Wavy air structure in the Milky Way

Astronomers today announced the discovery of a wave pattern of wavy gas that reaches 9,000 light-years across the Milky Way.

The gas structure is named "Radcliffe Wave" (modeled with red dots) and Sun (modeled with yellow dots).(Photo: CNN).

Radcliffe waves were discovered using data from the Gaia satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA). Previously, this giant gas band was not noticed due to its size and proximity to the solar system. Viewed from Earth, it covers half of the sky, making it difficult to see the entire structure.

"The sun is only 500 light-years away from Radcliffe Wave. It is right in front of our eyes but no one has seen it until now. What we have observed is a combined gas structure, no it must be a circular shape but a undulating waveform, "said João Alves, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Vienna.

According to ESA, this is the largest gas structure ever discovered in the Milky Way . It is 9,000 light years long and 400 light years wide. By comparison, our galaxy is only about 1,000-2,000 light-years thick.

"We are not sure what created this wavy shape, as if something extremely large had collided with our galaxy," Alves added. A number of theories have been put forward, suggesting that Radcliffe Waves are a mass of dark matter or gas accumulation from the Milky Way's halo, or are formed from interconnected star nurseries.

Experts hope to find more similar gas structures in the future to decipher their origin. The team's findings were announced during a meeting of the 235th American Astronomical Society in Honolulu.