Origin of Milky Way Clouds Revealed (great pic and info)

Mysterious clouds of gas hovering above the plane of the Milky Way may be the fractured remnants of superbubbles blown by stellar winds and exploding stars.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1749bc5964fe.jpg[/atsimg]

“There’s a fundamental, interesting connection between gas far away from the Milky Way and the amount of star formation below it in the galactic plane,” F. Jay Lockman of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory told Wired Science in a phone interview. The results could provide insight into how heavy elements traverse the galaxy and get incorporated into later generations of stars, planets and, perhaps, life.

The bulk of the matter in the Milky Way, including stars, hot star-forming regions and the gas and dust between stars called the interstellar medium, lies in a relatively flat disk called the galactic plane. “It’s a flattened system, kind of like a pierogi,” Lockman said today at the American Astronomical Society in Miami.

The Milky Way also has a gaseous halo that extends above and below the galactic pastry. For years, astronomers expected the density of that gas to get thinner as it got farther from the Milky Way, the way Earth’s atmosphere thins out at high altitudes. But earlier observations Lockman made at the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia showed dense clouds hundreds of times more massive than the sun floating between the disk and the halo, hundreds to thousands of light-years above the galactic plane.

These clouds could also be responsible for transporting heavy elements around the galaxy. All elements heavier than hydrogen and helium are built in nuclear reactions inside stars, and are blown off into the interstellar medium when stars explode as supernovas. That material later condenses into new, metal-rich stars — and ultimately planets. “When our galaxy formed, planets like the Earth could not form,” Bania said. “Put the Earth in a blender and you’ve got silicon, magnesium, the stuff that’s formed in supernovas.”

If the clouds are in fact the remnants of supernova bubbles, Lockman said, then “it’s quite possible that these clouds as they fall back to the Milky Way are the way that metals get mixed in through the disk, and this controls the overall evolution of the interstellar medium and the next generation of stars.”

Source: www.wired.com...
Please go to the source for the complete pic as it appears it didn't all come on the screen for me.

To a nooby like me, this is fascinating. I really don't understand it exectly but I think I got the message. What an awesome picture also.

I keep saying it that it seems like every week we are getting more and more info and awesome views of Space. I think the whole Space Exploration thing is worth every penny as it will most likely be Humans future-out there somewhere-with the way we seem to be killing this planet (at least the means to support life as we know it now).

New discoveries everyday

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by sandri_90


Good one also. I hadn't seen that one before.

Good work. You've been rolling recent.

how are things over there?

reply to post by anon72


Thanks.
I`ve been monitoring Eyja actually, I have a telescope and haven`t used it in weeks but now it`s a clear night fortunately.
I love astronomy and I`m keen on these new findings we get everyday.

Yet another part of the cosmic puzzle revealed!

Have we humans got our optics together these days or what?!

Only a couple of decades ago stuff like this was still theoretical...today we have the technology to look at at prove this kind of thing.

Not bad for the miniscule collection of atoms(compared to the universe) that we call humanity.

We could acheive so much more,if only we can refrain from destroying ourselves with the very technology that we use to make such awesome discoveries.

Good find Anon

reply to post by Silcone Synapse



Hey Silcone. Thank you.

Yes, amazing. I love this:

We could acheive so much more,if only we can refrain from destroying ourselves with the very technology that we use to make such awesome discoveries.

That is the one thing that scares me. The tech. You know, in the end-barring any Alien/UFO invasion-the PTB will ultimately use it against mankind/itself.

Anyway, I can sit there for long periods of time just looking at these pics I and others have been posting.

Maybe, the after life is becoming a Star. That's why there are so many and so unique? Hmmm. I'm feeling a little out there today...

Take care

reply to post by anon72


One way or another my friend the afterlife will involve us all becoming a new star or planet at some point in the future.

Our molecules will go on do acheive great things,so we KNOW we all have the potential to achieve great things within our very molecules.
We just have to unlock that potential here on earth in our physical existence.

Sometimes simple science crosses into the tangled web of what we earthlings percieve as spirituality/religion.

I love it when that happens
And it happened for me when I read your OP.

We are all made out of that stuff we look at through the telescopes,whatever our creed or colour.

How awesome is that?

reply to post by Silcone Synapse

Our molecules will go on do acheive great things,so we KNOW we all have the potential to achieve great things within our very molecules.

Man, i never even thought or heard of anything like that. What a concept. Molecules-hmmm.

Again, not a science guy-but appreciate it and want to learn more. Is this a concept that is in a book or something? Is so, please U2U me the info or post if you wish.

You got my interest and mind thinking-a lot.