Huge cavity in space sheds new light on star formation

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

The sphere-shaped vacuum, described today in the Letters from astrophysical journals, spans about 150 parsecs, or nearly 500 light years, and is located in the sky among the constellations of Perseus and Taurus. The research team, based at the Center d’Astrophysique | Harvard & Smithsonian, believe the cavity was formed by ancient supernovae that occurred around 10 million years ago.

The mysterious cavity is surrounded by the molecular clouds of Perseus and Taurus, regions of space where stars are formed.

“Hundreds of stars are forming or already exist on the surface of this giant bubble,” explains Shmuel Bialy, postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Theory and Computing (ITC) of the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) who headed the ‘study. “We have two theories: either a supernova was triggered in the heart of this bubble and pushed the gas outwards, forming what we now call the” Perseus-Taurus supercoque “, or a series of supernovae occurring on millions of years created it over time. “

The discovery suggests that the Perseus and Taurus molecular clouds are not independent structures in space. Rather, they formed together from the same supernova shock wave. “This demonstrates that when a star dies, its supernova generates a chain of events that can ultimately lead to the birth of new stars,” Bialy explains.

Mapping stellar nurseries

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

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

The maps represent the first molecular clouds that were mapped in 3D. Previous images of clouds were limited to two dimensions.

“We could see these clouds for decades, but we never knew their true shape, depth or thickness. We also didn’t know how far away the clouds were,” explains Catherine Zucker, researcher. postdoctoral fellow at CfA who directed the Study ApJ. “Now we know where they are with only 1% uncertainty, which allows us to discern this void between them.”

But why map clouds in the first place?

“There are many different theories about how gas reorganizes to form stars,” Zucker explains. “Astronomers have tested these theoretical ideas using simulations in the past, but this is the first time that we can use real, non-simulated 3D views to compare theory to observation and assess theories that work. the best.”

The universe at your fingertips

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

“You can literally float the universe above your kitchen table,” says Alyssa Goodman, professor at Harvard and CfA astronomer, co-author of the two studies and founder of glue, the data visualization software used for create maps of molecular clouds.

Goodman calls new publications examples of “paper of the future” and sees them as important steps towards the interactivity and reproducibility of science, to which AAS committed in 2015 as part of its efforts to modernize publications.

“We need richer records of scientific discovery,” Goodman said. “And current scientific papers could do a lot better. All of the data from those papers is available online – on Harvard’s Dataverse – so that anyone can rely on our findings.”

Goodman envisions future scientific papers where enhanced audio, video, and visuals are regularly included, making it easier for all readers to understand the research presented.

She says, “It’s 3D visualizations like these that can help both scientists and the public understand what’s going on in space and the powerful effects of supernovae.