The Herschel Space Observatory has revealed for the first time the entirety of a cold dusty gas ring near the center of the Milky Way. But there is an enigma to this discovery—the ring appears to be kinked.
The icy gas formation is 600 light-years away and previously only a few portions could be seen. The dense ring is mixed up with dust, and stars are forming here.
Herschel allowed scientists to see the whole ring by detecting sub-millimeter light, which shines through the dust that is obscuring parts of the Milky Way. It can also see the coldest objects in our galaxy.
What surprised the astronomers is that the ring looks like an infinity symbol and is torqued at the center, giving it a two-lobed appearance.
"This is what is so exciting about launching a new space telescope like Herschel," said Sergio Molinari at Rome’s Institute of Space Physics, in a press release.
"We have a new and exciting mystery on our hands, right at the center of our own galaxy."
Scientists believe that Andromeda, our neighboring galaxy, may be influencing the Milky Way’s activity through gravitational disturbances.
It is unclear why the center of the ring is not exactly at the center of our galaxy, which is believed to be around “Sagittarius A*,” where a black hole can be found.
"There’s still so much about our galaxy to discover," said co-author Alberto Noriega-Crespo, at NASA’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology, in the release.
The findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
