Posted on 01/12/2022 12:19:47 PM PST by BenLurkin
Researchers have long wondered what created this "superbubble." Now, a new study suggests that at least 15 powerful star explosions inflated this cosmic bubble.
Astronomers in the 1970s first discovered the gigantic void, known as the Local Bubble, after realizing that no stars had formed inside the blob for around 14 million years. The only stars inside the bubble either existed before the bubble emerged or formed outside the void and are now passing through; the sun is one such trespasser. This setup had suggested that several supernovas were responsible for this void. Those stellar explosions, the researchers said, would have blasted the materials needed to make new stars, such as hydrogen gas, to the edge of a huge area in space, leaving behind the Local Bubble that's surrounded by a frenzy of star births.
In the new study, published online Jan. 12 in the journal Nature, researchers accurately mapped the star-forming regions surrounding the Local Bubble and, in doing so, calculated how fast the superbubble is expanding. This allowed the team to work out exactly how many supernovas were needed to carve out the gigantic cosmic void and better understand how star-forming regions are created across the Milky Way.
The researchers used data obtained by the European Space Agency's Gaia space observatory to create a 3D map of the Local Bubble's surface and to calculate the trajectory of the seven main star-forming regions that make up the "skin" of the bubble. The observations also allowed the researchers to work out how fast the cosmic void is expanding, which is currently around 4 miles per second (6.4 kilometers per second)...
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Well thank God we arent in the Scorpius-Centaurus Association. They have all kinds of rules on the length of flares in a corona and how many planets youre allowed to have, flag rules and...Personally, I just dont care who has their starship up on blocks. Its just not worth it.
Star formation takes millions of years from mass accretion to the point of stellar ignition. Some — like Jupiter — never reach the point of becoming a protostar followed by deuterium fusion on its way to hydrogen fusion to become a full star.
“That is the premise of “Brain Wave”, a Poul Anderson novel published in 1953:
At the end of the Cretaceous period, Earth moved into an energy-damping field in space. As long as Earth was in this field, all conductors became more insulating.
As a result, almost all of the life on Earth with neurons died off, causing the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
The ones that survived passed on their genes for sufficiently capable neurons to deal with the new circumstance.
Now in modern times, Earth suddenly moves out of the field.
Within weeks all animal life on Earth becomes about 5 times as intelligent.
The novel goes through the triumphs and tribulations of various people and non-human animals on Earth after this event.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Wave
Since Humans are fundamentally insane our planet has been quarantined to keep us from spreading.
NTBCW the Nougat found at the center of the Milky Way…
Been kinda hit or miss on Poul’s work... I might have to check that one out though. Thank you.
I was slightly offended when I first read it. For the current times he featured a draconian USA being led by a law enforcement deep state...
No, 30 years later, it turns out he was more right than wrong!
I haven’t read that one yet, he wrote so much and so well, now I’m retired I have to go back and catch up.
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