The Radcliffe Wave has been a mystery to scientists since it was discovered back in 2020. It’s a convergence of star forming gas and now experts say it’s moving.
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00:00 [Music]
00:03 This is what is called the Red Cliff Wave,
00:06 and it's been a mystery to scientists since it was discovered back in 2020.
00:10 The whole thing stretches an enormous 9,000 light-years,
00:13 but it resides in the Milky Way, just 500 light-years from our solar system.
00:17 So what is it?
00:18 Well, it's a convergence of star-forming gas,
00:20 which is in and of itself pretty remarkable.
00:22 But more recently, they realized that it actually looks more like this,
00:26 a moving structure oscillating like a proper wave.
00:29 This all comes after recent improvements to 3D maps of our galaxy,
00:32 and they might actually have an idea of why it is moving as well.
00:35 The researchers say that the explanation is pretty simple,
00:38 and that it's being pulled on by gravitational interactions with other matter around it,
00:42 a far cry from the initial possibility of dark matter causing the structure to undulate in such a way.
00:47 It's even possible, the physicists say,
00:49 that the stars that went supernova before the Milky Way took their place
00:53 may have even formed within the Red Cliff Wave.
00:55 Now the question remains,
00:57 what caused this star-forming wave to appear in the first place?
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01:03 (light music)