The earth is getting strange signals from bubble objects

The South African Radio Astronomical Observatory has received radio signals from a pair of giant bubbles near the cosmic monster Sagittarius A * of the earth-containing galaxy.

Mysterious radio emissions from the Milky Way center - the galaxy that holds the Earth - have led scientists from Oxford University (UK) and National Radio Observatory (NRAO - USA) to two giant objects giant and mysterious are dwelling near the central black hole Sagittarius A *. It is a bipolar bubble structure measuring 1,403x457 light-years. 1 light-year is equivalent to 9.5 trillion kilometers.

MeerKAT telescope system and image from recorded radio waves - (photo: OXFORD / NRAO).

The results are based on signals received by the South African Radio Observatory MeerKAT. This type of radio emission is created in a process called synchrotron radiation , in which electrons moving close to the speed of light interact with strong magnetic fields. This creates a typical radio signal that can be used to monitor energy regions in space.

It is the radio waves from the giant pair of bubbles that have helped scientists "look" closely at the structure and understand the nature of the strange object: they may be the result of extraordinary bursts of explosive energy near the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A *, which is known by the astronomers as a "monster".

With the distance from the bipolar bubble structure to the earth, scientists estimate it takes millions of years for radio signals to go from one side to the other. So what we capture now is what came out of the explosions that happened millions of years ago, according to Dr. William Cotton from NRAO, a member of the research team.

The energy explosion that produces a bipolar bubble structure could be triggered by a large number of interstellar gas swallowed by a black hole, or an explosion from a star formation that sent violent shock waves. through the center of the galaxy. The bubble is actually a hot, inflated, cluster of hot gas near the center of the galaxy. This process gives it a huge amount of energy, causing radio waves to radiate so strongly that even a planet as far away as the earth can catch it.

The research has just been published in the journal Nature.