Starburst Region

This is something I started looking into back in August. But not have been able to research this area further. And so, this post is not well-researched. My intention is to collaborate with others, so that we can refine this post.

According to Wikipedia

A starburst is an astrophysical process that involves star formation occurring at a rate that is large compared to the rate that is typically observed. This starburst activity will consume the available interstellar gas supply over a timespan that is much shorter than the lifetime of the galaxy. Source: link

The set of questions I was thinking:

• What is the actual shape of the Milky Way. With a keen focus on the mergers with other galaxies (dwarf and possibly others). What kind of bands are involved and how are other black holes, solar masses, rogue planets, dust and smaller rocks (and possibly other phenomenon) are moving through these bands. I can appreciate that not all the stellar massess e.t.c around the MilkyWay have been mapped in their intricate details. But possibly a small fraction thereof (Maybe around 1% or more of the stellar masses. I could be wrong here).
• I think I read somewhere that there are pockets of dust clouds. I forget it it was Milky Way or another Galaxy that was observed. But the actual duration for which specific (Starburst) specific dust cloud emerge, the duration was cited to be between 6 to 9 million years. Note to self: I need to come back and revise and updated this comment.
• Back in August (of this year) was asking around and I was told that there was something called PHANGS. It stands for ‘Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS’

There was a ‘Scientific American’ article that I was reading in print (paper form). I reckon that it was an article published in the past 6 months or so. I should have noted the actual date of publication.

Anyhow my main concern was around the cloud of gas itself. Particularly concerns specific to the path that the solar system is on. Seeing that the composition of these dust clouds could be made up of Carbon Monoxide. It doesn’t look like the solar system would traverse such clouds in a number of days/weeks or years.

From my untrained and uneducated perspective, better mapping would be a good start.