Study finds Milky Way outer spiral arms nearly 10% larger
Turns out, our galaxy is a bit bigger than we imagined!
A new study just found that the Milky Way's outer spiral arms stretch nearly 10% farther than scientists previously estimated.
Researchers figured this out by using space telescopes to track light echoes from massive gamma-ray bursts, the brightest explosions in the universe.
Researchers map 3,500 light-year cloud
The team focused on three of the galaxy's spiral arms and measured how light from these bursts bounced off dust clouds, helping them map distances more accurately.
One dust cloud was found to be 3,500 light-years wide, pretty wild!
These results could mean scientists will need to rethink the Milky Way's size and mass.
As lead author Beatrice Vaia put it, "This is a very direct way - relying only on geometry - to precisely measure distances to the Milky Way's spiral arms."
And co-author Andrea Tiengo commented, "We're relying on the universe to provide us with these events, and so far, over 25 years, we've only found a handful that we can use."