Galactic Pool of Hot Gas


Space is full of nothingness. However, the nothingness is not quite complete. Galaxies are vast clusters of stars surrounded by more nothingness (more or less. Astronomers have used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to find evidence our Milky Way Galaxy is embedded in an enormous halo of hot gas that extends for hundreds of thousands of light years. The estimated mass of the halo is comparable to the mass of all the stars in the galaxy. If the size and mass of this gas halo is confirmed, it also could be an explanation for what is known as the missing baryon problem for the galaxy.


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