O&A WITH A FILAMENT FINDER

Researchers looking at the centre of our Galaxy have discovered a first: long, slim filaments made not of dust but gas, and forged by powerful shockwaves

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What did your research involve?

It concerns star formation. How do small dust grains and diffuse gas form into a main-sequence star like the Sun? There are many methods we can use to study star-forming regions, but in this work we looked at spectral data, or 'molecular fingerprints', from the Milky Way's central molecular zone (CMZ).

What and where is the central molecular zone?

The CMZ is a region in our Galactic centre where large molecules are gathered at high densities. It is close to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, and exhibits many extreme physical processes that make it a very interesting region for studying star formation. For example, there are high-energy phenomena in this region, as well as the remnants of past supernovae.

What did you find in the CMZ?