A pair of towering, hourglass-like balloons have been discovered at the heart of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, according to a new study. They are some of the largest features ever observed at the galactic center and researchers were able to detect them because they’re emitting radio waves.
A new study describing the balloons published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
To understand the scale of these giant bubbles, they extend for hundreds of light-years above and below the center of the Milky Way. But how did they get there?
Researchers believe that an energetic burst occurred near the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy millions of years ago, resulting in these structures. The twin balloons likely formed after an explosion or eruption blew through the interstellar medium in opposite directions. The interstellar medium is the space between star systems in a galaxy.
Source: Giant balloon structures found at the center of the Milky Way
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