The Milky Way Galaxy is full of cosmic objects of varying shapes and sizes — sometimes resembling objects here on Earth. A galactic center radio filament called G359.13142-0.20005 (or G359.13 for short) is seen here in X-ray (blue) and radio (gray) light. Astronomers have likened the 230 light-year-long structure to a cosmic “bone” perpendicular to the galactic plane.
G359.13 is ranked as one of the longest and brightest galactic center filaments in the Milky Way. Astronomer’s aren’t exactly sure how they form, but they do know these filaments are threaded through with magnetic fields and become visible to radio telescopes as energized particles spiral along these fields, emitting radio waves. This particular filament also has two kinks; now, astronomers have discovered the likely culprit behind the bigger of the two: a rapidly spinning, extremely dense neutron star called a pulsar.
A study published Feb. 23 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society shows that the pulsar is estimated to have crashed into G359.13 at speeds between 1 million and 2 million mph (1.6 million and 3.2 million km/h). The pulsar likely slammed into the filament and perturbed the magnetic fields, resulting in the kink. The pulsar is visible thanks to its X-ray emission, and appears smack dab within the deformed filament. The study also argues that the filament’s secondary kink may be caused by the same object although it’s also likely the smaller kink was caused by a different source.
The X-ray data came from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the radio data came from both the MeerKAT Radio Telescope in South Africa and the Very Large Array in New Mexico.
