Astronomers have compiled a new three-dimensional map of the space surrounding the Sun, according to the eROSITA space observatory. And he found that it was inside a huge, tall structure. Thanks to the ability of many telescopes to detect X-rays, astronomers can see the rare, hot gas radiating through space. The temperature of this substance reaches one million degrees, but due to the large distance between its atoms, heat transfer does not occur.

This gas forms giant bubbles on the outskirts of the solar system. We are in what is called the Local Bubble, which extends for hundreds of light years.

According to scientists, this “haze” dissipated after a relatively recent “fireworks”: about 14 million years ago, supernova massive stars exploded one after another at short intervals in the OB association Scorpius – Centauri, closest to us. The so-called “remnants” of these stars are also found in space. For example, the Heming neutron star, located 815 light years away from us, is the ancient core of a huge armature that, according to calculations, exploded only 342,000 years ago.

The local bubble was recently examined using the eROSITA X-ray space telescope. It is located one and a half million kilometers from Earth, free from many obstacles. Based on data obtained from the telescope, a team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (Germany) created a three-dimensional image of unprecedented clarity of the huge plasma cloud surrounding the Sun. Experts shared the results of their study in an article for the magazine Astronomy and Astrophysics.

As the study’s lead author, astrophysicist Michael Freiberg, explains, it was possible not only to clarify the appearance of the Local Bubble, but also to find something new inside: a long, tunnel-like structure that stands out against the overall structure. There is a much higher temperature in the background and it is directed towards the constellation Centauri. It’s right inside.

But according to the researchers, this is a coincidence: The Solar System is currently passing through a “tunnel” as it moves through the Galaxy, having entered the Local Bubble only a few million years ago. Remember that our star, along with its entire cosmic family, has existed for 4.6 billion years and makes a revolution around the center of the Milky Way approximately every 220-240 million years.

eROSITA made it possible to study the Local Bubble as well as many other gas clouds located nearby. is pierced by a network of such plasma “tunnels”.