The of the contains nearly 1,000 inexplicable magnetic filaments — ten times more than previously thought, a new image has revealed.
The strange strands, some of which stretch up to 150 light-years across, were first discovered by astronomers at Northwestern University back in the early 1980s.
Observations using radio waves have shown the filaments to be highly organised, appearing in pairs and clusters, with some evenly spaced out like strings on a harp.
The team believe that filaments are comprised of cosmic ray electrons gyrating the magnetic field at close to the speed of light, but their origins remain a mystery.
However, the identification of more of the strings, the researchers said, will now enable broad statistical studies that might allow them to unravel this puzzle.
The team have already ruled out supernovae as the source of the filaments, and suspect they may have been created by our galaxy’s supermassive black hole.
The turbulent heart of the Milky Way contains nearly 1,000 inexplicable magnetic filaments — ten times more than previously thought, a new image (pictured) has revealed
A mosaic image of the heart of the Milky Way.The filaments can be seen as vertical slashes throughout
Observations using radio waves have shown the filaments to be highly organised, torgovaya.xyz appearing in pairs and clusters, with some evenly spaced out like strings on a harp