View source for Astronomy:Fimbulthul stream

{{Short description|Tidal stellar stream torn off from Omega Centauri}}
[[File:Fimbulthu star stream.png|320px|thumb|Fimbulthul stream is shown in blue. The [[Astronomy:Omega Centauri|ω Cen]] cluster is just below it.]]
'''Fimbulthul''' is a tidal [[Astronomy:List of stellar streams|stellar stream]] torn off from [[Astronomy:Omega Centauri|Omega Centauri]], the largest [[Astronomy:Globular cluster|globular cluster]] of our [[Astronomy:Milky Way|Milky Way]] galaxy. The stream contains 309 known stars stretching over 18° in the constellations of [[Astronomy:Hydra (constellation)|Hydra]] and [[Astronomy:Centaurus|Centaurus]], matching the same age as the globular cluster. Omega Centauri is thought to be the nucleus of a [[Astronomy:Dwarf galaxy|dwarf galaxy]] that merged with the Milky Way.<ref name=AJ676_2_1008>{{cite journal | first1=Eva | last1=Noyola | first2=Karl | last2=Gebhardt | first3=Marcel | last3=Bergmann | title=Gemini and Hubble Space Telescope Evidence for an Intermediate Mass Black Hole in omega Centauri | doi=10.1086/529002 | date=2008 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal | volume=676 | issue=2 | pages=1008 | arxiv=0801.2782 | bibcode=2008ApJ...676.1008N | s2cid=208867075 }}</ref>

The stream was discovered in the [[Engineering:Gaia (spacecraft)|Gaia DR2]] star database that determined the direction, distances and motion of over one billion stars.<ref>[https://astronomycommunity.nature.com/users/253571-khyati-malhan/posts/47356-ghostly-tributaries-to-our-galaxy-catastrophic-tale-of-the-most-massive-globular-cluster-of-the-milky-way Catastrophic tale of the most massive globular cluster of the Milky Way] Khyati Malhan, Apr 23, 2019</ref>

The name Fimbulthul is a river in Norse mythology.

==See also==
* [[Astronomy:List of stellar streams|List of stellar streams]]

== References==
{{reflist}}
* [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0751-x Identification of the long stellar stream of the prototypical massive globular cluster ω Centauri] Nature Astronomy (2019)
**  [https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.09544 Preprint at arxiv.org] Rodrigo Ibata, Michele Bellazzini, Khyati Malhan, Nicolas Martin, Paolo Bianchini, 2019
* [https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.07566 The Streams of the Gaping Abyss: A population of entangled stellar streams surrounding the Inner Galaxy] Rodrigo Ibata, Khyati Malhan, Nicolas Martin, 2019

== External links==
* [https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/gaia-the-sky-is-littered-with-undigested-galaxies Gaia: The sky is littered with undigested galaxies] 
*[https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/image-of-the-week Omega Centauri's lost stars]
* [http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/en/news/OmegaCen/ Omega Centauri’s lost stars]

{{Milky Way}}

[[Category:Milky Way]]
[[Category:Milky Way Subgroup]]
[[Category:Stellar streams]]



{{Sourceattribution|Fimbulthul stream}}