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<\/div>Astronomers are puzzled by the strange behavior of certain crooked clusters of stars, which appear to be violating our conventional understanding of gravity.<\/p>
Massive clusters of stars usually are bound together in spirals at the center of galaxies. Some of these clusters fall under a category astrophysicists call open star clusters, which are created in a relatively short period of time as they ignite in a huge cloud of gas.<\/p>
During this process, loose stars accumulate in a pair of \"tidal tails,\" one of which is being pulled behind, while the other moves ahead.<\/p>
\"According to Newton’s laws of gravity, it’s a matter of chance in which of the tails a lost star ends up,\" Jan Pflamm-Altenburg of the University of Bonn in Germany, co-author of a new paper<\/a> published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society<\/em>, in a statement<\/a>. \"So both tails should contain about the same number of stars.\"<\/p> But some of their recent observations seemingly defy conventional physics.<\/p> \"However, in our work we were able to prove for the first time that this is not true,\" Pflamm-Altenburg added. \"In the clusters we studied, the front tail always contains significantly more stars nearby to the cluster than the rear tail.\"<\/p> In fact, their new findings are far more in line with a different theory called \"Modified Newtonian Dynamics\" (MOND).<\/p> \"Put simply, according to MOND, stars can leave a cluster through two different doors,\" Pavel Kroupa, Pflamm-Altenburg's colleague at the University of Bonn and lead author, explained in the statement. \"One leads to the rear tidal tail, the other to the front.\"<\/p> \"However, the first is much narrower than the second — so it’s less likely that a star will leave the cluster through it,\" he added. \"Newton’s theory of gravity, on the other hand, predicts that both doors should be the same width.\"<\/p> The researchers' simulations, taking MOND into consideration, could explain a lot. For one, they suggest that open star clusters survive a much shorter period of time than what is expected from Newton's laws of physics.<\/p> \"This explains a mystery that has been known for a long time,\" Kroupa explained. \"Namely, star clusters in nearby galaxies seem to be disappearing faster than they should.\"<\/p> But not everybody agrees that Newton's laws should be replaced with MOND, something that could shake the foundations of physics.<\/p> \"It’s somewhat promising, but it does not provide completely definitive evidence for MOND,\" University of Saint Andrews research fellow Indranil Banik told New Scientist<\/em>. \"This asymmetry does make more sense in MOND, but in any individual cluster there could be other effects that are causing it — it’s a bit unlikely that would happen in all of them, though.\"<\/p> The researchers are now trying to hone in on an even more accurate picture by stepping up the accuracy of their simulations, which could either support their MOND theory — or conclude that Newton was, in fact, correct the first time around.<\/p> More on star clusters:<\/strong> Something Is Ripping Apart the Nearest Star Cluster to Earth<\/a><\/em><\/p> The post There's Something Strange About How These Stars Are Moving, Scientists Say<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> More: <\/p> There's Something Strange About How These Stars Are Moving, Scientists Say<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Astronomers are puzzled by the strange behavior of certain crooked clusters of stars, which appear to be violating our conventional understanding of gravity. Continue reading