NASA discovered that our Milky Way galaxy has a 'broken' arm

NASA's new study details the discovery of our Milky Way galaxy having a 'broken' arm that stretches a huge 3,000 light-years.

Jak Connor

Tech and Science Editor

Published Aug 19, 2021 5:05 AM CDT
Updated Sep 17, 2021 4:34 PM CDT

45-second read time

NASA has discovered something that they have overlooked about the Milky Way galaxy, the galaxy we live in.

NASA discovered that our Milky Way galaxy has a 'broken' arm 01

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Due to Earth's position in the Milky Way galaxy, researchers have a difficult time discovering new things about the galaxy, but that doesn't mean it never happens. According to a new study published by NASA, the Milky Way galaxy is a spiral galaxy, and one of its spiral arms has a "break" in it, much like a splinter protruding from a piece of wood.

NASA researchers used data acquired from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission and found that the broken arm spans around 3,000 light-years. The location of the break in the spiral arm contains some of our galaxy's most incredible spectacles, such as the Pillars of Creation, Omega, Lagoon, and Trifid nebulae. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.