News > Astronomers Discover a “Break” in One of the Milky Way’s Spiral Arms

Astronomers Discover a “Break” in One of the Milky Way’s Spiral Arms

Scientists have spotted a previously unrecognized feature of our Milky Way galaxy: A contingent of young stars and star-forming gas clouds is sticking out of one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms like a splinter poking out from a plank of wood.

Stretching some 3,000 light-years, this is the first major structure identified with an orientation so dramatically different than the arm’s. The newly discovered feature offers insight into the large-scale structure of our galaxy.