Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery, finding a giant gas cloud named Eos, which is approximately 3,400 solar masses worth of gas, just 300 light-years away. The cloud is located on the edge of the Local Bubble, a region with less dense interstellar medium, and contains mostly molecular hydrogen gas.
The surprise detection was made possible by using far-ultraviolet data from the Korean STSAT-1 satellite to directly detect molecules of hydrogen fluorescing. This technique allows researchers to see invisible clouds that were previously undetectable.
Eos is predicted to disperse in about 5.7 million years due to background photons impacting its molecules, but it may still have the potential to form stars if another trigger accelerates its process. The discovery provides new insights into star birth and can help astronomers understand the conditions needed for star formation in other distant clouds.
The finding is significant because it reveals a feedback mechanism regulating star formation rates. According to Burkhart’s team, molecular clouds disperse at a rate three times faster than they are converted into stars. This process may act as a regulator of star formation in the galaxy.
The discovery opens up new avenues for studying conditions that enable star birth and sheds light on how galaxies transform interstellar gas and dust into stars and planets. The use of far-ultraviolet fluorescence emission technique could uncover hidden clouds across the galaxy, rewriting our understanding of the interstellar medium.
Source: https://www.space.com/the-universe/scientists-find-giant-hidden-gas-cloud-only-300-light-years-away-this-cloud-is-literally-glowing-in-the-dark