And it’s puzzling scientists for more than one reason.
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:03 This is FAST, or the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope.
00:07 It's located in southwest China, but recently it detected something pretty spectacular in space.
00:13 This is what they say is an atomic cloud, possibly the largest ever discovered.
00:17 It was found near Stefan's Quintet, a cluster of five galaxies which can be found in the
00:22 constellation Pegasus. The whole thing is made up of hydrogen atoms. From end to end,
00:26 the cloud stretches some 2 million light-years, which the researchers say means the atomic cloud
00:31 is about 20 times larger than the entire Milky Way galaxy. They say this discovery was surprising,
00:36 as hydrogen atoms are usually found closer to the galaxies themselves. However, this cloud
00:40 was found on its own, far away, which is sort of baffling scientists in more ways than one,
00:45 with the researchers writing, "We wonder why it still exists at all, since atomic gas with
00:49 low density should have been destroyed by the ultraviolet radiation in the cosmic background."
00:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:57 (upbeat music)