Galaxy feature - dwarf stars in thick bands

[Heavy Johnson]

So this may be known to old-hand explorers, but it came as a surprise to me. I noticed today that most of the L, T and Y dwarf stars exist in thick bands near the galactic plane (or about -40). It's quite obvious if you turn off the other stars on the map and zoom to that depth.

Anyone have a theory why this is so? Other stars (excepting neutron fields) don't seem to have this type of congregation.

 

[marx]

I Am Not An Astronomer, but I recall reading that this is actually based on a real phenomenon. Something related to the ancient age of these dwarf stars, and how over time they "wandered off" from the galactic plane due to their motion. I'm likely to be simplifying things, though, so we'll just have to wait for somebody to reply who's much more knowledgeable in this field than I am.

 

[ejka]

IANAA too, but
Modern estimate of the Sun's position in the galaxy is 10-20 parsecs (32-65ly) above the galactic plane. So in ED's Sun-centered coordinate system galactic plane will be somewhere in -32 to -65 ly range on Y axis. And the brown dwarf layer is most likely just matches ED's galactic plane.
On the other hand our current knowledge on brown dwarf distribution is rather limited because we can only see closest of them. So we have no idea whether such layer actually exists in the real galaxy. This seems like FDev's design decision.

 

[Qohen Leth]

Ziljan gave a long and detailed explanation to this phenomenon on another thread about this. Can't remember where exactly, though.

 

[Andrew Gaspurr]

Ad hoc theory is that near the galactic plane the tidal pull of the Milky Way's rotation as well as gravitational forces due to gas masses and magnetic fields are strongest so that most (extreme) low mass stars would segregate to this area, captured by the gravitational forces. It's also an explanation why most open clusters eventually disperse, their members being swept up by the sipral arms.

I could imagine these being some of the reasons. However, all the forces contributing to the tidal forces aren't all to well understood so it may also be aliens