Overview

• The feature spans at least 30,000 to 65,000 light-years from the galactic center, affecting a large portion of the outer stellar disk.
• Gaia measurements show stars ahead of the wave rising and those behind sinking, demonstrating genuine wave-like motion rather than a static shape.
• Researchers traced the structure using young giant stars and Cepheid variables, whose predictable brightness enables precise distances and motions.
• Proposed explanations include a past encounter with a dwarf galaxy, a link to the smaller Radcliffe Wave, or other external disturbances such as dark matter influences, none yet confirmed.
• The results appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics, and scientists expect upcoming Gaia data releases to refine the wave’s map and test competing origins.