Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised May 30, 2026

Perseus-Taurus Shell

The Perseus-Taurus Shell is a near-spherical cavity in the interstellar medium, 500 light-years wide, located in the Perseus-Taurus constellations. A team from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics led by Catherine Zucker and Shmuel Bialy discovered the structure in 2021. Scientists believe that it appeared following the explosions of ancient supernovae. Molecular clouds surround the sphere-shape cavity.

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May 30, 2026
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Side-on 3D view of the Per-Tau Shell, giant structure forming star-forming molecular clouds source ↗

The Perseus-Taurus Shell (also shortened to the Per-Tau shell) is a near-spherical cavity in the interstellar medium, 500 light-years wide, located in the Perseus-Taurus constellations.12 A team from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics led by Catherine Zucker and Shmuel Bialy discovered the structure in 2021.2 Scientists believe that it appeared following the explosions of ancient supernovae.345 Molecular clouds surround the sphere-shape cavity.6

References

References

  1. "Astronomers discover enormous 'cavity' in the Milky Way being masked by a cosmic illusion". Live Science. 23 September 2021.
  2. Bialy, Shmuel; Zucker, Catherine; Goodman, Alyssa; Foley, Michael M.; Alves, João; Semenov, Vadim A.; Benjamin, Robert; Leike, Reimar; Enßlin, Torsten (2021). "The Per-Tau Shell: A Giant Star-forming Spherical Shell Revealed by 3D Dust Observations". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 919 (1): L5. arXiv:2109.09763. Bibcode:2021ApJ...919L...5B. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac1f95.
  3. "Astronomers discover mysterious 500-light-year-wide 'cavity' in our Milky Way". Space.com. 23 September 2021.
  4. "Astronomers discover enormous 'cavity' in the Milky Way being masked by a cosmic illusion". Live Science. 23 September 2021.
  5. "'Superbubble' region of star formation was created by supernovae, study suggests". 11 October 2021.
  6. "Gigantic Cavity in Space Sheds New Light on How Stars Form | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian".