A Cosmic Contrail: Clues from a Flyby in NGC 3627

Astronomers led by Zhao discovered a massive contrail of gas and dust in the galaxy NGC 3627, stretching over 20,000 light-years. The structure likely formed when a massive black hole or dwarf galaxy nucleus sped through the disk, compressing gas into a long, turbulent trail. This rare feature provides new clues for detecting hidden compact objects in galaxies.