Room, Space Journal of Asgardia21 June 2021 News
Astronomers using GBT discover previously unknown huge galactic structureby Kerry Hebden
A massive, previously unknown structure in our galaxy has been found by astronomers using the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope – the Green Bank Telescope (GBT); the discovery was so unexpected, it has taken years and many additional observations to confirm the data.
The structure in question is a thick disk of “dark” molecular gas which extends far into the outskirts of the Milky Way and hints of its existence first came to light in 2005, when astronomers found an excess of cosmic rays of unknown origin emanating from the disk of our Galaxy.
“Dark” gas refers to molecules that are difficult to detect in the interstellar medium (ISM) - the vast, cold regions of space between stars. The most prominent is molecular hydrogen (H2).
Despite being the most abundant molecule in the Universe, H2 evades detection easily in these regions as neutral hydrogen atoms (those that have not lost an electron) at temperatures typical of the gas in interstellar space neither emit nor absorb light in the visible part of the spectrum. ...