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Giant Tunnel Found In Distant Galaxy
Post Chronicle ^
| 1.12.2006
Posted on 01/14/2006 10:44:05 AM PST by Hadean
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2006 (UPI) -- U.S. astronomers say they have discovered a giant Milky Way-sized tunnel filled with high energy particles in a distant galaxy cluster.
The findings, presented to the American Astronomical Society meeting may provide the missing evolutionary link necessary to understand radio jets resulting from supermassive black holes within giant galaxies, researchers said.
Scientists working with the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington used the Chandra X-ray Observatory to study the multi-million-degree gas in the galaxy cluster Abell 2597, where they discovered an unusual X-ray tunnel large enough to fit the entire Milky Way galaxy inside.
The cluster, located at a distance of roughly 1 billion light-years, contains a tunnel in the hot gas, which measures nearly 110 thousand light-years by 36 thousand light-years in size. The tunnel, which appears to originate near the core of the central giant galaxy in the cluster, may be more than 200 million years old, researchers said.
TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: science; space
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To: C210N
Evidently, the Pali's are using it to bring weapons into Gaza.
Yes - drat those sneaky Romulans
21
posted on
01/14/2006 11:53:59 AM PST
by
lapsus calami
(What's that stink? Code Pink ! !)
To: Hadean
The tunnel, which appears to originate near the core of the central giant galaxy in the cluster, may be more than 200 million years old, researchers said. Do they know this from carbon 14 dating, or the petroglyphs carved on the sides?
Oh wait...Hot Gases...it must be from Ted Kennedy's black hole.
22
posted on
01/14/2006 11:54:44 AM PST
by
Auntie Dem
(Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Terrorist lovers gotta go!)
To: Hadean
It's not a tunnel, it's the
Stairway to HeavenSorry, I'm bored.
5.56mm
23
posted on
01/14/2006 11:56:39 AM PST
by
M Kehoe
To: toddlintown
Or it could be time distortion field (if you saw SG Atlantis last night)
It also could be a darkton cloud dumping loads of darktons into the universe.
24
posted on
01/14/2006 12:02:59 PM PST
by
Conan the Librarian
(The Best in Life is to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and the Dewey Decimal System)
To: Hadean
25
posted on
01/14/2006 12:05:12 PM PST
by
mewzilla
(Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
To: Hadean
So that's where I left it.
To: Hadean
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Milky_Way_Wrapped.jpg)
a giant Milky Way-sized tunnel filled with high energy particles in a distant galaxy cluster.
Many have discovered the enjoyment of tunneling through a Milky Way bar filled with high-energy carbs in a chocolate nougat cluster...
27
posted on
01/14/2006 12:14:24 PM PST
by
mikrofon
(A Mars Product)
To: RightWhale
Something which is nearly 110,000 light years in length is more likely to be a natural feature rather than something created by intelligent critters, however talented they might be.
To: Hadean
The "Giant Tunnel" isn't, perchance, under Boston Harbor is it?
Someone more knowledgeable than I am please correct me if my understanding is wrong. This tunnel is in a galaxy cluster, like our Local Group. The tunnel is in the central giant galaxy.
How big is the giant galaxy? How does the gas stay super heated in that much space? The tunnel seams to originate near the core of the giant galaxy, is it possible that it is the jet from giant-super-massive black hole?
30
posted on
01/14/2006 12:19:42 PM PST
by
Talking_Mouse
(Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just... Thomas Jefferson)
To: RightWhale
A Vogon constructed Hyperspace Bypass......!
31
posted on
01/14/2006 12:25:35 PM PST
by
mdmathis6
(Proof against evolution:"Man is the only creature that blushes, or needs to" M.Twain)
To: ASA Vet
Um, this article is about a press release that is over 3 years old.
32
posted on
01/14/2006 12:27:38 PM PST
by
JasonC
To: Moonman62
They've named it Madonna.ROFL!
33
posted on
01/14/2006 12:27:49 PM PST
by
Zechariah11
(30 shekels -- a contemptible price for the Good Shepherd of Israel)
To: Hadean
The cluster, located at a distance of roughly 1 billion light-years, contains a tunnel in the hot gas, ... The tunnel, which appears to originate near the core of the central giant galaxy in the cluster, may be more than 200 million years old, researchers said. If something is a billion light years away but approximately 200 million years old can we see it? Or maybe they were saying the light which has reached us and which we now see may have been emitted when the tunnel was 200 million years old? Just wondering.
To: ASA Vet
It's a jet like the one at the core of M87, that blows out beyond its source galaxy. The dark splotch on the right is probably the nearer lobe, oriented toward the camera. They probably pinwheel a little as they get farther from the source, the end of the plume tailing off to one side, sheered by the rotation of the surrounding gas around the gravitational core.
35
posted on
01/14/2006 12:30:14 PM PST
by
JasonC
To: Verginius Rufus
Doesn't follow. We aren't the only scale.
36
posted on
01/14/2006 12:31:42 PM PST
by
JasonC
To: Some hope remaining.
The latter. The light took something under a billion years to get here, while the universe expanded some in the meantime. But the structure they see from that old light, is already hundreds of thousands of light years across. It is at least hundreds of thousands of years old, and if the stuff involved is mostly moving at the sort of speeds stars typically having circling their galaxy, then millions is much more likely. They are estimating the age by comparing the size with what they estimate for the speed of the cloud. (Speed shifts the color of the light slightly, but detectably).
37
posted on
01/14/2006 12:34:48 PM PST
by
JasonC
To: Hadean
38
posted on
01/14/2006 12:39:02 PM PST
by
JasonC
To: Hadean
Does the tunnel end just north of Nogales Arizona?
To: ASA Vet
Intersting. I need to look at this further. Thanks for the ping!
40
posted on
01/14/2006 1:20:41 PM PST
by
RadioAstronomer
(Senior member of Darwin Central)
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