Astronomers have discovered a huge cavity in Milky Way The galaxy is believed to have formed after a starburst millions of years ago.
The bubble-shaped void is 500 light-years wide and lies between them star forming regions In Perseus and Taurus constellationsNew study reports.
The star-forming clusters of gas and dust, known as molecular clouds, are thought to have formed side by side from the same Supernova, or the explosion of a star that reached the end of its life, about 10 million years ago. Study team members said the new discovery could shed light on how supernovae form stars.
Related: Supernova pictures – Stunning pictures of star explosions
“Hundreds of stars are forming or already present on the surface of this giant bubble,” said study lead author Shmuel Bialy, a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC) at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), He said in a statement.
“We have two theories — either a single supernova exploded at the core of this bubble and pushed the gas outward, forming what we now call a ‘Perseus-Taurus Supershell,’ or a series of supernovae that occurred over millions of years created them over time,” Bialy said.
Using data from European Space Agency’s star mapping Jaya The spacecraft, researchers were able to map Perseus and Taurus molecular clouds in 3D for the first time, revealing a massive void that had remained elusive in previous 2D maps of the region.
“We’ve been able to see these clouds for decades, but we’ve never known their true shape, depth or thickness. Nor were we sure how far the clouds were,” he said in the statement. “We now know where they lie with only 1% of the uncertainty, which allows us to distinguish this void between them.”
the team Create 3D molecular cloud maps Using data visualization software called Glue, founded by Alyssa Goodman, a CfA astronomer and study co-author. The team mapped star-forming regions to better understand how gas and dust released during a starburst are rearranged into molecular clouds to form new stars. Their findings indicate that the Perseus and Taurus molecular clouds formed as a result of the same supernova shock wave, demonstrating the powerful effects of such stellar explosions.
“This shows that when a star dies, its supernova generates a chain of events that may eventually lead to the birth of new stars,” Bialy said.
It was the new study Posted on September 22 In The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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