The Moebius Strip at the Center of the Galaxy
Using the European Space Agency’s infrared Herschel Space Observatory, astronomer Sergio Molinari discovered a gigantic Moebius Strip at the center of our galaxy: Milky Way’s Core Hides Big Twisted Ribbon.
Click to enlargeA space telescope peering into the Milky Way galaxy’s dusty core has spied a colossal twisted ribbon of supercooled material.
Until now astronomers had only seen bits and pieces of the ribbon’s 600-light-year-wide superstructure, which resembles the symbol for infinity (∞).
“We have a new and exciting mystery on our hands, right at the center of our own galaxy,” said astronomer Sergio Molinari of the Institute of Space Physics in a press release. Molinari and others describe the strange ribbon in an upcoming Astrophysical Journal Letters study available on arXiv.org.
Astronomers previously studied gas-piercing infrared images of the Milky Way’s cloudy barred core, but they didn’t have photos with resolution high enough to discern the ribbon’s entire structure. Molinari and others found the ring by aiming the European Space Agency’s infrared Herschel Space Observatory toward galactic center.
