[Artist Concept] Astronomers discover dizzying spin of our Milky Way galaxy's "halo." Our galaxy and its small companions are surrounded by a giant halo of million-degree gas (seen in blue in this artists' rendition) that is only visible to X-ray telescopes in space. University of Michigan astronomers discovered that this massive hot halo spins in the same direction as the Milky Way disk and at a comparable speed. This new knowledge sheds light on how individual atoms have assembled into stars, planets, and galaxies like our own, and what the future holds for these galaxies.
Credits: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss/Ohio State/A Gupta et al
#nasa #space #galaxy #milkyway #astronomy #nasabeyond #science