Scientists for the first time draw huge "bubbles" containing the solar system

Image credit: Leah Hustak (STScI)

Recently, the star-forming regions surrounding the solar system have been mapped out for the first time by scientists. The results were published in Nature.

These areas lie on an irregular surface about 1,000 light-years in diameter and are called "local bubbles." The interior of this bubble is where the solar system exists, and most of its regions are empty. But its shell is made up of cold gas and dust left behind after a star's eruption, and this material is forming new stars.

For decades, the existence of "local bubbles" and the closest star-forming regions to the solar system have been known. But now, Catherine Zucker and colleagues at Harvard University have made the relationship between the two clear.

The scientists used data from the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite, which can map the position, distance and motion of stars with high precision. This allowed them to construct three-dimensional maps of different star-forming regions. The map also uses Gaia's motion data to depict how "local bubbles" evolved over time and created star-forming regions.

"We have discovered the common origin of all the stars that form nearby." Zucker said, "We can basically explain how every star-forming region within 500 light-years from the Sun is formed." ”

Some stars that reach the end of their lives trigger a powerful explosion known as a "supernova." The dense shell of the "local bubble" appears to have formed when several supernova shock waves swept gas and dust through space. Over time, the shell began to form a series of molecular clouds, which were the birthplace of new stars.

"This finding is a powerful proof that star formation triggered by an expanding crust may be more important than we previously thought." Martin Krause, from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, said.

Zucker and her team believe that within a certain margin of error, they were able to determine the shape of bubbles in star-forming regions, but the shape of the other parts of the bubbles was less clear. (Li Muzi)

Related paper information:

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04286-5

Source: China Science Daily