Scientists have found a huge ultraviolet arc in the constellation Ursa Major

The study involved astronomers from France, the Netherlands and the United States, led by Andrea Bracco from

Croatian Ruđer Bošković Institute. They studied an unusually straight and thin ionized structure in the constellation Ursa Major, the existence of which first became known back in 2001.

It turned out that this structure in the imagesobtained by the GALEX telescope (Galaxy Evolution Explorer), is visible both in the far ultraviolet with a wavelength of 130-180 nanometers, and in the near-ultraviolet - 170-280 nanometers.

The thread consists of a large number of smallarches that lie near the Ursa Major cavity, which is known as the region with the lowest density of neutral hydrogen in the line of sight. Astronomers love this area because it is attractive for intergalactic research.

The gas region is indicated by a bold red line in the image.

Scientists believe that the arc of the Big Dipperformed as a result of a supernova explosion several hundred parsecs from the solar system. The arc consists of gas heated to a temperature of almost 10 thousand degrees Celsius.