This 200-light-year-wide structure could be feeding our galaxy’s center: ‘No one had any idea this cloud existed’
Astronomers have discovered a vast cloud of gas and dust which extends over 200 light years and hiding in a badly explored region of the Milky Way.
The structure, called the median cloud, is an example of a giant molecular cloud (GMC). It was discovered by the team using the Green Bank telescope. By taking off the layers of the median cloud, they found dynamic regions, including several potential training sites for new stars and dense dust tracks supplying the heart of our galaxy.
“No one had any idea of this cloud until we looked at this place in the sky and found dense gas,” said Natalie Butterfield, team leader and scientist of the National Radio-Astronomy Observatory. “Thanks to size, mass and density measurements, we have confirmed that it was a giant molecular cloud.”
The active region of the GMC and its thick materials of material could reveal how the equipment passes from the disc of the Milky Way to the very heart of our galaxy.
“These dust routes are like hidden rivers of gas and dust which transport materials in the center of our galaxy,” continued Butterfield. “The median cloud is a place where the equipment of the disc of the galaxy goes to the more extreme environment of the galactic center and offers a unique opportunity to study the initial gas conditions before accumulating in the center of our galaxy.”
Gas in the median cloud exists in a turbulent state, which reflects the conditions found in gas in the center of the Milky Way. This chaotic movement could be triggered by the material flowing along the dust routes itself or by clashes between the median cloud and other molecular clouds.
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There are also several dense gas and dust tufts which could be about to collapse and be born new stars.
A tuft, the node e designated, seems to be a small but dense a cloud of gas which is being eroded by the radiation which is castigated by stars to its proximity. Training like this is called floating evaporation gas globules (Freggs).
Astronomers have also discovered a new source of intense microwave radiation called “Maser” which could be additional proof of intense stars formation in the median cloud.
Researchers, however, did not just discover evidence of stellar birth with this GMC. A shell -shaped structure in the median cloud seems to have been caused by the death of an explosive supernova of massive stars.
The research carried out by the team suggests that the median cloud is vital for the material flow of the Milky Way disc to the heart.
This would nourish the formation of stars in the thick central stellar bar which is transformed in the center of our galaxy. Similar structures of dense stars are in other barred spiral galaxies.
This means that a more in -depth survey of this cloud and its environment could help develop a clearer image of the way the constituent elements of the stars are gather at the center of the galaxies.
“Star training in galactic bars is a bit of a puzzle,” said Larry Morgan, member of the team and the Green Bank Observatory. “The strong forces of these regions can really suppress the formation of stars.
“However, the main edges of these bars, as where the median point is, can accumulate dense gas and trigger a new star formation.”
The team’s research was published Wednesday July 16 in the magazine Astrophysics.
