That’s what you will find out after reading this story:
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In the central molecular zone lasting 700 light -years through the heart of the galaxy, there is a majority of milk density gas.
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Analyzing the region using Atacama’s large millimeter/sub -sub -resident array (Alma), the international team of scientists has discovered many strange “thin filaments” unrelated to the star -shaping regions.
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Threads are probably part of what researchers call “cosmic tornadoes”, which effectively distribute the material throughout the cmz.
A little more than half a century has passed, as scientists first suggested that there is a supermassive black hole in the heart of the Milky Way. And over a few decades, we have discovered an extraordinary amount of our specific corner of the universe, but we always need to learn.
One area that remains a special secret is the central molecular zone, or cmz, which extends to about 700 light -years throughout the heart of the galaxy. This region contains about 80 percent of all density gas in the bird trail, which is the center of Harvard and the Smithsonian Astrophysics at about tens of people. Millions Sun mass materials. CMZ is a giant molecular clouds and many star -shaping clusters, cmz is a rotating secret and other places in such a galaxy.
Now a new study led by the astrophysic team, based on data from the ATACAMA large millimeter/submillimeter array (Alma) in Chile, adds another curiosity to this region of head chewing in the Galaxy region: unexpected “thin threads” that left astronomers in their origin. Details of this surprising discovery were published in the magazine Astronomy and astrophysics;
Numerous 66 radio telescopes, located under the extremely transparent chajnantor plateau sky in the Atacama desert, Alma (as its name shows), particularly good for CMZ to investigate due to its high angular resolution and ability to trace certain molecules found in this region of space. These molecules include silica (SIO), which is a cmz shock wave spokeswoman. By observing spectral lines, astronomers can better understand this chaotic environment and, as it turns out, discover previously unknown filament structures.
“Currently, this is the only molecule that only distinguishes between shocks, and this 5-4 rotation transition is found only in shocked regions with relatively high density and high temperatures,” said the author of the University of the University of Shanghai Jiao. “It does this with a particularly valuable tool for tracing shock -related processes in the dense CMZ regions. When we checked Alma images showing the leak, we noticed these long and narrow threads.
Using this emission lines (along with eight other molecules), astronomers confirmed that their speed is incompatible with leaks, show no connection to dust emission and is in hydrostatic balance – subtle balance between gravity and pressure. All of these anomal findings, packed with insights, such as “unlike any objects we know”, inspire the fantasies of mass alien structures hiding in the heart of our galaxy. However, astronomers have a more scientifically justified explanation, and it is no less suggestive.
“We can imagine it as cosmic tornadoes: these are cruel gas flows, soon dissipate and efficiently distribute materials into the environment,” Xing Lu, co-author of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, said in a press release. “Our study contributes to the charming landscape of the Galaxy Center, revealing these slender threads as an important part of the circulation of the material.”
The authors theoretorizes that these filaments can be part of our galaxy heart depletion cycle. First, the waves of shock make these threads. Then, when these threads dissipate, they “refueling” danced the released material cmz and frozen back into dust grain. When scientists go into the secrets of these threads – and if they are as widespread as this Alma sample shows, then we may have revealed an important cyclic process that is the basis of our galaxy.
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