Interstellar Tunnel Mapped: 3D View of Milky Way's Hot Plasma Corridors

**Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A)** is a prestigious **monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal** that serves as one of the four major generalist astronomical journals worldwide[1]. Rather than a traditional organization, A&A functions as an international collaborative publishing platform operated by an editorial team supervised by a board of directors representing 27 sponsoring countries and the European Southern Observatory[1]. ## Historical Foundation The journal's origins trace to 1968, when European astronomers established a formal agreement at meetings in Leiden and Brussels to create a unified publication platform[1]. The first editors-in-chief, Stuart Pottasch and Jean-Louis Steinberg, were appointed in July 1968, with Adriaan Blaauw becoming the first board chairman[1]. The journal officially launched with limited output—only four issues in 1969—but quickly evolved into a monthly publication[1]. ## Operational Structure and Evolution Published by EDP Sciences, A&A accepts submissions in multiple languages, though English papers receive significantly higher citation rates—approximately twice those of papers in French or German[1]. The journal expanded its offerings beyond regular research papers to include Letters and Research Notes for significant discoveries, plus a Supplement Series established in 1970 for extensive tabular data and astronomical catalogs[1]. ## Research Coverage A&A covers theoretical, observational, and instrumental astronomy and astrophysics, providing a comprehensive platform for diverse research domains[1]. Its governance model—with senior astronomers and government representatives from sponsoring nations—ensures scientific rigor while maintaining international cooperation[1]. Today, A&A remains a cornerstone of astronomical publishing, reflecting how international scientific collaboration can advance knowledge discovery across borders. Its sustained prominence demonstrates the enduring value of peer-reviewed journals in legitimizing and disseminating cutting-edge astronomical research globally.

**Spektr-RG (SRG) Observatory** is a Russian-German astrophysical space mission dedicated to mapping the Universe in X-rays, revealing hidden cosmic phenomena like supermassive black holes and galaxy clusters.[1][2][3] Conceived in the 1980s by Rashid Sunyaev at the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the project aimed for a grand observatory with multiple telescopes but was shelved post-Soviet collapse due to costs. Revived in 2003 as a leaner design, it gained momentum with a 2009 Roscosmos-DLR agreement, uniting Russian and German expertise.[2][3] Launched on July 13, 2019, by Roscosmos, SRG orbits the L2 Lagrange point, 1.5 million km from Earth, enabling uninterrupted sky scans. Its core instruments are **eROSITA** (German, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics; 0.3–10 keV sensitivity, 810 kg) for soft X-rays and **ART-XC** (Russian, IKI; 4–30 keV, 350 kg) for harder X-rays—both Wolter-type mirrors far surpassing predecessors like ROSAT in sensitivity (25 times for eROSITA).[1][2][3] Key achievements include ART-XC's first all-sky survey (December 2019–June 2020, 4–12 keV), early supernova remnant detections, and eROSITA's half-sky mapping by 2020. Pre-launch forecasts predict ~100,000 galaxy clusters, 3 million active black holes, and 500,000 stars over four years of eight surveys; data flows daily via Russia's Deep Space Network.[1][4][6] As of recent reports, SRG remains operational at L2, led by Lavochkin Association (spacecraf