Galactic scale gas wave

[Zionbrion]

Looking for some help from Avalon to dig into this a bit. Ben from Suspicious 0bservers thinks this is really important news. Heres what I found so far

https://twitter.com/thereals0s/status/1215295306864062464?s=21

From https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1874-z

For the past 150 years, the prevailing view of the local interstellar medium was based on a peculiarity known as Gould’s Belt1–4, an expanding ring of young stars, gas and dust, tilted about 20 degrees to the Galactic plane. Still, the physical relation between local gas clouds has remained practically unknown because the distance accuracy to clouds is of the same order as, or larger than, their sizes5–7. With the advent of large photometric surveys8 and astrometric survey9 this situation has changed10. Here we report the three-dimensional structure of all local cloud complexes. We find a narrow and coherent 2.7-kiloparsec arrangement of dense gas in the solar neighbourhood that contains many of the clouds thought to be associated with the Gould Belt. This finding is inconsistent with the notion that these clouds are part of a ring, disputing the Gould Belt model. The new structure comprises the majority of nearby star-forming regions, has an aspect ratio of about 1:20, and contains about three million solar masses of gas. Remarkably, the new structure appears to be undulating and its three-dimensional structure is well described by a damped sinusoidal wave on the plane of the Milky Way, with an average period of about 2 kiloparsecs and a maximum amplitude of about 160 parsecs.

[Fellow Aspirant]

Here's a bit more. I had t'd this up as an email. Do check the article at the link, as it has some very helpful pics:

http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/radcliffe-wave-07995.html




'It Has Completely Transformed Our Understanding of Our Galactic Neighborhood.' Astronomers Discover Tens of Thousands of Baby Stars in New 'Radcliffe Wave' Gas Filament
This illustration provided by Harvard shows data from the 'Radcliffe Wave,' indicated in red, superimposed on an artist’s rendering of Milky Way galaxy. On Jan. 7, 2020, scientists reported that this massive structure of star-forming gases was discovered in the galaxy's spiral arm closest to Earth.
This illustration provided by Harvard shows data from the 'Radcliffe Wave,' indicated in red, superimposed on an artist’s rendering of Milky Way galaxy. On Jan. 7, 2020, scientists reported that this massive structure of star-forming gases was discovered in the galaxy's spiral arm closest to Earth.
Alyssa Goodman—WorldWide Telescope/AP
By MARCIA DUNN / AP
January 8, 2020

(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) — Astronomers have discovered a titanic wave of star-forming gases practically right under our noses in the Milky Way.

Harvard University scientists reported Tuesday that this massive structure has been hiding out in the Milky Way galaxy’s spiral arm closest to Earth.

The researchers were building a 3-D map of our galaxy’s interstellar matter, using a star census gathered by Europe’s Gaia spacecraft when they spotted the wave-shaped structure.

It’s an astounding 50 quadrillion miles (85 quadrillion kilometers) long and it’s home to tens of thousands of baby stars, with the potential for countless more stellar births, according to the paper published in the journal Nature.

All these stellar nurseries, or star-forming blobs of gas, are interconnected, according to Harvard’s Catherine Zucker. Together, they form this wavy, gassy filament, why this shape is still a puzzle.

The sun is just 500 light years away from the wave at its closest point, according to lead author Joao Alves.
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The team was shocked by the discovery. No one expected “we live next to a giant, wave-like collection of gas — or that it forms the local arm of the Milky Way,” Harvard’s Alyssa Goodman said in a statement.

What’s more, the structure dubbed Radcliffe Wave — after a Harvard institute — contains stellar nurseries once thought to belong in a ring-shaped band around the sun. The wave contains gases equivalent to 3 million times the mass of the sun.

“It has completely transformed our understanding of our galactic ‘neighborhood,’” Zucker said in an email. It “has been right in front of our noses … for millions of years, but we could not see it clearly until now.”

Launched in 2013, the Gaia spacecraft has measured the distances to close to 1 billion stars in our galaxy, providing a precious, colossal data base for uncovering huge structures like the Radcliffe Wave, according to scientists.

Zucker said by charting the 3-D positions of nearby stellar nurseries, “we have finally been able to see our corner of the Milky Way in a new light, revealing this gigantic wave before us.”

The wave was invisible in 2-D, requiring new 3-D mapping techniques to be detected, the researchers said at the American Astronomical Society’s meeting in Hawaii.

The next step, she said, is to figure out its origin and determine whether there are more massive waves lurking out there.

Contact us at editors@time.com.

B.

[Zionbrion]

Thanks Fellow Aspirant! Wow 500 light years is quite close!

That gave me a better understanding reading that, I wonder how something like that affects our own solar system

[Ernie Nemeth]

3 million solar masses of gas - that's a lot of gas! Who knew?

[Mark Tuahmen]

Zionbrion this very interesting to me because as classical musician I see sound structure in many things and wonder if same structures throughout all cosmos. Why not? We just do not have skills or knowledge to understand but maybe in time. Trees, clouds, air, rocks, life, everything made up of traveling waves. Some decay, some new made. Always happening but we don't understand connection.