Scientists discover mysterious object 10x longer than the Milky Way in deep space

By complete coincidence, astronomers have discovered and mapped the first-ever stellar stream, an elongated thread of gravitationally linked stars that have been likely torn away from their original galaxies, only to be left in intergalactic space (the space between galaxies).

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Previously, astronomers have mapped these stellar streams within galaxies but never outside of galaxies. According to the study published on November 30 in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the researchers identified and mapped the first intergalactic stellar stream called the Giant Coma Stream (GCS).

The paper states the GCS passes through the Coma Cluster, also called Abell 1656, which is a group of more than 1,000 galaxies located approximately 321 million light years from our planet. The team that discovered the GCS isn't quite sure how it has grown so large, with speculation pointing toward the original target for their observations - dark matter. The team suggests that it's possible the currently invisible dark matter may have caused GCS to form into its current shape.

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"This giant stream crossed our path by coincidence," explains lead researcher Javier Román. "We were studying halos of stars located around large galaxies."

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