Scientists discover a huge glowing point of hydrogen near our solar system

The hometown of the stars begins inside the large cold clouds of gas and dust, which eventually collapses under the weight of the weight. Molecular clouds are vast cosmic entities that often extend for hundreds of light years, and scientists have just discovered one huge in the heavenly time.

The cloud, called EOS after the Greek Dawn goddess, was discovered, about 300 light years away from our solar system. It is one of the largest individual structures in the sky, and it may be the closest molecular cloud to Earth, according to paper This week was published in nature astronomy. Since it is very close, astronomers provide a unique seat in the front row of the process of forming stars and to monitor the molecular universe.

The star custody homes in the year, the galaxy, lies along the surface of the local bubble, which is a large cavity of plasma surrounded by a shell of gas and dust. In order to find molecular clouds inside that bubble, scientists had to rely on dust emissions notes. However, for the last discovery, scientists found the close molecular cloud by discovering the fluorescent of hydrogen in the world of the far -rating of the electromagnetic spectrum, according to the paper.

“This is the first molecular cloud at all that he discovered by searching for UV emissions directly of the molecular hydrogen,” said Plexley Burguhart, professor of physics and astronomy at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and the leader of the leading study, in A, in A. statement.

The molecular hydrogen, which consists of two hydrogen atoms sewn together, is the most abundant molecule in the universe. However, it is also difficult to discover because it illuminates the lengths of the UV wave that is absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere. “The data showed the incandescent hydrogen molecules that were discovered by brilliance in remote UV rays,” Burkhardt added. “This cloud literally glows in the dark.”

Regardless of his glowing appearance, EOS is in the form of a crescent and sits on the edge of the local bubble. It extends a clear volume of 40 whole moons in the sky, and with a mass of about 3400 times of the sun. Using the same technique that revealed this previously invisible cloud, scientists can discover more hidden clouds through the Milky Way.

“When we look through telescopes, we pick up full solar systems in the formation process, but we do not know in detail how this happens,” said Burkhardt. “Our discovery of EOS is exciting because we can now measure how molecular clouds are formed and disintegrated, and how the galaxy begins to convert gas and dust between stars to stars and planets.”