Hubble reveals a great galactic flow of the elements necessary for life!

Since 1957 and the pioneering work of the authors of famous article B²FHwe know that the chemical elements of the Universe, like those which form our human body, that of seagulls or carrots, come from the hearts of stars. Be careful, not all atoms, because hydrogen and part of helium were born at the time of the Big Bang. Yes, the hydrogen in our body is 13.78 billion years oldwhich does not make us any younger.

What the authors of an article have just discovered published a few days agois that there is a kind of dynamic current in our galaxy, which transports these elements necessary for life, in particular carbon. This is also the case for oxygen, iron, etc.

All these atoms which make up our world before our eyes (themselves formed of these atoms) have traveled in this famous current that scientists call the “circumgalactic current”, a medium of distribution and recycling around the Milky Way. This great discovery was made possible by the space telescope Hubble, still active.

This current of vital atoms is even larger than our galaxy!

Perhaps most astonishing is that this circumgalactic current extends over a distance of 400,000 light years, or four times the diameter of the Milky Way. Intrepid travelers, the carbon in our body, the oxygen, etc., therefore left the Galaxy before returning. A sacred journey undertaken by the microscopic things that constitute us…

“Think of this circumgalactic current as a giant train station: it's constantly pushing material in and pulling it outsaid Samantha Garza, a doctoral student at the University of Washington. The heavy elements forged by stars are expelled from their host galaxy through their explosive death in supernovae, and finally find themselves back to continue the cycle of star and planet formation in this famous circumgalactic current.

Understanding the evolution of galaxies further improved

“The implications [ de cette découverte] for the evolution of galaxies and the nature of the carbon reservoir available for galaxies to form new stars is exciting”enthuses Jessica Werk, co-author and chair of the astronomy department at the University of Washington.

This current is actually necessary for the formation of new stars, which require a fraction of these heavy chemical elements such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, etc., and which astrophysicists call indifferently “metals”. This recycling process is therefore the basis of the vitality of a galaxy. Perhaps even those called “dead”, which therefore no longer form stars, are precisely deserted by this type of circumgalactic current. Enough to shed new light (sic) on our Milky Way, which only gives birth to one new sun per year!