Gigantic cavity in space sheds new light on how stars form

Date:
September 22, 2021
Source:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Summary:
Astronomers have discovered an enormous cavity in space while
mapping interstellar dust. The sphere-shaped phenomenon may explain
how supernovae lead to star formation.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Astronomers analyzing 3D maps of the shapes and sizes of nearby molecular clouds have discovered a gigantic cavity in space.


==========================================================================
The sphere-shaped void, described today in the Astrophysical Journal
Letters, spans about 150 parsecs -- nearly 500 light years -- and is
located on the sky among the constellations Perseus and Taurus. The
research team, which is based at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, believes the cavity was formed by ancient supernovae that
went off some 10 million years ago.

The mysterious cavity is surrounded by the Perseus and Taurus molecular
clouds -- regions in space where stars form.

"Hundreds of stars are forming or exist already at the surface of
this giant bubble," says Shmuel Bialy, a postdoctoral researcher
at the Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC) at the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) who led the study. "We have two theories -- either
one supernova went off at the core of this bubble and pushed gas outward forming what we now call the 'Perseus-Taurus Supershell,' or a series
of supernovae occurring over millions of years created it over time."
The finding suggests that the Perseus and Taurus molecular clouds are
not independent structures in space. But rather, they formed together
from the very same supernova shockwave. "This demonstrates that when a
star dies, its supernova generates a chain of events that may ultimately
lead to the birth of new stars," Bialy explains.

Mapping Stellar Nurseries The 3D map of the bubble and surrounding clouds
were created using new data from Gaia, a space-based observatory launched
by the European Space Agency (ESA).



========================================================================== Descriptions of exactly how 3D maps of the Perseus and Taurus molecular
clouds and other nearby clouds were analyzed appear in a separate study published today in the Astrophysical Journal (ApJ). Both studies make
use of a dust reconstruction created by researchers at the Max Planck
Institute for Astronomy in Germany.

The maps represent the first-time molecular clouds have been charted
in 3D.

Previous images of the clouds were constrained to two dimensions.

"We've been able to see these clouds for decades, but we never knew their
true shape, depth or thickness. We also were unsure how far away the
clouds were," says Catherine Zucker, a postdoctoral researcher at the CfA
who led the ApJ study. "Now we know where they lie with only 1 percent uncertainty, allowing us to discern this void between them." But why
map clouds in the first place? "There are many different theories for
how gas rearranges itself to form stars," Zucker explains. "Astronomers
have tested these theoretical ideas using simulations in the past, but
this is the first time we can use real -- not simulated -- 3D views to
compare theory to observation, and evaluate which theories work best."
The Universe at Your Fingertips


==========================================================================
The new research marks the first time journals of the American
Astronomical Society (AAS) publish astronomy visualizations in augmented reality. Scientists and the public may interact with the visualization
of the cavity and its surrounding molecular clouds by simply scanning
a QR code in the paper with their smartphone.

"You can literally make the universe float over your kitchen table,"
says Harvard professor and CfA astronomer Alyssa Goodman, a co-author
on both studies and founder of glue, the data visualization software
that was used to create the maps of molecular clouds.

Goodman calls the new publications examples of the "paper of the
future" and considers them important steps toward the interactivity and reproducibility of science, which AAS committed to in 2015 as part of
their effort to modernize publications.

"We need richer records of scientific discovery," Goodman says. "And
current scholarly papers could be doing much better. All of the data in
these papers are available online -- on Harvard's Dataverse -- so that
anyone can build on our results." Goodman envisions future scientific
articles where audio, video and enhanced visuals are regularly included, allowing all readers to more easily understand the research presented.

She says, "It's 3D visualizations like these that can
help both scientists and the public understand what's
happening in space and the powerful effects of supernovae." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Harvard-Smithsonian_Center_for_Astrophysics. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Shmuel Bialy, Catherine Zucker, Alyssa Goodman, Michael M. Foley,
Joa~o
Alves, Vadim A. Semenov, Robert Benjamin, Reimar Leike, Torsten
Ensslin.

The Per-Tau Shell: A Giant Star-forming Spherical Shell Revealed
by 3D Dust Observations. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2021;
919 (1): L5 DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac1f95 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210922090906.htm

--- up 2 weeks, 6 days, 8 hours, 25 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)