spectroscopy, where starlight is split into different wavelengths.

These measurements unexpectedly revealed thousands of starquakes, cataclysmic tsunami-like events on the surface of stars. “Starquakes teach us a lot about stars – notably, their internal workings,” said Conny Aerts of KU Leuven in Belgium, who is a member of the Gaia collaboration. “Gaia is opening a goldmine for asteroseismology of massive stars.”

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/13/gaia-probe-reveals-stella-dna-and-unexpected-starquakes