S
serak_the_preparer
Guest
Much as I hate adding a new thread...<br /><br />Astronomers Report Unprecedented Double Helix Nebula Near Center of the Milky Way by Stuart Wolpert (UCLA News)<br /><br />March 15, 2006<br /><br /><i>. . . The </i>[80-light-year-long]<i> double helix nebula is approximately 300 light years from the enormous black hole at the center of the Milky Way. (The Earth is more than 25,000 light years from the black hole at the galactic center.)<br /><br />The Spitzer Space Telescope, an infrared telescope, is imaging the sky at unprecedented sensitivity and resolution; Spitzer's sensitivity and spatial resolution were required to see the double helix nebula clearly.<br /><br />"We know the galactic center has a strong magnetic field that is highly ordered and that the magnetic field lines are oriented perpendicular to the plane of the galaxy," Morris said. "If you take these magnetic field lines and twist them at their base, that sends what is called a torsional wave up the magnetic field lines.<br /><br />"You can regard these magnetic field lines as akin to a taut rubber band," Morris added. "If you twist one end, the twist will travel up the rubber band..."</i>