Astronomers have identified a large fracture in a structure near the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. The feature, known as G359.13, is about 230 light-years long and among the longest and brightest filaments observed in the galaxy.
The discovery was made using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the MeerKAT radio array in South Africa. These observations were supported by the National Science Foundation’s Very Large Array (VLA), helping pinpoint both the fracture and its cause.
Scientists believe the break in G359.13 is the result of a collision with a pulsar—a dense, rapidly rotating neutron star. This pulsar is estimated to have hit the structure at speeds between one and two million miles per hour. The details of the findings have been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
A pulsar is a highly magnetised neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation from its poles. Despite being only about 20 kilometres in diameter, pulsars are more massive than the Sun and can spin hundreds of times per second.
G359.13 lies approximately 26,000 light-years from Earth, near the Milky Way’s centre. At 230 light-years in length, it spans a distance in which more than 800 stars exist relative to Earth.
Chandra, MeerKAT, and VLA data detected an X-ray and radio source at the location of a major kink—where the filament is most bent from its original linear structure. The compact source shows a steep spectral index (α ~ -2.7), consistent with a pulsar.
Researchers observed a flattening of the spectrum and enhanced synchrotron emission along G359.13, suggesting that relativistic particles were injected along the filament after the collision.