The mystery of a elephantine " fracture " in our galaxy – the Milky Way – may have been work after new observance from NASA ’s Chandra X - ray Observatory and radio scope .
Looking towards the center of the Milky Way , astronomers have previously spotted giant structures that are sometimes refer to as " bones " .
" High - tidy sum adept formation in the Milky Way , a stop volute wandflower , mainly come in elephantine molecular clouds ( GMCs ) or giant molecular filaments ( GMFs ) . A special case of GMFs , which is called the ' bone ' of the Milky Way , act the obtuse structures associated with spiral arms , " arecent paperon the topic explains , sum up that 20 such structure have been found in recent age .
The “Cosmic Snake” at the center of our galaxy.Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Northwestern Univ./F. Yusef-Zadeh et al; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKat; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk
" The bones bridge over Galactic whorled arm and local star formation activities , and award some of the fundamental kinematic attribute of GMCs in ecumenical . Therefore , it is of outstanding importance to investigate how these social system course and what role they play in star formation . "
One such " bone " is known , jolly dramatically , as the Galactic CenterSnake , and it is this 230 - light - years - long filament that capture the attending of author of a fresh paper . In brusque , this particular " bone " is interesting because it is broken , come out to be " fractured " in two places .
" The Snake is a remarkable Galactic substance radio filament with a morphology characterized by two kink along its ∼ 20 arcmin extent , " the team explain in their new paper . " The major and nonaged kinks are located where the filament is most distorted from a linear magnetize social structure running vertical to the Galactic plane . "
seem at the faulting in the cosmic snake ( aka G359.13 ) in radio and decade - light beam information , the team find an X - ray and radio beginning right at the position of the fracture . They believe that the culprit is likely a pulsar – a extremely magnetized neutron mavin – which slammed into the filament at a relative speed of between1 million and 2 million naut mi per hour(1,600,000 and 3,200,000 kilometers an hour ) . The hit probably interrupt the magnetic field inside the pearl , heave the receiving set signal , while electrons and their antimatter counterparts , antielectron , being accelerate to high energies are thought to be an supererogatory source of these sign .
" The wireless luminosity and steep spectrum of the compact source are uniform with a pulsar . We also show flattening of the spectrum and enhanced synchrotron emissivity away from the position of the major kink along the Snake , which suggests shot of relativistic particles along the Snake , " the team explains . " We argue that the major crick is create by a fast - moving ( ∼ 500−1,000 km s−1 ) , object punch into the Snake , distorting its magnetic anatomical structure , and producing disco biscuit - ray discharge . X - beam discharge pinpoint an active speedup web site where the interaction is taking place . A secondary twist is indicate to be induce by the impact of the high - speed target produce the major kink . "
Further observations of the Snake River are necessary to see if this is the pillowcase , and also because it ’s adept to keep an eye on a mammoth cosmic snake stretching across the center of the galaxy , even if it is a well-to-do 26,000 easy - eld from Earth .
New simulacrum of the Cosmic Snake can be check on theCHANDRA X - Ray Observatory website , and a paper is release inMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
