<p style="text-align:justify">A few years ago, astronomers uncovered one of the Milky Way’s greatest secrets: an enormous, wave-shaped chain of gaseous clouds in our sun’s backyard, giving birth to clusters of stars along the spiral arm of the galaxy we call home. Naming this astonishing new structure the <a href="https://sites.google.com/cfa.harvard.edu/radcliffewave/home"><u>Radcliffe Wave</u></a>, the team now reports in Nature that the Radcliffe Wave not only looks like a wave, but also moves like one – oscillating through space-time much like “the wave” moving through a stadium full of fans.</p>
Astronomers detail oscillation of our giant neighbor — Harvard Gazette harvard.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from harvard.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Revelations are helping to explain the "Radcliffe Wave," a chain of star-forming clouds that the largest coherent structure ever seen in our galaxy 9,000 light-years from end to end.