Our galaxy is really fat and smells like balls of moths | Smart news

One of the coolest parts of the franchise Star Wars is when spacecraft pilots engage in hyperdrive, allowing them to jump into the galaxy faster than the speed of light. But Hannah Devlin at The Guardian reports that a new study suggests that these pilots would probably need to turn on the windshield wipers – and take their ship to the nearest WookieWash after l & # 39; 39; landing. This is because these vast empty expanses of space between the stars are filled with interstellar dust. This dust is actually a mixture of grease, soot and silicate sand. And there is a lot more fat than we thought.

Researchers have already realized that the space contains sooty fat, but for this new study, they wanted to understand how the cosmos is filled. Carbon stars, such as red giants, create their homonymous element by fusing helium atoms in their nuclei, eventually pumping carbon into space. Over time, this carbon merges into new stars, planets and creates the building blocks of life.

Researchers believe that about half of the carbon remains in pure form while the rest binds to hydrogen, creating fatty aliphatic carbon or gaseous naphthalene, the substance used in mothballs. Aliphatic carbon is a term for a class of molecules where carbon atoms are arranged in chains rather than in a ring. On land, propane and butane are examples of aliphatic carbon compounds. In the space, the compounds are simply called fats.

For the new study, the researchers wanted to obtain an estimate of the amount of aliphatic carbon in the Milky Way. According to a press release describing the research, the team mimicked aliphatic carbon formation in the interstellar space in the lab, dilating a plasma containing carbon inside one's body. vacuum tube at low temperature. They then used spectroscopy and magnetic resonance to determine the amount of infrared light absorbed by the aliphatic carbon. With these data, they were able to calculate the amount of available space grease. The study appears in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .

The number is staggering. Fatty carbon represents between a quarter and a half of all the carbon in our galaxy. That's 10 trillion trillion tons of fat, enough to fill 40 trillion trillions of packets of butter, says Tim Schmidt of the University of New South Wales. But it's very anti-butter, he says. "This space fat is not the kind of thing you would like to spread on a slice of toast! It is dirty, probably poisonous and only forms in the environment of the kitchen. interstellar space (and our laboratory), "he says. "It is also intriguing that organic materials of this type – materials incorporated in planetary systems – are so abundant."

Astronomer Helen Fraser of the Open University, who is not involved in the study, explains to Devlin that the cosmos that we previously believed, which could change the way we understand the formation of the planet. "The consequence could be significant in the way these dust grains stick and form planets, or even" plant "planetary surfaces with the ingredients for the origins of life," she explains

. his crew? And why are our satellites and space probes not coated with grease? Fortunately for us, the solar wind in our solar system is sweeping away all the grease in our immediate neighborhood. But any spacecraft traveling in interstellar space will bring some degreasing, although Schmidt tells Thomas Oriti of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the gloop would not be his main concern. "There will be material that will cover spaceships, but I will worry more about the small rocks and asteroids that surround planetary systems," he says. "Once you are in space, there really are only very small particles."

Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist from the Australian National University, not affiliated with the study, acknowledges that fat is not too dangerous. "It's not like we just had a good barbecue and threw all the fat from the sausage everywhere," he says. "It's not so dense," he adds, "but you may be in trouble, because if you go through it, you'll be bombarded with all these compounds or all those chemicals." [19659003SchmidtditàJessieYeungNCNNhenextstepwillbetofindawaytoequantizethequantityofnaphthalenecarbon#39;ilyaparmilesétoilespourfinalementdéterminerlerapportentrelagraisseetlanaphtalineaucarbonepur"Lematériaualiphatiqueestplutôtennuyeux"hesaid"C'estdelagraisseLecarbonearomatiqueaeffectivementunerelationaveclegraphène(unsemi-metal)cequilerendtrèsintéressantLarecherchedanscettedirectionvaêtretrèsintéressante"

Especially s & # 39; they discover that naphthalene is there to prevent the giants & # 39; giant space to enter our galaxy.

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