Universe  ID: 10918

Galactic Lobes

Scientists have discovered gigantic structures 25,000 light-years tall ballooning above and below the Milky Way. Within each curved lobe, extremely energetic electrons of unknown origin interact with lower-energy light to generate the gamma rays that define these bubbles. The galactic-scale structures could be remnants from a burst of star formation or leftovers from an eruption by the supermassive black hole at our galaxy's center. Scientists aren't sure yet, but the more they learn about this amazing structure, which may be only a few million years old, the better we'll understand the Milky Way. While not immediately visible to NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, these unexpected features were brought into sharp relief by a group of scientists who processed data from Fermi's all-sky map. The visualization below shows how artists imagine the lobes would appear if gamma rays were visible to the naked eye.
 

Related Story


For More Information

NASA.gov


Story Credits

Producer:
Scott Wiessinger (USRA)

Lead Writers:
Scott Wiessinger (USRA)
Francis Reddy (SPSYS)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Image of Fermi all-sky map, with bubbles outlined courtesy of NASA/GSFC/DOE/Fermi LAT/D.Finkbeiner et al.

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10918

Keywords:
SVS >> Astrophysics
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Universe