Astronomers discover a perfect sphere in radio
Using the array of radio dishes dubbed the Australian Square Kilometre Array, astronomers have made the serendipitous discovery of what appears to be a perfect sphere of radio emissions tens of light years in diameter and tens of thousands of light years away and near the galactic center.
The scientists have dubbed the object Teleios, Greek for ‘complete’ or ‘perfect’. The image to the right is that radio image. Though the astronomers posit that it must have been formed from a supernova explosion, there are problems with that conclusion. From their paper [pdf]:
Unfortunately, all examined scenarios have their challenges, and no definitive Supernova origin type can be established at this stage. Remarkably, Teleios has retained its symmetrical shape as it aged even to such a diameter, suggesting expansion into a rarefied and isotropic ambient medium. The low radio surface brightness and the lack of pronounced polarisation can be explained by a high level of ambient rotation measure (RM), with the largest RM being observed at Teleios’s centre.
In other words, this object only emits in radio waves, is not visible in optical or other wavelengths as expected, and thus doesn’t really fit with any theories describing the evolution of supernova explosions. Yet its nature fits all other possible known space objects even less, such as planetary nebulae, nova remnants, Wolf-Rayet stars, or even super-bubbles of empty space (such as the Local Bubble the solar system is presently in).
Baffled, the scientists even considered the possibility that they had discovered an artificially built Dyson Sphere, but dismissed that idea because Teleios emits no infrared near its boundaries, as such a sphere is expected to do.
At present the best theory remains a supernova remnant, though this remains a poor solution at best.
Hat tip to reader (and my former editor at UPI) Phil Berardelli.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Using the array of radio dishes dubbed the Australian Square Kilometre Array, astronomers have made the serendipitous discovery of what appears to be a perfect sphere of radio emissions tens of light years in diameter and tens of thousands of light years away and near the galactic center.
The scientists have dubbed the object Teleios, Greek for ‘complete’ or ‘perfect’. The image to the right is that radio image. Though the astronomers posit that it must have been formed from a supernova explosion, there are problems with that conclusion. From their paper [pdf]:
Unfortunately, all examined scenarios have their challenges, and no definitive Supernova origin type can be established at this stage. Remarkably, Teleios has retained its symmetrical shape as it aged even to such a diameter, suggesting expansion into a rarefied and isotropic ambient medium. The low radio surface brightness and the lack of pronounced polarisation can be explained by a high level of ambient rotation measure (RM), with the largest RM being observed at Teleios’s centre.
In other words, this object only emits in radio waves, is not visible in optical or other wavelengths as expected, and thus doesn’t really fit with any theories describing the evolution of supernova explosions. Yet its nature fits all other possible known space objects even less, such as planetary nebulae, nova remnants, Wolf-Rayet stars, or even super-bubbles of empty space (such as the Local Bubble the solar system is presently in).
Baffled, the scientists even considered the possibility that they had discovered an artificially built Dyson Sphere, but dismissed that idea because Teleios emits no infrared near its boundaries, as such a sphere is expected to do.
At present the best theory remains a supernova remnant, though this remains a poor solution at best.
Hat tip to reader (and my former editor at UPI) Phil Berardelli.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
An Alien Civilization set of its own doomsday weapon.
‘We will call you Cygnus
The God of Balance you shall be’ – Rush Hemispheres
And the last verse …
The Sphere: A Kind Of Dream
We can walk our road together
If our goals are all the same
We can run alone and free
If we pursue a different aim
Let the truth of love be lighted
Let the love of truth shine clear
Sensibility
Armed with sense and liberty
With the heart and mind united in a single
Perfect
Sphere
Perhaps what we have here is a spherical Star Trekian “force field” that is hundreds of light years across. The weak RF “emissions” from its surface may simply be reflections of RF energy from surrounding stars outside the force field perimeter.
Any civilization that could construct/power such a thing would have to be at least Kardashev Level 2 – able to harness all the energy of single stars with Dyson Spheres – but less than Kardashev Level 3 – able to do the same with an entire galaxy. Given that the Kardashev scale is logarithmic, I would suppose the civilization able to power a force field this large would rate as being at least Kardashev Level 2.1.
One has to wonder against what such an enormous defense has been erected. My best guess would be supernovae frequent and close enough to threaten even a very old civilization. Perhaps the “force field” started small enough to shield just the home planet and was expanded, in steps, to encompass, first, the entire home solar system and then progressively more volume as the founding race’s – literal – sphere of influence expanded.
What we are seeing is a snapshot tens of thousands of years old. If this artifact had the sort of evolution I’ve suggested here, it may well be considerably larger in the present day as its builders incrementally climb the Kardashev Scale toward Level 3.
Is it heating up some dense gas in the lower left corner?
That “white” area looks like it is following the edge or the circle.
pzatchok: Read the paper that I link to. They spend some time discussing that bright area.
What would Earth look like from 90 light years away? We’re at the center of an expanding sphere of radio waves about 100 light years in diameter (now – from 90 light years away, it would “only” be 10 light years across).
” Teleios is exclusively seen at radio–continuum frequencies” is not very frequency specific.