Huge gamma-ray bubbles found extending from Milky Way

Los Angeles Times, By Thomas H. Maugh II, November 10, 2010

The unexpected discovery suggests a colossal event in our galaxy's past, releasing energy equivalent to 100,000 exploding stars. But scientists don't yet know what that event might have been.

This NASA illustration depicts the twin bubbles of high-energy gamma rays protruding from the Milky Way, which are believed to be nearly as big as the galaxy itself. (NASA / November 9, 2010)

Startled astronomers said Tuesday they had discovered two massive bubbles of gamma-ray energy extending 25,000 light-years above and below the plane of the Milky Way galaxy like a squat hourglass.

"They're big, they're sharp-edged and they contain a lot of energy," astrophysicist Douglas Finkbeiner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., said in a news conference. Finkbeiner led a team that used data from NASA's 2-year-old orbiting Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to discover the bubbles hiding behind a fog of gamma rays.

That fog occurs when particles moving at or near the speed of light interact with interstellar gas.

"My first response when I saw these figures was, 'Wow!' " astronomer David Spergel of Princeton University said at the news conference. Spergel, who was not involved in the research, added that "we think we know a lot about our own galaxy," and yet the bubbles, which are almost as big as the galaxy itself, were totally unexpected.

Get important science news and discoveries delivered to your inbox with our Science & Environment newsletter. Sign up »

Researchers do not yet know what produced the bubbles, but the fact that they appear to have relatively sharp edges suggests that they were produced in a single event. Finkbeiner said that would have required the rapid release of energy equivalent to about 100,000 supernovae, or exploding stars.

One possibility is that there was a burst of star formation in the center of the galaxy producing massive, short-lived stars that exploded and ejected a great deal of gas and dust over a few million years.

Another possibility is that the black hole at the center of the galaxy — which has a mass about 4 million times that of the sun — shot out a stream of particles over a much shorter time scale, perhaps 10,000 to 100,000 years.

Though there is no evidence that the black hole has such a jet today, it may have had one in the past. Similar jets have been observed in other galaxies. Starbursts have also been seen driving enormous gas outflows in other galaxies.

"Whatever the energy source behind these huge bubbles may be, it is connected to many deep questions in astrophysics," Spergel said.

The report will be published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal.

thomas.maugh@latimes.com

Artist's concept of Milky Way. This NASA handout image shows an artist's concept of the Milky Way. Two huge, unexplained gamma ray emitting bubbles have been discovered at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, US astronomers said Tuesday. (AFP/NASA/File)

Related Articles:

NASA's Fermi Telescope Finds Giant Structure in our Galaxy (Video)

Massive gamma ray bubbles discovered in galaxy center

Kiesha Crowther explains in Video the global meaning of the light spiral mystery.

The First Workshop of the International Space Weather
Initiative in Helwan, Egypt. [more]

The International Space Weather Initiative: NASA

The Geomagnetic Apocalypse - And How to Stop it (Science - NASA - Mayan)

Mysteriously, Solar Activity Found to Influence Behavior of Radioactive Materials On Earth

Beacon of Light November 2010 - The Evolution of Matter: Altering our Carbon Base (The Group channeled by Steve Rother)

Beacon of Light April 2010 - The perfect storm in 2012 (The Group channeled by Steve Rother)

Energy Update: Intensifying the Shift to Crystalline

a message from Meredith Murphy

I then went to channel and gather more understanding. I asked: What is this structure of enormous gamma ray emitting lobes, that the NASA's Fermi Telescope Finds reveals are in our Galaxy? What is the relevance or meaning of this for me and others exploring the expansion of consciousness? Here is what I received from Archangel Michael and Naeshira:


"Enormous waves of high frequency light enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Interacting with lower vibrating waves to form higher frequency gamma rays. Gamma rays are typically thought of as destructive to living cells; however gamma rays with their high frequency/short wavelength are unusually compatible with crystal, (as opposed to carbon structures). Thus, they are highly effective at bringing high-frequency energies into your experience in a new way.


Radiation from gamma rays in your atmosphere is increasing in a parallel movement as your cells becoming increasingly converted from carbon to crystalline in structure. This allows for vast quantities of high-frequency energy to permeate and elevate the overall collective energy field of Earth plane." (Read whole article)

Things You Don't Expect – Gamma Energy

There is another thing that is related that is yet to be understood by science. There are other sets of instructions to Gaia, which come from a place you don't expect. There's a lot of energy hitting the earth, a tremendous amount in the form of gamma energy. Science wonders where it's coming from, but it remains elusive. They realize that it's cosmic and coming from space. The truth is that it's coming from the center of the galaxy, but it appears to be coming from everywhere. That's because the main attribute of this kind of energy is that it is not 3D. Therefore, it has quantum [multidimensional] attributes that do not carry a "location" or place of origin with it. This is difficult to explain, but things in a true quantum state are everywhere, entangled in a universal soup of being "one" with everything. Therefore, you can't say "it comes from there." There is precedent in science for this, so it is not all that strange to a physicist reading this. Read more ..... (THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon Channeling))

"The Interdimensional Universe" – Nov 15, 2003 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

“Let me give you another hint about the mechanics of your Universe. We've talked about gamma-ray activity for almost a decade. We told you to "look for intense gamma-ray activity." We told you that when you see it, you'll know that there's creation going on - something special happening. Now we identify this as dimensional shift. It's always accompanied by powerful gamma rays, specifically of extreme high intensity. This is an attribute of dimensional shift, and also tells you that something is happening. You see this at the edge of your galaxy, and you know that something is changing there. It's a "mini-big bang," if you want to use your own terms. It's part of a constantly changing Universe, one that's moving in a push/pull fashion.”