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.

Originally posted by seeker11
Gorgeous, I would love to live in one of those bubbles.

Assuming of course I could breathe, not be burnt or frozen to death.

Originally posted by Iamschist
Awesome! Looks powerful doesn't it? Bet you had some great discussions around your dinner table! Great post, makes me feel very very small.

The Milky Way is indeed cannibalizing another, smaller galaxy. The MW is bigger, and so its gravity did rip the smaller galaxy up, turning into a long ribbon or stream of stars. It does intersect the MW, and the Sun is in fact near this intersection point.

Originally posted by braydenf

Originally posted by BrokenCircles
At times, the term 'structure', can be very deceiving.

thank you my thoughts exactly.


just like every other title on ATS... really getting old.

Scientists have discovered gigantic structures 25,000 light-years tall ballooning above and below the Milky Way.