Composite Image Shows the Size and Location of the Smith Cloud on the Sky (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Composite Image Shows the Size and Location of the Smith Cloud on the Sky

Caption

Hubble Space Telescope astronomers are finding that the old adage 'what goes up must come down' even applies to an immense cloud of hydrogen gas outside our Milky Way galaxy. The invisible cloud is plummeting toward our galaxy at nearly 700,000 miles per hour.

Credit

Credits: Saxton/Lockman/NRAO/AUI/NSF/Mellinger

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