An international team of astrophysicists has discovered hundreds of mysterious structures in the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
of nearly 1,000 one-dimensional filaments, which are vertical and much larger at up to 150 light-years long each, near the galaxy's center. Yusef-Zadeh and collaborators also found hundreds more paired and clustered vertical filaments in the same area in 2022, realizing the filaments were likely related to Sagittarius A* activity rather than bursts of supernovae, which they had previously thought. The new study both reinforces and builds upon the earlier findings.
The findings related to the black hole located about 26,000 light-years from Earth are "really exciting" and "demonstrate how beautiful the universe is," said Erika Hamden, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona who wasn't involved in the study. "The new MeerKAT observations have been a game changer," Yusef-Zadeh said. "It's really a technical achievement from radio astronomers."
The vertical filaments are located perpendicular to the galactic plane, while the horizontal ones are parallel to the plane and point radially toward the black hole, according to the news release. The vertical filaments surround the nucleus of the Milky Way, but the horizontal ones appear to spread out to one side toward the black hole.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Mysterious structures in Milky Way leave scientists ‘stunned’Finding the “new population of structures that seem to be pointing in the direction of the black hole” was a surprise, Yusef-Zadeh, a professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern University’s…
Read more »
Scientists ‘stunned’ by mysterious structures found in the Milky Way | CNNAn international team of astrophysicists has discovered hundreds of mysterious structures in the center of the Milky Way galaxy
Read more »
Scientists discover mysterious dashes located in the Milky WayScientists have discovered a cluster of colorful threads emanating from a supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy, stunning the researchers and exciting the scientific community.
Read more »
Scientists ‘stunned’ by mysterious structures found in the Milky WayAn international team of astrophysicists has discovered hundreds of mysterious structures in the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Read more »
Astronomers “Stunned” by Discovery of Mysterious Filaments in Milky Way’s CenterHundreds of horizontal filaments point toward our central supermassive black hole. New radio telescope images reveal hundreds of filaments along the galactic plane, each measuring 5 to 10 light-years in length These structures likely originated a few million years ago when outflow from our s
Read more »
Alien hunters turn their attention to the heart of the Milky WayA team of researchers from Cornell University and the SETI Institute has developed a new technique to hunt for repetitive signals from the middle of the Milky Way.
Read more »