Largest Gas Cloud Discovered In Space Is 20 Times Bigger Than Milky Way Galaxy

Scientists have found a gas cloud in space that's 20 times bigger than the Milky Way galaxy. Yep, this is not a joke!

Far away in the Pegasus constellation lies the Stephan's Quintet - a collection of five closely packed galaxies. Four of these galaxies are interacting with each other while one is closer to Earth.

An international team of scientists used the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China to find that Stephan's Quintet is covered in atomic gas that is 2 million light-years wide - 20 times the size of the Milky Way galaxy!

NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Largest gas structure around galaxies

"This is the largest atomic gas structure ever found around a galaxy group," Xu Cong, an astronomer at the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Science who is also the study's lead author said in a statement.

Also read: Scientists Find Remains Of Unknown Galaxy That Was Consumed By Milky Way

NASA

Scientists will be forced to reassess how gas behaves at the edges of galaxy groups. In Stephan's Quintet, all hydrogen is kind of a time capsule, as Space.com rightly pointed out. Such events that scatter gas around galaxy groups going back to a billion years could be traced now.

The lack of ionisation in hydrogen suggests that the gas has been left over from the time these galaxies were formed. At the same time, it is possible that these cloud of gas could be a product of interactions that created these galaxies. Scientists have another theory - that the cloud surrounding Stephan's Quintet could be a result of a crash between two of the galaxies a long time ago.

Chandra X-ray observatory

Also read: Hubble Telescope Captures A Stunning 'Sea Of Stars' In The Centre Of Milky Way

The study's details were published in the journal Nature on October 19 and its findings could help scientists find out how galaxies are born and what steps galaxies take in their evolution.

What do you think about this interesting tale about the cosmos? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.

References

Rayne, E. (2022, November 2). Scientists discover largest gas cloud in space that¡¯s 20 times bigger than the Milky Way. Space.com. https://www.space.com/largest-atomic-gas-cloud-stephans-quintet