Fermi gamma-ray lobes animation
Using data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, scientists have recently discovered a gigantic, mysterious structure in our galaxy. This never-before-seen feature looks like a pair of bubbles extending above and below our galaxy's center.
Each lobe is 25,000 light-years tall and the whole structure may be only a few million years old.
Are the bubbles remnants of a massive burst of star formation? Leftovers from an eruption by the supermassive black hole at our galaxy's center? Or or did these forces work in tandem to produce them? Scientists aren't sure yet.
For more content related to these bubbles, go to#10688.
Artist's interpretation of the Milky Way and the gamma-ray lobes.
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Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
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Animators
- Tyler Chase (UMBC)
- Walt Feimer (HTSI)
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Producer
- Scott Wiessinger (UMBC)
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Scientist
- Doug Finkbeiner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
Release date
This page was originally published on Tuesday, November 9, 2010.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:53 PM EDT.