Giant bubbles coming out of the center of the Milky Way

"These huge bubbles were hitherto masked by the light of an extremely bright radio broadcast from the center of the galaxy," said Fernando Camilo of SARAO in Cape Town, and co-author of the newspaper, in a Press release.

Astronomers were studying in particular a type of radio emission called synchrotron radiation. This type or radiation is created when relativistic electrons – those that move at almost the speed of light – encounter powerful magnetic fields, which confer a particular signature to light. Astronomers often use this type of radiation to locate high energy regions in space.

The new discovery is not the first giant bubble escaped from the Milky Way. In 2010, astronomers discovered two similar giant gamma-ray bubbles blooming above and below the galaxy, spanning 50,000 light-years. Now known as Fermi bubbles, the origin of these radiation balloons is still unexplained, but probably related to the central supermassive black hole of the galaxy. Astronomers in this latest study believe that the new radio bubbles they discovered may have been caused by a smaller but similar event.

"These fascinating radio bubbles open a new window to understanding the recent activities of the galactic center," said Andrew Fox, astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, who did not participate in the event. the new research. "Other observations made across the electromagnetic spectrum have highlighted intense activity there are several million years and these new observations provide another clue. Taken together, the results show that the Milky Way is blowing bubbles at different scales. "

By connecting the original location of the bubbles to the central black hole region of the galaxy, astronomers are starting to learn more about the processes of this dynamic region. It can also help them learn about events happening in other galaxies. Evidence of giant gamma-ray bubbles, such as Fermi bubbles, has also been observed outside the Milky Way in the Andromeda galaxy, its nearest neighbor.