An unprecedented bridge of atomic hydrogen gas 2.6 million light years long was found by astronomers between galaxies 500 million light years away.

Dr. Rhys Taylor from the Czech Academy of Science said the findings were totally unexpected because they frequently see small gas streams in galaxy clusters.

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He said astronomers usually see bridges like this in galaxies close together but finding something this long and not in a cluster is unprecedented.

Roberto Rodriguez from the University of Puerto Rico said they normally find gas inside galaxies but in this finding, half of the glass is located in the bridge.

He said the gas is 15 billion times the mass of the Sun, which is far larger than the combined mass of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies.

Researchers said this stream of atomic hydrogen gas is million light years longer than the gas tail found in the Virgo Cluster, which is the largest known atomic hydrogen gas tail.

Using the Arecibo Telescope, the bridge was found in data taken between 2008 and 2011 during the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey.

To date, researchers are still investigating where the stream came from but they believe that the large galaxy located at one end of the stream passed close to the group of smaller galaxies.

They also said the gas bridge was drawn out as they move apart. Another theory suggests that the galaxy plowed straight through the middle of the group pushing its gas aside.

Researchers plan to use computer simulations to find which of the theories best matches the shape of the bridge.