Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Shining a Light on Cool Pools of Gas in the Galaxy


Shining a Light on Cool Pools of Gas in the Galaxy

This illustration shows a newfound reservoir of stellar fuel discovered by the Herschel space observatory (red). Image credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech

Newly formed stars shine brightly, practically crying out, "Hey, look at me!" But not everything in our Milky Way galaxy is easy to see. The bulk of material between the stars in the galaxy -- the cool hydrogen gas from which stars spring -- is nearly impossible to find.

The discovery reveals that the reservoir of raw material for making stars had been underestimated before -- almost by one third -- and extends farther out from our galaxy's center than known before.

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