Posted on 10/03/2019 2:13:11 PM PDT by Red Badger
In the cold wilderness of space, galaxies huddle together around the campfires of stars and the assuring pull of supermassive black holes. Between these cozy clusters of galaxies, where empty space stretches on for millions of light-years all around, a faint highway of gas bridges the darkness.
This gassy, intergalactic network is known in cosmological models as the cosmic web. Made of long filaments of hydrogen left over from the Big Bang, the web is thought to contain most (more than 60%) of the gas in the universe and to directly feed all of the star-producing regions in space. At the intersections where filaments overlap, galaxies appear. At least, that's the theory.
The filaments of the galactic web have never been directly observed before, because they are among the faintest structures in the universe and are easily overshadowed by the glow of the galaxies around them. But now, in a study published today (Oct. 3) in the journal Science, researchers have cobbled together the first-ever photograph of cosmic filaments converging on a faraway galaxy cluster, thanks to some of the most sensitive telescopes on Earth.
The image (below) shows blue filaments of hydrogen crisscrossing through a cluster of ancient white galaxies, located about 12 billion light-years away from Earth (meaning the galaxies were born in roughly the first billion and a half years after the Big Bang). Gently lit by the ultraviolet glow of the galaxies themselves, the filaments stretch on for more than 3 million light-years, confirming their status as some of the most gargantuan structures in space.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
A massive galaxy cluster from the C-EAGLE simulation, providing a view of a region comparable to the one where the filaments have been detected. The color map represents the same emission from the gas filaments as the one detected in observations. At the convergence of these filaments, a massive cluster of galaxies are assembling (Image: © Joshua Borrow using C-EAGLE)
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Behold the cosmic web. This map shows gas filaments (blue) running from the top to the bottom of the image, linking galaxies in an ancient cluster 12 billion light-years away. The white dots embedded within these filaments are active star forming galaxies, which are being fed by the filaments. (Image credit: Hideki Umehata)
Ping!
I thought the Gassy Highway was that stretch filled with burrito joints running between Austin and San Antonio.
I think Bachman-Turner Overdrive sang about it....................
You gotta have something to do on I-35.
LOL
We couldn’t keep it as a serious thread past post 4!
And 3 people beat me to the comments :)
Now I have to think up something new.
“Beans, beans
the musical fruit,
the more you eat,
the more you toot.
So eat your beans,
at every meal.”
Electric Universe (Swordmaker) ping!,
1st Hydrogen Atom: I’ve lost my electron!
2nd Hydrogen Atom: Are you sure????
1st Hydrogen Atom: I’m POSITIVE!.............................
Someone HAD to go there. Congrads on getting there first! ;)
Birkeland currents?
Yep.
I thought the Gassy Highway was that stretch filled with burrito joints running between Austin and San Antonio.
+++++
Silly you. I thought everyone knew that the Gassy Highway was built by advanced alien civilizations for use with their FTLs (Faster Than Light) spaceships.
That pic looks like living cells under a microscope.
Stay off the gassy knoll (by the triple underpass).
The appears almost organic. Almost like a collection of nerves.
Amazing.
As they try to unite the theories of the macro and quantum perhaps they are actually the same.
If you want on or off the Electric Universe/Plasma Ping List, Freepmail me.
Oh, you mean the semi-trot to the latrine after the Triple-Threat Platter at Benny’s Burrito Barn? Their salsa alone could qualify as a WMD..........
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