Local Bubble

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

Milky Way superbubble

title: "Local Bubble" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["local-bubble", "interstellar-media", "superbubbles", "solar-system"] description: "Milky Way superbubble" topic_path: "science/astronomy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Bubble" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Milky Way superbubble ::

::data[format=table title="infobox nebula"]

FieldValue
nameLocal Bubble
typeSupershell
imageGalaxymap.com, map 100 parsecs (2022).png
captionMap of open star clusters and bright stars in the Local Bubble, viewed from top down
dist_ly0
dist_pc0
radius_ly500
namesLocal Hot Bubble, LHB,{{cite journal
first1Roland J.
first2Bernd
dateFebruary 1995
titleInteraction of the Loop I supershell with the Local Hot Bubble
journalAstronomy and Astrophysics
volume294
bibcode1995A&A...294L..25E
titleNAME Local Bubble
access-date15 March 2014
::

The Local Bubble, or Local Cavity,{{cite journal | last=Abt | first=Helmut A. | date=December 2015 | title=Hot gaseous stellar disks avoid regions of low interstellar densities | journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific | volume=127 | issue=958 | pages=1218–1225 | doi=10.1086/684436 | bibcode=2015PASP..127.1218A | s2cid=124774683 |title=Our local galactic neighborhood |date=2000-02-08 |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) |website=Interstellar.jpl.nasa.gov |url=http://interstellar.jpl.nasa.gov/interstellar/probe/introduction/neighborhood.html |access-date=2013-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131121061128/http://interstellar.jpl.nasa.gov/interstellar/probe/introduction/neighborhood.html |archive-date=2013-11-21

The exceptionally sparse gas of the Local Bubble is the result of supernovae that exploded within the past ten to twenty million years. Geminga, a pulsar in the constellation Gemini, was once thought to be the remnant of a single supernova that created the Local Bubble, but now multiple supernovae in subgroup B1 of the Pleiades moving group are thought to have been responsible,{{cite journal | first1 = T.W. |last1=Berghoefer | first2 = D. |last2=Breitschwerdt | year = 2002 | title = The origin of the young stellar population in the solar neighborhood – a link to the formation of the Local Bubble? | journal = Astronomy and Astrophysics | volume = 390 | issue = 1 | pages = 299–306 | arxiv = astro-ph/0205128v2 | doi = 10.1051/0004-6361:20020627 |bibcode = 2002A&A...390..299B |s2cid=6002327 |first1=J.R. |last1=Gabel |first2=F.C. |last2=Bruhweiler |date=8 January 1998 |title=[51.09] Model of an expanding supershell structure in the LISM |publisher=American Astronomical Society |url=http://aas.org/archives/BAAS/v29n5/aas191/abs/S051009.html |access-date=2014-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315102240/http://aas.org/archives/BAAS/v29n5/aas191/abs/S051009.html |archive-date=15 March 2014

Description

The Solar System has been traveling through the region currently occupied by the Local Bubble for the last five to ten million years.{{cite web |title=Local Chimney and Superbubbles |website=Solstation.com |url=http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/chimney.htm

The Local Bubble is not spherical, but appears to be narrower in the galactic plane, becoming somewhat egg-shaped or elliptical, and may widen above and below the galactic plane, becoming shaped like an hourglass. It abuts other bubbles of less dense interstellar medium (ISM), including, in particular, the Loop I Bubble. The Loop I Bubble was cleared, heated, and maintained by supernovae and stellar winds in the Scorpius–Centaurus association, some 500 light years from the Sun. The Loop I Bubble contains the star Antares (also known as α Sco, or Alpha Scorpii), as shown on the diagram above right. Several tunnels connect the cavities of the Local Bubble with the Loop I Bubble, called the "Lupus Tunnel".{{cite journal |last1=Lallement |first1=R. |last2=Welsh |first2=B.Y. |last3=Vergely |first3=J.L. |last4=Crifo |first4=F. |last5=Sfeir |first5=D. |year=2003 |title=3D mapping of the dense interstellar gas around the Local Bubble |journal=Astronomy and Astrophysics |volume=411 |issue=3 |pages=447–464 |bibcode=2003A&A...411..447L |doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20031214 |doi-access=free |first1=D. |last1=Koll |display-authors=etal |year=2019 |title=Interstellar Fe in Antarctica |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=123 |issue=7 |article-number=072701 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.072701 |pmid=31491090 |bibcode=2019PhRvL.123g2701K |s2cid=201868513 |hdl=1885/298253 |hdl-access=free

Observation

Launched in February 2003 and active until April 2008, a small space observatory called Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPSat) examined the hot gas within the Local Bubble.{{cite web |title=Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS) |publisher=University of California – Berkeley |date=2003-01-12 |website=Chips.ssl.berkeley.edu |url=http://chips.ssl.berkeley.edu/chips.html |access-date=2013-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131121000528/http://chips.ssl.berkeley.edu/chips.html |archive-date=2013-11-21 |first1=Amin |last1=Farhang |first2=Jacco Th. |last2=van Loon |first3=Habib G. |last3=Khosroshahi |first4=Atefeh |last4=Javadi |first5=Mandy |last5=Bailey |date=8 July 2019 |title=3D map of the local bubble |type=letter |journal=Nature Astronomy |volume=3 |pages=922–927 |doi=10.1038/s41550-019-0814-z |arxiv=1907.07429 |s2cid=197402894 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0814-z In 2020, the shape of the dusty envelope surrounding the Local Bubble was retrieved and modeled from 3D maps of the dust density obtained from stellar extinction data.{{cite journal |first1=Vincent |last1=Pelgrims |first2=Katia |last2=Ferrière |first3=Francois |last3=Boulanger |first4=Rosine |last4=Lallement |first5=Ludovic |last5=Montier |date=April 2020 |title=Modeling the magnetized Local Bubble from dust data |journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics |volume=636 |pages=A17 |doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201937157 |arxiv=1911.09691 |bibcode=2020A&A...636A..17P |url=https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2020/04/aa37157-19/aa37157-19.html

Impact on star formation

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Localbubble_formation.gif" caption="language=en}}"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Localbubble.png" caption="Local Bubble and its [[molecular cloud]]s"] ::

In January 2022, a paper in the journal Nature found that observations and modeling had determined that the action of the expanding surface of the bubble had collected gas and debris and was responsible for the formation of all young, nearby stars.

These new stars are typically in molecular clouds like the Taurus molecular cloud and the open star cluster Pleiades.

Connection to radioactive isotopes on Earth

Several radioactive isotopes on Earth have been connected to supernovae occurring relatively nearby to the solar system. The most common source is found in deep sea ferromanganese crusts, which are constantly growing, aggregating iron, manganese, and other elements. Samples are divided into layers which are dated, for example, with beryllium-10. Some of these layers have higher concentrations of radioactive isotopes. The isotope most commonly associated with supernovae on Earth is iron-60 from deep-sea sediments, Antarctic snow, and lunar soil. Other isotopes are manganese-53 and plutonium-244 from deep-sea materials. Supernova-originated aluminium-26, which was expected from cosmic ray studies, was not confirmed. Iron-60 and manganese-53 have a peak 1.7–3.2 million years ago, and iron-60 has a second peak 6.5–8.7 million years ago. The older peak likely originated when the solar system moved through the Orion–Eridanus Superbubble and the younger peak was generated when the solar system entered the Local Bubble 4.5 million years ago. One of the supernovae creating the younger peak might have created the pulsar PSR B1706-16 and turned Zeta Ophiuchi into a runaway star. Both originated from UCL and were released by a supernova 1.78 ± 0.21 million years ago. Another explanation for the older peak is that it was produced by one supernova in the Tucana–Horologium association 7–9 million years ago.

References

References

  1. Frisch, P. C.. (2006-09-12). "Solar Journey: The Significance of Our Galactic Environment for the Heliosphere and Earth". Springer Science & Business Media.
  2. Maíz-Apellániz, Jesús. (2001-10-01). "The Origin of the Local Bubble". The Astrophysical Journal.
  3. (2006-12-01). "The search for the origin of the Local Bubble redivivus". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
  4. (2022-01-12). "Star formation near the Sun is driven by expansion of the Local Bubble". Nature.
  5. "1,000-Light-Year Wide Bubble Surrounding Earth is Source of All Nearby, Young Stars {{!}} Center for Astrophysics".
  6. "Star Formation near the Sun is driven by expansion of the Local Bubble".
  7. (1999-07-01). "Indication for Supernova Produced 60Fe Activity on Earth". Physical Review Letters.
  8. (2019-08-01). "Interstellar 60Fe in Antarctica". Physical Review Letters.
  9. (2016-04-01). "Interstellar Fe 60 on the Surface of the Moon". Physical Review Letters.
  10. (2020-07-01). "Supernova-Produced 53Mn on Earth". Physical Review Letters.
  11. (2021-05-01). "60Fe and 244Pu deposited on Earth constrain the r-process yields of recent nearby supernovae". Science.
  12. (2018-11-01). "Limits on Supernova-Associated Fe 60 /Al 26 Nucleosynthesis Ratios from Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Measurements of Deep-Sea Sediments". Physical Review Letters.
  13. (2023-12-01). "Numerical studies on the link between radioisotopic signatures on Earth and the formation of the Local Bubble. II. Advanced modelling of interstellar 26Al, 53Mn, 60Fe, and 244Pu influxes as traces of past supernova activity in the solar neighbourhood". Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  14. (2020-10-01). "A nearby recent supernova that ejected the runaway star ζ Oph, the pulsar PSR B1706-16, and 60Fe found on Earth". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
  15. (2018-01-01). "Supernova ejecta in ocean cores used as time constraints for nearby stellar groups". Astronomische Nachrichten.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

local-bubbleinterstellar-mediasuperbubblessolar-system