It looks like NASA found a new perspective on the Milky Way, the galaxy where the solar system is in. This provides for an entirely new development for astronomers looking to complete a map of the Earth's home galaxy.
Astronomers estimate that at least one hundred billion galaxies in the universe at the moment. Mapping even just the Milky Way proves to be a tedious and demanding tasks that involves several technological applications and complex calculations.
Christian Science Monitor reported that the Local Arm - the term used to refer to the corner of the Milky Way, doesn't encircle perfectly in a spiral formation. New findings by astronomers indicate that the entire area extends about 20,000 light-years around the galaxy, with some arms stretching five-six times that length.
The report also noted that the Local Arm, which also goes by the name Orion Spur, is no longer merely a spur, as it's found to include star-forming regions in the structure. Astronomers also found out that there's a galactic connection between the Local Arm and the Sagittarius Arm.
In a separate report by Tech Times, the discovery is a big help for astronomers to create a clear map of the Milky Way. The new study, based from findings gathered from the Purple Mountain Observatory in China, reveals that the Local Arm is much bigger than what astronomers previously thought.
The report also emphasized that, astronomers can now generate accurate measurements of gas clouds in the Milky Way's arm with the help of a radio telescope known as the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). Moreover, astronomers in the report have concluded that the Milky Way is not a perfect spiral in form, as it contains different branches and subtle spurs.
Details of other findings are published in the journal "Science Advances."
