The strange structured bone -shaped structure in the Milky Way finds an explanation
On this image with X -rays and radios waves, we see the G359.13 structure, called “the bone” and its “fracture”. © NASA / Chandra
The center of the galaxy, the Milky Way, is a bizarre place, filled with old explosive stars, radiation and probably with a large population of black holes. If a galactic guide had to show you this cosmic city center, it would certainly take you before “bone”, a 230 light-year filament long visible in radio wave and caused by particles that physicists qualify “excited”.
G359.13, abbreviated code of the bone -shaped structure, or snake, has a kind of enigmatic break.
The image that shows this “bone” is multi wavelength: the Chandra (X), Meerkat and Very Large Array (radios) telescopes were needed in its realization.
G359.13, known as “the bone” in different wavelengths (Meerkat/ Vla/ Chandra) © F Yusef-Sadeh et al, 2025
“The bone” of 230 light years is fractured by a pulsar
Thanks to images of the Chandra telescope, X -ray sources appeared to astronomers, especially in the very place of the strange fracture. The most likely is that this source X is produced by a pulsar: a dead star, ultra dense and swept away by a completely crazy rotation of about 2 million kilometers per hour! It would be the magnetic field of this pulsar that would distort the radio signal of G359.13.
The area resembling a fracture appears clearly on these images (above, vla images). © F Yusef-Sadeh et al, 2025
It is a mystery of almost 50 years which was therefore certainly resolved thanks to this study published on Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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