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Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech
A twisted ring of gas, one that stretches more than 600 light-years across the heart of the Milky Way galaxy, has been discovered by astronomers using a powerful infrared space telescope.
The gaseous ring, which gives birth to new stars, has a kink in the middle, such that it looks like a cosmic infinity symbol.
Parts of the ring have been seen before, but the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Telescope has just made unprecedented observations of the whole structure. The Herschel spacecraft is specially suited to peer into the Milky Way's center because it detects infrared and sub-millimeter light, which can penetrate through the dust hovering between here and there.
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