20 LY Loop Structure Spotted

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2005-04-08 02:49pm

Astronomers have discovered a loop-like structure some 20 light-years across close to the centre of the Milky Way.And the team that found it believes the vast, bizarre structure could be some form of cosmic particle accelerator.

The loop may produce sub-atomic particles with a thousand times more energy than those in man-made accelerators.Details were presented at the National Astronomy Meeting in Birmingham.The loop was seen using the European space telescope XMM-Newton to study it in X-ray wavelengths. The galactic centre can only be observed at certain wavelengths - such as X-rays - because large amounts of dust lie in our line of sight, blocking out optical light.

"The X-ray spectrum of the loop is extraordinary," said Dr Masaaki Sakano of the University of Leicester.

Most diffuse X-ray sources in the Universe have a characteristic temperature because they represent the residual radiation from an event, such as a supernova.

"The loop has no characteristic temperature, so there is probably some ongoing process in there - that is our interpretation," Dr Sakano told the BBC News website.

"There are large amounts of high energy particles, so we interpret that they are being accelerated at the moment."

If this is so, the loop could be generating high-energy particles with an energy of up to one thousand trillion electron volts. Particles such as these have been detected previously in supernova remnants and pulsar nebulae. But they have never been detected in star-forming regions of the Universe.

The researchers saw the loop when looking at the Arches Cluster, a star-forming region close to the Milky Way's centre. But it is not known whether the loop structure is physically associated with the Arches Cluster or just happens to be in the same line of sight.

BBC

Pick · Post by **Pick** » 2005-04-08 03:09pm

That is abolsutely awesome.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2005-04-08 03:45pm

I want one.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2005-04-08 04:09pm

Enforcer Talen wrote:I want one.

If you can eat it in one sitting, it's yours.

Spice Runner · Post by **Spice Runner** » 2005-04-08 05:19pm

Cool...The wonders of nature. If such an accelerator could ever be harnessed or even artificially created...

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-04-08 05:22pm

Assuming it's not already artificially created...I mean, maybe I'm jumping the gun, but does anyone have any idea how such a thing could form naturally?

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2005-04-08 05:31pm

Loop like structure? I've got this mental picture of someone botching ringworld construction....

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2005-04-08 06:51pm

Oh wow.

Talen can have that one. I'll just go find one that's 12 LY across.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2005-04-08 07:52pm

White Haven wrote:Assuming it's not already artificially created...I mean, maybe I'm jumping the gun, but does anyone have any idea how such a thing could form naturally?

I'm leaning more to thinking that maybe gravity is just fucking weird, and like, you'd get an area where it's stronger than others for some reason, and you'd get big fucking rings like this.

Of course, it could be something made by the Xeelee, proving once and for all they are based in scientific fact.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2005-04-08 08:01pm

Who knows, someone could've built it to harvest the particles. *tiunfoil*

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2005-04-08 08:18pm

Shinova wrote:Who knows, someone could've built it to harvest the particles. *tiunfoil*

NO! Not to harvest particles, it's the GREYS using it to CONTROL OUR MINDS in conjunction with the US GOVERNMENT and CORPORATE AMERICA trying to make sure that poor Trix Rabbit doesn't getany of his Trix!

wolveraptor · Post by **wolveraptor** » 2005-04-08 08:24pm

...WOW....

How could such a structure form naturally? And can natural particle accelerators exist? If it were an artifical structure...dude, i'm gonna start writing a fan-fic about this...

Obviously, any sufficiently advanced technology will be so advanced, it will be difficult to determine whether it is natural or man-made. I mean, alien-made.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2005-04-08 08:28pm

There's a crack in the universe...

Dennis Toy · Post by **Dennis Toy** » 2005-04-08 11:30pm

its a portal to another dimension... I see it now, there are little anime kids in that dimension who shoot fireballs out of their hands...

I wonder can we build a collector so we could harness the electrical energy to power the planet earth i mean 10 ^ 05 * 2 volts damn...!

Sharpshooter · Post by **Sharpshooter** » 2005-04-09 12:08am

You're all wrong: it's the initial stage of the Anti-Son-of-a-Bitch Machine!

On a serious note, that's simply mind-blowing that somthing so massive and powerful could be formed by any kind of a force, natural or artificial. Cripes, it's not only a bunch of stuff covering a span of twenty lightyears, it's a bunch of stuff spanning twenty lightyears that's formed into a structure of some sorts, and one capable of producing phenomenal amounts of electricity, at that. Shit.

Kuroneko · Post by **Kuroneko** » 2005-04-09 12:36am

That's a fascinating find, Rye. But are there any more details besides the vague BBC clip? Depending on how near to Sgt A* the 'loop-like structure' is, the central black hole may be responsible. Black holes can fulfill many functions, including that of a battery to an external circuit, which would be my first guess at an explanation as to how this loop would work. Although, lacking any details about this loop, a stab in the dark is all that is.

Hobot · Post by **Hobot** » 2005-04-09 01:13am

Dennis Toy wrote: I wonder can we build a collector so we could harness the electrical energy to power the planet earth i mean 10 ^ 05 * 2 volts damn...!

Where did you get that number from?

If you're referring to the "one thousand trillion electron volts," note that they're talking about electron volts and not volts, which is a different unit altogether.

Dennis Toy · Post by **Dennis Toy** » 2005-04-09 01:52am

whats the difference between an electron volt and a volt?

Kuroneko · Post by **Kuroneko** » 2005-04-09 02:36am

Dennis Toy wrote:whats the difference between an electron volt and a volt?

An electron-volt is the amount of energy an electron gains by failling through an electrostatic potential difference of one volt.

Hobot · Post by **Hobot** » 2005-04-09 02:55am

Dennis Toy wrote:whats the difference between an electron volt and a volt?

I love Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_volt

Lord Zentei · Post by **Lord Zentei** » 2005-04-09 03:53am

This sounds like it might be a long sought after specimen of cosmic string, although more info is needed, obviously.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2005-04-09 05:13am

That really is one of the most spectacular finds in history, natural or otherwise.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2005-04-09 06:20am

Kuroneko wrote:That's a fascinating find, Rye. But are there any more details besides the vague BBC clip? Depending on how near to Sgt A* the 'loop-like structure' is, the central black hole may be responsible. Black holes can fulfill many functions, including that of a battery to an external circuit, which would be my first guess at an explanation as to how this loop would work. Although, lacking any details about this loop, a stab in the dark is all that is.

I don't have much in the way of a larger explanation, just that one press release, however, this link has 2 professors emails on it. Oh, if you do mail them, please post it here.

sketerpot · Post by **sketerpot** » 2005-04-09 11:29am

Dennis Toy wrote:whats the difference between an electron volt and a volt?

Enough that 1 PeV (the number in the article) is about 1.6022E-4 joules. Assuming I didn't muck up my calculations.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2005-04-09 11:37am

TWENTY Light years across. 130 TRILLION miles. It's almost unimaginable.