Scientists from the Max Planck Institute discover an interstellar tunnel in the direction of the Centaurus constellation

A group of scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Extraterrestrial Physics have discovered an interstellar tunnel in the direction of the Centaurus constellation by mapping the Local Hot Bubble (in English, ‘Local Hot Bubble’ or LHB), which is a region where our Solar System is located. In the structure of our universe this bubble is a low-density environment filled with tenuous gas, at millions of degrees, approximately 1,000 light years away that emits predominantly soft x-rays. And this observed tunnel excavates a hole in the colder interstellar medium. They found it by analyzing a 3D map made from detailed data from the X-ray telescope eROSITA All-Sky Survey (eRASS1).

“The eRASS1 telescope has provided the cleanest view of the X-ray sky to date, making it the perfect instrument to study the LHB,” says Michael Yeung of MPE, lead author of this work. And it has the advantage that It is located beyond the geocorona of our planetwhich is a cloud of hydrogen atoms that surrounds the Earth. But it can interfere with an accurate measurement because the geocorona can interact with the solar wind and also produce soft X-rays.

The cosmic neighborhood

The idea of ​​the Local Hot Bubble has been around for about half a century. Since then, both its characteristics and its origin have been investigated because it has a structure and temperature that defies cosmic dynamics. And at the same time, its study also allows us to understand how the solar system relates to the galactic neighborhood. In that sense, the researchers maintain that the tunnel they have found could join our LHB with a neighboring superbubble called Loop I. And specialists raise the possibility that the LHB is part of a network of mutually interacting superbubbles.

Likewise, scientists also noticed orn large-scale temperature gradient in this bubblewhich indicates that it has a structure that is not uniform and that andPossibly linked to past supernova explosions. That is, some stars when they die create a massive cosmic explosion. And they believe that these supernovae were able to inject energy into the region that expanded and reheated the bubble.

These findings are a step in understanding the structure of our universe and understanding large-scale galactic evolution. Over time, others will occur that allow us to perfect the ideas we already have and reveal new ones.