Near the center of the Milky Wayare enormous filaments of radio energy that sometimes look like bones,Kelly the Coed 1 (1999) and one in particular has astronomers playing orthopaedists.
If the new picture at the top of this story reminds you of an X-ray, well, that's because it is. Scientists used a spacetelescope to examine a conspicuous fracture along the bone's 230 light-yearlength. The images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, coupled with data from the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa and the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array, have revealed what likely caused it to crack.
The assailant, seen right at the point of the break, could be a fast-spinning neutron star, known as a pulsar. Scientists think that, as the object whizzed through the galaxy at breakneck speed, it slammed through the bone and just kept on going. The collision apparently distorted the bone's magnetic field and warped its radio signal.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory helped scientists study The Snake, a filament of radio energy near the Milky Way's galactic center. Credit: NASA / CXC / J. Vaughan illustration The discovery not only offers a diagnosis for how the filament fractured but highlights that a single star can rattle the galaxy, even long after its own death. The findingsdescribed by NASA this week were published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Researchers have named the filament G359-dot-something-something-something, but friends and fun astronomers just call it "The Snake." Why, you might ask? Because G359.13142-0.20005 just doesn't roll off the tongue.
The glowing streak threads through the congested downtown of the Milky Way. Dozens of other such filamentsappear in radio waves around the galactic center, lit up by particles spiraling through parallel magnetic fields. The Snake is one of the longest and brightest of its kind.
But why these structures exist — and what makes some longer and more luminous than others — remains a mystery.
An annotated version of a composite image of The Snake shows a close-up view of the fracture and the object that likely created it. Credit: NASA / CXC / Northwestern University / F. Yusef-Zadeh et al / NRF / SARAO / MeerKat / SAO / N. Wolk As for the assailant, it's trying to make a quick getaway. Neutron stars form when massive stars explode into supernovas, leaving behind a crushed stellar core, perhaps just 10 miles wide. But a pulsarbeams radiation as it revolves like a lighthouse beacon.
The new images also suggest extra X-rays may be coming from the area around the pulsar. Particles like electrons and positrons — tiny pieces of matter and antimatter — that sped up during the crash may have caused them.
After a supernova, remnant neutron stars often get an intense kickback from the blast. Scientists estimate this pulsar could be flying at a dizzying 1 million to 2 million mph.
Topics NASA
5 Ways to Access a Locked Windows Account
Photography Incubabula: How Early Photographs Got in Books
Shark FlexStyle Prime Day deal: Snag this Dyson Airwrap dupe for under $300
Google AI's Flood Hub predictor prepares for flooding in U.S. and Canada
Best Garmin deal: Save over $100 on Garmin Forerunner 955
Best Prime Day noise
Solawave Prime Day: Score 40% off Solawave products
Calm launches TikTok competition to discover #NextVoiceofCalm
Best speaker deal: Save $30 on the JBL Clip 5
Janet Fish: Glass & Plastic
A Typical Wall Street Republican
David Bowie’s 100 Favorite Books
WTF? Can we talk about HP's wacky new foldable laptop for a sec?
Here's some Met Gala Gilded Glamor fashion. Also, America is imploding.
How to Squeeze the Most Out of Your iPhone's Battery
Hustle and Trust: Notes on the Knicks (and Edmund Spenser)
Comfort TV: Notes on “The Great British Baking Show”
Lorde's shushgate, explained
The State of PC Gaming in 2016
How to update your Instagram app
The lobster emoji was anatomically inaccurate so now it's getting fixedFlamin' Hot Cheetos creator to get his own biopicAJ from 'Queer Eye' is engaged and it's pretty dusty in hereFergie responds to critics of that wildly unpopular national anthem performanceDonald Trump thinks he's the first person to come up with movie ratingsIt will be warmer at the North Pole next week than in much of Europe'Black Panther': Our ideas for sequels, spinoffs and moreTwitter: Parkland survivors face 'targeted abuse and harassment'Why Donald Glover got a shout out in the 'Black Panther' creditsNeanderthals, not humans, painted the art in these European cavesAmy Poehler blasts NRA over 'Parks & Rec' tweetWhat to expect from Mobile World Congress 201827 migrants donated their shoes so strangers can literally walk a mile in themJoss Whedon "didn’t have a story" for 'Batgirl' — but these women sure doMichelle Obama raves about 'Black Panther'Brendan Fraser opens up about 2003 groping incident to GQUber Express Pool: cheaper rides, as long as you don't mind walkingFlamin' Hot Cheetos creator to get his own biopicGoogle launches Google Pay, its answer to Apple PayFord's North America president, Raj Nair, is out due to 'inappropriate behavior' How Best to Celebrate Dorothy Parker’s Birthday 'Baldur's Gate 3' confirmed for Xbox in 2023 Cover Art by Sadie Stein Recognition 10 TikTok accounts to follow if you love to cook Al Roker has a message for people worrying as he covers Hurricane Ida 11 scary horror movies that'll give you nightmares Its Light Was Prodigious by Dan Piepenbring The Morning News Roundup for August 22, 2014 Tucker Carlson's Trump interview doesn't have 230 million video views on X The Art of Marbling 'Quordle' today: See each 'Quordle' answer and hints for August 27, 2023 Tech billionaires are buying up land near San Francisco to build their own utopia How to write alt text for memes The Morning News Roundup for August 29, 2014 Field of Dreams Best Apple Pencil deal: Get the Apple Pencil (2nd gen) for just $89 at Amazon Porn ushers in a golden age of TV dicks Best wireless headphones deal: Get Bose headphones for $279 “Why Read?”
2.7073s , 10132.3359375 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Kelly the Coed 1 (1999)】,Charm Information Network