I thought the headline read Double Felix!
Posted on 03/15/2006 11:29:27 AM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Magnetic forces at the center of the galaxy have twisted a nebula into the shape of DNA, a new study reveals.
The double helix shape is commonly seen inside living organisms, but this is the first time it has been observed in the cosmos.
"Nobody has ever seen anything like that before in the cosmic realm," said the study's lead author Mark Morris of UCLA. "Most nebulae are either spiral galaxies full of stars or formless amorphous conglomerations of dust and gas—space weather. What we see indicates a high degree of order."
These observations, made with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, are detailed in the March 16 issue of the journal Nature.
Disk-driven shape
The DNA nebula is about 80 light-years long. It's about 300 light-years from the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The nebula is nearly perpendicular to the black hole, moving out of the galaxy at a quick clip—about 620 miles per second (1,000 kilometers per second).
Magnetic field lines at the galactic center are about 1,000 times stronger than on Earth. They run perpendicular to the black hole, but parallel through the nebula. Scientists think that twisting of these lines is what causes the double helix shape.
While the black hole might be the first culprit to come to mind, it's more likely that the magnetic field lines are anchored to a giant gas disk that orbits the black hole several light-years away, researchers say.
It's like having two strands of rope connected to a fixed point, Morris said. As you spin the strands, they braid around each other in a double helix fashion. In this case the gas and dust of the nebula makes up the strands.
"It's as if there's a bar across the middle [of the black hole], or a dumbbell shape, where the strands are anchored, and as it spins around, it twists the strands together," Morris told SPACE.com.
This process takes a long time, though, since the disk completes one orbit around the black hole roughly every 10,000 years. But that's an important number. "Once every 10,000 years is exactly what we need to explain the twisting of the magnetic field lines that we see in the double helix nebula," Morris said.
The recipe
The recipe for a DNA nebula is strict but simple. It requires a strong magnetic field, a rotating body, and a nebulous cloud of material positioned just right.
Massive central black holes are the best sources for both the strong magnetic field and rotating body, and since most large galaxies have them, Morris expects DNA-like nebula may be common through out the universe.
"I absolutely expect to see [this configuration] in gas-rich galaxies with all these elements in place," Morris said.
However, these nebulas are tough to spot, and current technology limits scientists' observations to our galaxy.
There will be a lot of dope smoking going among the trekies tonight as they think about this discovery I bet...
It is probably a mitochondrial DNA strand from a skin cell located on the Big Toe's toenail. You know, the one under which we all reside.
I think it's on Faithfreedom.org where you can go on the spaceship ride that takes you from a giant galaxy somewhere beyond, eventually coming to earth, then to land- to a tree- then a leaf- then a leave cell- and eventually into a whole new gallaxy... repeat for infinity.
I thought the headline read Double Felix!
:-)
Perpendicular? Very misleading pop cosmology.
"The double helix shape is commonly seen inside living organisms, but this is the first time it has been observed in the cosmos.'
The same artist made both.
Are you quoting Douglas Adams? ;)
~Moshi-chan
Got it in one!
W00t! I'm good!
...
Okay, maybe not. But! I have read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy more than a few times. (Isn't Marvin grand? :D)
~Moshi-chan
Loved how he took down that Frogstar Class D Robot...
I've had the same thoughts......
That is a big door.
-Bridges, TRON
It's a great big universe
And we're all really puny
We're just tiny little specks
About the size of Mickey Rooney.
It's big and black and inky
And we are small and dinky
It's a big universe and we're not.
Here is a little mental exercise:
Take a magnifying glass, and look at your fingernails.
Now they may be perfectly clean, or they might be dirty, but no matter the condition, you can probably find at least a very tiny speck of dirt underneath one of your nails.
Now imagine how many atoms, with swirling electrons, protons, neutrons, etc., are swirling around within the structure of that little tiny bit of dirt, thousands of them, most likely.
Now picture in your mind our solar system, with the sun and all the planets revolving around the sun, and ponder the similarity between our solar system and one of those insignificant atoms in that speck of dirt under your nail.
Now it's bad enough to torture yourself by wondering whose nail our entire solar system and world might be residing under, but now think about this: how many solar systems and alien worlds with little tiny people, all interconnected electronically, perhaps interacting not unlike we do here on FR, and they're all residing under one of YOUR nails?
Not that I endorse that bizarre view of the universe but it can sure keep you awake at night if you let it. ;)
Not a problem. Just make sure to plant the antimatter charge in the wall of the nucleus, near the chromosome bodies...
So, that whole "Noah's Ark" thing... that was just someone's fingernail getting scrubbed during last Saturday night's bath (time being, um, relative)?
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