A huge “wave” is rippling through our galaxy, pushing billions of stars in its wake, a new study reveals.
The Milky Way’s galactic wave was spotted in mapping data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia space telescope, which charted the positions and movement patterns of millions of stars with high accuracy before retiring earlier this year.
Like ripples in a pond, the wave has a very large influence: It affects stars between 30,000 and 65,000 light-years away from the galaxy’s center, ESA officials said in a statement. That’s a large percentage of the Milky Way, which is roughly 100,000 light-years across.
“Writer Fuel” is a series of cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration.
