“Then, in 2020, Gaia data revealed this warp was not static”
Did anyone seriously think it was? The galaxy is a giant spinning gas cloud, and any deviation from a flat disk is a temporary deformation. The central bar, so I’ve heard, isn’t even permanent.
Fascinating stuff. I guess an imperfect analogy would be comparing the Milky Way Galaxy to a vinyl lp record that had been warped. It’s just not in motion.