[Epoch Times January 08, 2022](Epoch Times reporter Di Rui compiled a report) Astronomers discovered a huge hydrogen cloud belt in the Milky Way, which is one of the largest celestial structures ever discovered in the Milky Way. Although it is only a hydrogen cloud now, scientists believe that this may be a place where new stars will be born in the future.
The structure of the celestial bodies in the Milky Way has a span of 800 light-years. The newly discovered hydrogen cloud belt is more than 3900 light-years long and 130 light-years wide. Researchers named it “Maggie” (Maggie), thinking that it is likely to be the predecessor of Xinxing Nursery.
Hydrogen is the most widely distributed element in the universe. Scientists believe that hydrogen is the most important raw material for the formation of stars. However, because it is not easy for current technology to detect hydrogen clouds, scientists have very limited understanding of how hydrogen evolved into stars, so this discovery is exciting.
Jonas Syed of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, one of the main researchers, said: “The location of this cloud belt is conducive to our observations. We are not yet Know how it appeared there. It’s 1,600 light-years below the plane of the Milky Way.” It is about 55,000 light-years from the Earth, at the other end of the Milky Way.
The hydrogen element exists in various forms and states in the universe. Some exist in the form of hydrogen atoms, and some exist in the form of hydrogen molecules formed by the combination of two hydrogen atoms, and hydrogen atoms have different isotopes. Scientists have speculated that only when hydrogen molecules aggregate to a certain degree to form a dense cloud of low-temperature hydrogen, new stars will be born. But scientists don’t know exactly how hydrogen atoms turn into hydrogen molecules, and “maggie” provides a good research opportunity.
The researchers noticed that the gas converged in several places along this cloud belt. They believe that hydrogen condenses at these convergence points to produce large hydrogen clouds. It is also in these places that atomic gas will gradually become molecular gas.
Combining previous data, the researchers found that the mass of molecular hydrogen accounts for about 8% of the total mass of the cloud belt. Researchers believe that the hydrogen cloud belt currently observed is likely to be the precursor of a nova nursery, that is, it will evolve into a region where a large number of novae will be born.
Said said: “Of course, there are still many questions without answers. I hope that through further analysis of more data, we can get more clues about molecular gases.”
This research was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on December 20, 2021. ◇
Editor in charge: Ye Ziwei
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