Neutron stars are incredibly dense remnants of exploded stars. When these stars collapse, they often get a powerful kick, sending them speeding through space.
The Milky Way’s center contains immense, bone-like structures that appear in radio waves and are lined with parallel magnetic fields. The radio waves come from charged particles spiraling along these fields, creating the mysterious features seen in space.
Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have uncovered the likely cause behind a mysterious fracture in one of the Milky Way’s massive cosmic “bones.” Their findings suggest the break was caused by a fast-moving neutron star, a pulsar, slamming into the structure at high speed.
Astronomers have captured an image of a cosmic “bone” called G359.13, also known as the Snake, using X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) and radio data from MeerKAT (gray).
A fracture in G359.13 was detected, and scientists used combined X-ray and radio data to investigate its cause. They discovered an X-ray and radio source at the break—likely a fast-moving pulsar. This pulsar may have collided with G359.13 at 1–2 million miles per hour, distorting its magnetic field and warping the radio signal.
G359.13 is 230 light-years long, making it one of the largest and brightest structures in the Milky Way, located 26,000 light-years from Earth near the galaxy’s center.
Astronomers have released two composite images of a long, thin cosmic structure called G359.13, also known as “The Snake.” Because of its vertical shape, pale color, and seemingly fragile form, the images resemble X-rays of a bone.
G359.13 is a Galactic Center Filament, made up of parallel magnetic fields and energized particles that generate radio waves, detected by the MeerKAT radio array in South Africa.
In the first image, the filament stretches from top to bottom, with hazy grey clouds at each end. The only color visible is neon blue specks, representing X-ray emissions captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
In the close-up, one of these blue specks appears to be interacting with the filament. Scientists identified it as a fast-moving pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star. They believe the pulsar collided with G359.13, distorting its magnetic field and warping the radio signal
