Latest news with #ROSAT
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Astronomers discover mysterious ‘intestellar tunnels' in space. Here's more to it
Space is full of surprises, and it continues to baffle even experts! While most of us imagine our Solar System as planets surrounded by an empty void, astronomers are claiming that there's much more happening in the cosmic neighborhood. New studies conducted by astronomers at the Max Planck Institute, led by Dr. L. L. Sala and his colleagues have confirmed that the Sun sits inside a giant bubble of hot gas, and within it, there might be strange 'interstellar tunnels' connecting us to other star systems. New discovery indicates a network of "interstellar tunnels" connecting our Solar System with other stars.(Unsplash) A bubble born from explosions Decades of research has proved that the Solar System lies within a region of space known as the Local Hot Bubble (LBH) which spans across 300 light years, formed as a result of cosmic explosions called supernovas that occurred millions of years ago. These explosions caused the surrounding gas to heat up, resulting in a low-density, high-temperature environment, and traces of these activities are still present in the form of faint remnants of hot plasma. Dr. L. L. Sala and colleagues used data from the eRosita X-ray telescope to chart this region in unprecedented detail and Dr. Sala mentioned, 'We find the temperature of the LHB exhibits a north-south dichotomy at high latitudes,' in a paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. eRosita's research, combined with old data from ROSAT, another X-ray survey, indicate temperature differences across the region and faint traces of warm gas, dust cavities, and interstellar structures, offering the most refined picture yet of our cosmic neighborhood. Also read | Pune astronomers make vital space discovery: Galactic wind around tiny galaxy Intriguing cosmic channels The most intriguing finding from the study is what the team describes as 'interstellar tunnels' - channels of hot plasma that seem to extend from the Solar System, stretching towards the Centaurus constellation. Another such pathway appears to point towards Canis Major. These pathways, that could be part of a larger network of cosmic 'backroads,' connecting regions of the galaxy shaped by ancient supernovas, seem to cut through the hot plasma, forging channels between us and other distant star systems. The findings indicate that these may be part of a larger interconnected system stretching between star-forming regions and pockets of gas, lending weight to older theories about networks of dust cavities filled with hot gas resulting from supernova activities. Also Read | Harvard astronomer warns interstellar object moving towards Earth could 'save us or destroy us' Redefining the 'void' Space is far from empty and the Local Hot Bubble is proof that ancient supernovas and other cosmic activities have shaped today's cosmos into a complex environment intermingling with dust, plasma, radiation and magnetic fields, making the so-called 'void' far more complex than simple vacuum. The research team has successfully mapped out parts of the LBH and its peculiar passages but much remains unclear. Some areas appear to be connected by cavities, while others are blocked, indicating that more advanced research models are required to understand them. Astronomers claim that advanced X-ray missions, deeper surveys, and more refined models of hot gas distribution are required in order to understand more. Mapping them further could reveal how they shape cosmic rays, dust flow, and stellar winds. The new discovery reiterates the fact that even our local space holds surprises, challenging old assumptions and adding complexity to what lies between the Solar System and other nearby stars. As technology improves, each new finding will not only answer questions but also uncover more, gradually reshaping our understanding of the cosmos.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Intrigued by Galactic Structure That's 1.4 Billion Light-Years Wide
Scientists say they've uncovered the "largest known galactic structure" — a cosmic monster that spans a mind-boggling 1.4 billion light-years, which is around 14,000 times the diameter of our own Milky Way galaxy. The team, led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Physics, made the discovery after analyzing data as part of the ROSAT X-ray satellite sky survey. They found that the structure — dubbed "Quipu" after strings with knots used by the Incas for bookkeeping — stretched across huge swathes of the night sky. The team believes it's largely composed of dark matter, the invisible substance believed to account for 85 percent of all mass in the universe. The finding could have considerable implications for our understanding of the larger structures lurking in the universe and how to accurately map them. "If you look at the distribution of the galaxy clusters in the sky in a spherical shell with a distance of 416 to 826 million light-years, you immediately notice a huge structure that stretches from high northern latitudes to almost the southern end of the sky," said project lead and Max Planck Institute associate professor Hans Böhringer in a statement. Quipu's immense length appears to break the previous record set by the "Sloan Great Wall," which stretches around 1.1 billion light years in a much more distant part of the universe. But as Live Science points out, there might be even larger structures still, such as the Hercules Corona-Borealis Great Wall, a superstructure that spans an estimated 10 billion light-years across, another 10 billion light-years from Earth. Whether it indeed exists, however, remains a topic of contention among scientists. For their latest study, accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Max Planck team analyzed an expansive catalogue of galaxy clusters, which was created using data collected by the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics' ROSAT X-ray satellite in 1990. Apart from Quipu, the team also discovered three other superstructures they're calling the Serpens-Corona Borealis, the Hercules, and the Sculptor-Pegasus. In addition to Quipu and the Shapley supercluster, a concentration of galaxies in our nearby universe, the five structures contain an estimated 25 percent of all the matter in the observable universe, according to the researchers, or 13 percent of its volume. The team argued in its paper that the findings could be "important for astrophysical research," such as the "study of the environmental dependence of galaxy evolution as well as for precision tests of cosmological models." The researchers also suggest these superstructures won't stick around forever. "In the future cosmic evolution, these superstructures are bound to break up into several collapsing units," they concluded in their paper. "They are thus transient configurations. But at present they are special physical entities with characteristic properties and special cosmic environments deserving special attention." More on superstructures: Scientists Working to Explain "Superstructures" on Ocean Floor
