Chinese scientists have discovered for the first time that the gas disk at the outer regions of the Milky Way exhibits a wrinkled folding structure.

According to reporters from the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research team at this observatory has discovered a widely distributed wavy folding structure in the outer disk of molecular gas in the Milky Way for the first time. This structure overlays the known large-scale warping of the Milky Way, providing new key observational evidence for understanding the three-dimensional structure and dynamical evolution of the galaxy. The related research findings were published online on August 7 in the international academic journal Nature Astronomy.