13/03/2023
Astronomers have discovered a vast structure in our galaxy, made up of many interconnected "nurseries" where stars are born.
The long, thin filament of gas is a whopping 9,000 light-years long and 400 light-years wide.
It lies around 500 light-years from our Sun, which is relatively close by in astronomical distances.
The discovery, outlined in the journal Nature, came from work to assemble a new map of the Milky Way.
An international team analysed data from the European Gaia space telescope, which was launched in 2013.