A Gigantic Cavity Is Splitting Milky Way Constellations
Astronomers have discovered a giant, 500-light-year-wide cavity between two star-forming regions in the constellations Perseus and Taurus. An ancient supernova could be the culprit.
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TechTranscript
00:00Some 10 million years ago, a supernova went off, creating an explosion that pushed gas
00:09and dust around it outwards.
00:11Remnants of this explosion exist to this day, in the shape of molecular clouds, dense regions
00:18of gas where stars form.
00:20New research to measure the shapes and sizes of molecular clouds allowed astronomers to
00:26detect the empty cavity in space created by the supernova.
00:30The discovery shows that the Perseus and Taurus molecular clouds in red and blue, and other
00:36molecular clouds, form from the powerful effects of supernova.