Discovered the cause of strange fractures in the “cosmic snake” of the Milky Way

A new research points out that a high -speed pulsar will have collided with the famous galactic snake, creating its “folds.”

Astronomers may finally have unveiled the cause of an intriguing “fracture” Colossal Galactic Structures of the Milky Waythanks to new data from the NASA Xra Ray Observatory and the complementary observations of radiotelescopes.

The discovery gives clues about a mysterious characteristic known as the Galactic Center Serpent -A 230 light-year-old filament that seems to have been physically broken into deep space.

These massive structures, sometimes referred to as the “Bones” of the Milky Wayare dense and elongated formations inside giant molecular clouds, where mainly the formation of high mass stars occurs.

So far, scientists have identified about 20 of these “bones”, which act as scaffolding along the spiral arms of our galaxy and which is believed to be the key to understanding how the stars are born, explains the.

The serpent of the galactic center, officially designated by G359.13, has been drawing attention for a long time due to its unusual and wrinkled aspect. Unlike most radio filaments, which run on relatively soft lines perpendicular to the galactic plane, the serpent displays two abrupt or “folds” distortions. These irregularities point to a more dramatic origin – and now, researchers believe they can know what caused them.

According to a new one published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, astronomers found strong evidence that a high -speed pulsate – A highly magnetized and rapid rotation star of neutrons – collided with the filament, creating the observed distortions. The suspicious impact site shines in both X-ray and radio wavelengths, suggesting that it is a focus of particle acceleration and magnetic disturbance.

“Radio brightness and stressful spectrum of the compact source are consistent with a pulsar,” the investigators observe. Researchers estimate that pulsar has reached the filament to a Slazing Speed ​​from 1.6 to 3.2 million kilometers per hour, disturbing its magnetic structure and generating consistent emissions with relativist particles running along the length of the serpent.

It is thought that this interaction explains both the largest and the smallest folds observed in the filament. The most prominent distortion probably marks the Primary Impact Zonewhile the secondary fold may have resulted from the continued influence of the pulse as it moved through or near the structure.

Although exact details require more observation, astronomers see this as an important clue for the formation and evolution of giant galactic structures.