Scientists Find Largest Gas Cloud In The Universe, Big Enough To Fit 20 Milky Way Galaxies

If we go back in time to when the first images from the James Webb Telescope were revealed, everyone on the planet was riveted. One of the first targets of the JWST’s science mission was the famous cosmic formation known as ‘Stephan’s quintet.’ This one-of-a-kind structure has revealed something else hidden within it.

The largest known atomic gas cloud around a group of galaxies has been discovered by China’s Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST).

20 Milky Way galaxies might fit side by side in the formation’s 2 million light-year diameter gas structure. According to the researchers, the finding raises a riddle and will force astronomers to reconsider how gas interacts at the borders of galaxy clusters.

According to research head XU Cong of the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, “This is the largest atomic gas structure ever seen around a galaxy group.”

Importance Of Hydrogen

SEE ALSO: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Captures Electrifying Images Of Orion Nebula

Astronomers might have anticipated UV light to alter the structure of the hydrogen in the cloud. Another crucial point to remember is that the gas in Stephan’s Quintet is not ionised.

The absence of ionisation raises the possibility that the gas is a remnant of galaxy formation. In other words, it’s possible that an old collision between 2 galaxies created a cloud that surrounded Stephan’s Quintet.

Cover Image: NASA