Universe ID: 10691

Fermi gamma-ray lobes animation

Released on November 9, 2010

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.

For More Information

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/new-structure.html

Credits

Tyler Chase (UMBC): Lead Animator
Walt Feimer (HTSI): Animator
Scott Wiessinger (UMBC): Producer
Doug Finkbeiner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): Scientist

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10691

Mission:
Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

This item is part of this series:
Astrophysics Animations

Keywords:
SVS >> Galaxy
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Milky Way
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Spectral/Engineering >> Gamma Ray
SVS >> Astrophysics
SVS >> Fermi
NASA Science >> Universe

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0