Galactic corona

The terms galactic corona and gaseous corona have been used in the first decade of the 21st century to describe a hot, ionised, gaseous component in the galactic halo of the Milky Way. A similar body of very hot and tenuous gas in the halo of any spiral galaxy may also be described by these terms.

This coronal gas may be sustained by the galactic fountain, in which superbubbles of ionised gas from supernova remnants expand vertically through galactic chimneys into the halo. As the gas cools, it is pulled back into the galactic disc of the galaxy by gravitational forces.

Galactic coronas have been and are currently being studied extensively, in the hope of gaining a further understanding of galaxy formation. Although, considering how galaxies differ in shaping and sizing, no particular theory has been able to adequately illustrate how the galaxies in the Universe originally formed.[1]

See also
  • Galaxy formation and evolution – Processes that formed a heterogeneous universe from a homogeneous beginning, the formation of the first galaxies, the way galaxies change over time
  • Galactic coordinate system – A celestial coordinate system in spherical coordinates, with the Sun as its center
  • Galactic bulge – Tightly packed group of stars within a larger formation
  • Disc galaxy – A galaxy characterized by a flattened circular volume of stars, that may include a central bulge
    • Spiral arm – Regions of stars that extend from the center of spiral and barred spiral galaxies
  • Galactic halo
  • Galactic spheroid

References
  1. Hille, Karl (2017-09-22). "Hubble's Cool Galaxy with a Hot Corona". NASA. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
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