A Gas Wave Discovered Connecting The Milky Way

A research team of astronomers from France, Germany and the United Kingdom has observed a ‘feather’-like gas bridge connecting the Milky Way. Details of the observation carried out in Chile were published recently.

According to the article published in the Astrophysical Journal, this material extends from the galactic center and joins the galaxy’s two spiral arms. Researchers underlined that such a structure has been displayed for the first time.

Milky Way’s first plume found

A group of academics from the University of Cologne discovered an unprecedented substance during their study of dense clouds of carbon monoxide gas in our galaxy. The Milky Way is called Akasha Ganga in Hindi, meaning “The Ganges River in the Sky”. The team conducting the study named this thin, cold and dense gas filament, which they describe as the feather of the Galaxy, the “Gangotri Wave”, after the glacier at the source of the Ganges River in India.

Astronomers have observed that the Gangotri Wave, an undulating structure that stretches for 6,000 to 13,000 light years near the Milky Way’s galactic center, sways up and down for thousands of light years. Estimating the wave’s mass to be roughly equivalent to nine suns, the researchers said they were not sure what might be causing this wave motion. The researchers underlined that there are gas plumes with similar structures in other galaxies, but this is the first time they have encountered such a substance in the Milky Way. From the research team, Dr. Veena stated that the existence of such a structure in the Milky Way makes it very difficult to map the galaxy from the inside out.