The bubble is about a billion light-years in diameter. Image: University of Hawaii
A team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii has discovered what appears to be a giant bubble In the middle of space, it has a diameter of approximately 1,000 million light-years. The mysterious structure was found in the middle of a network of galaxies, 820 million light-years from Earth, and it is estimated that it could have been formed during the birth of the universe.
The massive bubble was called Holelana, a term taken from “Kumulipo,” a Hawaiian song about the origin of the universe and life. “Ho’oleilei ka lana a ka Po uliuli,” the piece says, meaning “From the deep darkness came murmurs of awakening.”
The results were described in a study published in the journal Astrophysical Journalwhere it is indicated that this phenomenon is likely to be Baryonic acoustic oscillations (Hazm).
Simulation of bubbles in space Image: University of Hawaii
What is baryon acoustic oscillation?
It is estimated that baryonic acoustic oscillations (Firmness) are formations dating back to The first 400,000 years of the universearose from fluctuations in the plasma of the hot matter it was at the time, according to the Big Bang theory.
The struggle between gravity and radiation of particles in the early universe led to their creation The ripples And it expanded more and more. The largest waves depend on the distance the sound wave can travel, which is determined by The speed of sound In plasma that was 500 million light-years away. Then, when the universe cooled, 3D waves remained, according to an article published by the University of Hawaii.
“We were not looking for it. It is so large that it extends to the edges of the sector of sky we were analyzing,” the astronomer said. Brent Tullylead author of the paper, regarding the size of Ho’oleilana.
New lights on the universe
Hoolelana was found by chance when astronomers were compiling a list of 55,877 galaxies and seeking to understand their propagation patterns. Thus, they noticed the ring, which has a diameter of 1000 million light-years and its circumference consists of GalaxiesAnd inside it’s empty.
Tully points out that the discovery represents new knowledge about… Expansion of the universeBecause the size of the baryon’s sound oscillation exceeds known theories. “The large diameter of a billion light-years exceeds theoretical expectations. If its formation and evolution are consistent with theory, this BAO is closer than expected, which means a high value for the expansion rate of the universe,” the astronomer explained.
Likewise, researcher Daniel Bomarede, co-author of the study, noted that the Big Bubble consists of some of the largest structures in the universe.
“It has been an amazing process to build this map and learn how the structure of Hollywelana’s giant crust is composed of elements that have been identified in the past as some of the largest structures in the universe,” he stressed.
Illustration of Holliana. Photo: Frédéric Dorion, Animea Studio; Daniel Pommarid, IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay.
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