Here’s what you will learn when you read this story:
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The central molecular area, covering 700 light years through the heart of the galaxy, contains most of the dense gas along the Milky Way.
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While analyzing this region with a large millimeter/submillimeter atacama (ALMA), an international team of scientists discovered a number of strange “thin threads” that are not associated with star -forming regions.
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Threads are probably part of what researchers call “space tornado”, which distributes the material throughout the CMZ effectively.
It’s been a little more than half a century since scientists first offered an over -greasy black hole in the heart of the Milky Way. And over the decades, we have since found a remarkable amount for our specific angle of the universe – but there is always something to learn.
An area that remains a special mystery is the central molecular area or CMZ, which extends to about 700 light years in the heart of the galaxy. This region contains approximately 80 percent of all dense gas on the Milky Way, which – according to the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics – is reported for about dozens of dozens of dozens of dozens millions on solar tables of material. The home of a giant molecular clouds and numerous star -forming clusters, CMZ is a rotating mystery and has no other place in the galaxy like it.
Now, a new survey, a handwriting team of astrophysicists, attracting data from the large millimeter/ALMA (ALMA) submolimeter in Chile-adds another curiosity to this already scratching head of the galaxy: unexpected “thin threads” that left astronomers to remember. Details of this surprising discovery were published in the magazine Astronomy and astrophysicsS
An array of 66 radio telescope, located under the remarkably clear sky of the Chajnantor plateau in the Atacama Desert, Alma (as its name implies) is especially suitable for CMZ examination thanks to its high angular resolution and its ability to track certain molecules found in this area of space. Among these molecules is silicon oxide (SIO), which serves to track shock waves in CMZ. By tracking SIO’s spectral lines, astronomers can better understand this chaotic environment – and, as it turns out, find unknown threads so far.
“SIO is currently the only molecule that is extremely tracing shocks, and the rotary transition of SIO 5-4 is found only in shocked regions that have both relatively high density and high temperatures,” says Kai Yang, a leading author of the University of Shanghai Jiao Tong, a lead author. “This makes it a particularly valuable tool for tracking the shock processes in the dense CMZ regions. When we checked the ALMA images showing the leaks, we noticed these long and narrow threads that are spatially offset by all forming stars. Unlike any objects we know, these films really surprised us.
Using the SIO emissions (along with those of eight other molecules), astronomers confirmed that their speeds are at odds with leaks, do not show connection to powder emissions and are in hydrostatic balance – a delicate balance between gravity and pressure. All these anomalous finds, packed along with insights as “unlike all the objects we know,” inspire fantasies about massive alien structures hiding in the heart of our galaxy. But astronomers have a more scientific explanation and it is no less hypnotizing.
“We can predict them as a cosmic tornado: they are violent gas flows, they are scattered soon and they distribute the environmental materials effectively,” said the Singh Lou, co -author of the Shanhai Astronomical Observatory study. “Our study contributes to the fascinating landscape of the galactic center, revealing these thin threads as an important part of the material circulation.”
The authors theoretize that these threads can be part of the cycle of repetition of exhaustion at the heart of our galaxy. First, the shock waves create these threads. Then, as these threads are distracted, they “load” shock materials in CMZ and freeze back into dust grains. While scientists deepen deeper into the mysteries of these filaments – and if they are as widespread as this particular sample of Alma would assume – then we may have discovered an important cyclic process that is at the heart of our galaxy.
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