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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
A Galactic Mushroom Cloud
Explanation: Part of our Galaxy is exploding. Recent radio observations show new details of hot gas expanding rapidly from an energetic star-forming region in our Galactic disk out into our Galaxy's halo . The combined power of at least hundreds of supernovae is needed to drive this tremendous expansion . The resulting 1000 light-year mushroom cloud dwarfs any Earth-borne nuclear explosion , but is small compared to the 60,000 light-year diameter of our Milky Way's disk . The mushroom cloud is one of many similar plumes , and provides important clues to the origin and nature of the Milky Way 's mysterious hot gas halo .
| Date | February 3, 1999 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit & Copyright: Jayanne English (STScI) et al., CGPS/RCPG, DRAO |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |