Plasma flow millions of degrees in the Milky Way

In general, our Milky Way is a cold area dotted with isolated hot clouds and stars. While most of this space is cold and empty, scientists have discovered a hot plasma. Melting plasma can flow from one area to another in space, connecting isolated clouds and constellations in the Milky Way.

Researcher Manuel Güdel of the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland and colleagues from Switzerland, France and the United States recently observed the phenomenon of plasma flow for the first time in the Orion Nebula. Based on XMM-Newton's X-ray satellite images, the scientists observed the existence of a hot plasma of millions of degrees flowing from this nebula to the nearby interstellar and later That flows into the superbubble Eridanus right next to.

Güdel replied to PhysOrg.com's interview: 'Although there was a theoretical model predicting hot air bubbles blown away by a giant star, it was never tested until we Observed the Orion Nebula. We did not purposely seek - actually discovered this diffusion by chance when looking at X-ray sources. Previous works have never recorded the diffusion of X-rays from these regions. star. Although there is still controversy about its presence, we are really surprised to find such outstanding light in large areas in the nebula. '

The Orion Nebula is home to thousands of young stars (less than a few million years old), and most of these stars radiate X-rays. The X-ray satellite cameras of these stars simultaneously both glows are separate and fainter in the extended areas of the nebula. Tracking the spectrum of light, scientists discovered a source of millions of degrees of plasma hidden energy. A thick layer of neutral gas may have concealed the hot plasma from previous observations, such as Chandra's X-ray Observatory.

Not only do scientists discover a new phenomenon, they believe that they also understand the cause of giant superheated plasma. As the scientists explain, the heat energy generated for huge amounts of gas is ' terrible ' . Young stars in the Orion Nebula seem to be unable to contain such a hot and energetic structure.

Image of Orion nebula with hot air bubbles.On the left is an X-ray image sent by XMM-Newton satellite, photon energy is marked by color.The photo must be a composite image of the XMM-Newton satellite and a semi-infrared image taken from the Spitzer Space Telescope, the blue plasma.(Photo: Physorg)

Scientists believe that the energy source may come from high-speed winds generated from stars of a dense area in the nebula named Trapezium - a group of giant stars responsible it is for the optical light we see from the Orion nebula. Wind from the Tranpeium stars that collide with surrounding gas can cause enough kinetic energy to produce shock waves that can heat up the gas to millions of degrees.

In most cases, such a hot plasma flow will remain in its current state, suppressed by gas and dust that does not mix with plasma. But in this case, the plasma and surrounding cool air have the same pressure, and the state is nearly equal to the pressure that causes the plasma flow to flow out into the non-interstellar space . Flowing at a rate of several tens of kilometers per second, it seems to be targeting the nearby superbubble Eridanus, filling large areas of stars with hot air.

The discovery of diffuse plasma currents in Orion is unusual because such a large-sized plasma has been thought to require giant stars to provide energy, which does not occur in the Orion nebula. If hot plasma can appear in an area with a small number of giant stars, the phenomenon may be more common in galaxies than astronomers think.

Güdel said: 'Hot gas has never been observed in giant star-forming regions and some of these gases may be due to supernova explosions. However, the Orion Nebula is the first of its kind to occur in this phenomenon without any supernova. Modest star-forming areas such as this area will often appear more in the galaxy than in rare cases. Therefore, we believe that plasma flow from star-forming areas is common. '

If scientists know more about the possibility that it might happen in our Milky Way galaxy, they will also better understand the early history of the Sun and Solar System and other similar systems.

Güdel said: 'The hot gas and X-rays that it emits interact with the cold molecular environment that stars form. It can affect the environment of stars - such as the development plate next to the star that forms planets - by participating in the ionization process of these disks. Such effects need to be studied further. '

Orion Nebula (Photo: NASa)