NASA-Funded Sounding Rocket Solves One Cosmic Mystery, Reveals Another

Saturday, September 24, 2016

In the last century, humans realized that space is filled with types of light we can’t see – from infrared signals released by hot stars and galaxies, to the cosmic microwave background that comes from every corner of the universe. Some of this invisible light that fills space takes the form of X-rays, the source of which has been hotly contended over the past few decades.

It wasn’t until the flight of the DXL sounding rocket, short for Diffuse X-ray emission from the Local galaxy, that scientists had concrete answers about the X-rays’ sources. In a new study, published Sept. 23, 2016, in the Astrophysical Journal, DXL’s data confirms some of our ideas about where these X-rays come from, in turn strengthening our understanding of our solar neighborhood’s early history. But it also reveals a new mystery – an entire group of X-rays that don’t come from any known source.

The two known sources of X-ray emission are the solar wind, the sea of solar material that fills the solar system, and the Local Hot Bubble, a theorized area of hot interstellar material that surrounds our solar system.

“We show that the X-ray contribution from the solar wind charge exchange is about forty percent in the galactic plane, and even less elsewhere,” said Massimiliano Galeazzi, an astrophysicist at the University of Miami and an author on the study. “So the rest of the X-rays must come from the Local Hot Bubble, proving that it exists.”

However, DXL also measured some high-energy X-rays that couldn’t possibly come from the solar wind or the Local Hot Bubble.

“At higher energies, these sources contribute less than a quarter of the X-ray emission,” said Youaraj Uprety, lead author on the study and an astrophysicist at University of Miami at the time the research was conducted. “So there’s an unknown source of X-rays in this energy range.”

In the decades since we first discovered the X-ray emission that permeates space, three main theories have been bandied about to explain its origins. First, and quickly ruled out, was the idea that these X-rays are a kind of background noise, coming from the distant reaches of the universe. Our galaxy has lots of neutral gas that would absorb X-rays coming from distant sources – meaning that these X-rays must originate somewhere near our solar system.
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www.astrowatch.net...

So here we go folks, the mystery keeps on going. There is an unknown source, within our solar system that is releasing high energy x-rays and astrophysicists have been able to verify that it is neither being caused by the solar wind, nor the Local Hot Bubble.

Since our galaxy is full of neutral gas, this makes it impossible for the source of these high energy x-rays to be from outside our solar system, since then all of these high energy x-rays would be absorbed by the neutral gas. Instead whatever the source of these mysterious high energy x-rays puts it within our solar system.

In past threads I have mentioned these "mysterious high energy x-rays" but now we have some confirmation that they originate from within our solar system. One of the possible explanations is a dead star, brown dwarf or sub-brown star. As it is, in past threads i also pointed out how ETNOs share an argument of perehelion close to 0 so far out there, which means a massive object out there is keeping them in their orbits. Now we know that these mysterious high particle x-rays are from a source within our solar system. All this evidence continues to point out the fact that it could indeed be a brown dwarf, or sub-brown dwarf within our solar system causing these anomalies.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Good find!

However there is one point I disagree with:

Our galaxy has lots of neutral gas that would absorb X-rays coming from distant sources – meaning that these X-rays must originate somewhere near our solar system.

I fail to see how the autor reaches such a conclusion. The Solar System is surrounded with neutral gases, yes, but these are far from being homogeneous, and far from being perfectly opaque to X-rays. An obvious proof of this is our ability to detect X-rays from distant black holes, in distant galaxies.

Which implies that no, we actually don't have the certainty that it comes from within the solar system.

Whatever the source is, we need triangulation data - otherwise there's no way to tell if the X rays came from something very close and faint, or from something very far and powerful and then became dimmer as it passed through our interstellar gases.

a reply to: swanne

Detecting x-rays from far away sources is not the same as those x-rays reaching us. The high energy x-rays that were detected reached DXL within our solar system. The fact that these high energy x-rays reach well within the solar system tells me the source is inside the solar system. Other researchers had reached the same conclusion in the past in which research indicates that there is an unknown gravitational field within our solar system which is also redirecting incoming cosmic microwave radiation, and could also be the cause for the acceleration that comets are experiencing..

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The reason for this is totally unclear. One may speculate that an unknown gravitational field within the Solar system slightly redirects the incoming cosmic microwave radiation (in the similar way as a motion with a certain velocity with respect to the rest frame of the cosmological background redirects the cosmic background radiation and leads to modifications of the dipole and quadrupole parts). Such a redirection should be more pronounced for low–l components of the radiation. It should be possible to calculate the gravitational field needed for such a redirection and then to compare that with the observational data of the Solar system and the other observed anomalies.
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arxiv.org...

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8.2 Other anomalies?
There is one further observation which status is rather unclear bit which perhaps may fit into the other observations. This is the observation of the return time of comets: Comets usually come back a few days before they are expected when applying ordinary equations of motion. The delay usually is assigned to the outgassing of these objects. In fact, the delay is used for an estimate of the strength of this outgassing. On the other hand, it has been calculated in (44) that the assumption that starting with 20 AU there is an additional acceleration of the order of the Pioneer anomaly also leads to the effect that comets come back a few days earlier. It is not clear whether this is a serious indications but a further study of the trajectories of comets certainly is worthwhile.

arxiv.org...

Something like a sub-brown dwarf, or brown dwarf could be the cause for these types of anomalies, including the increase in the astronomical unit which cannot be explained. Together with the fact that more and more astrophysicists and their research indicate that there are at least 2 large planets, at least one super Earth within the Oort cloud that are keeping Etnos at an argument of perehelion close to 0, would also mean that a bigger sub-stellar object, in this case either a sub-brown dwarf or brown dwarf is the one keeping these large planets in the outer reaches of the solar system. Such a sub-brown dwarf, or brown dwarf is a good candidate for the source of the high energetic x-rays reaching the inner solar system.

Now we have even more confirmation of something is emitting high energy x-rays within our solar system, and it is very probably the same cause for some of the other anomalies I mentioned.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

The fact that these high energy x-rays reach well within the solar system tells me the source is inside the solar system.

You can't know that based on luminosity amplitude / frequency alone.

You need to have triangulation data for you to be able to determine the spatial position of the source. Sagittarius A* (the black hole at the core of the Milky Way) X-rays also "reach well within the solar system", that doesn't mean that Sagittarius A* is inside the solar system.

Analogy: you turn your phone's wifi on. The connection shows only one bar. This can either mean that the router is rubbish, or that you're far away. The only way to know which is true, is to gather triangulation data (move around). The DXL did detect X rays, but it failed to provide the parallax data for the source.

Which means it's very possible that the author's conclusion is wrong.

I know you'd like to prove that a brown dwarf is orbiting the Sun, and frankly, I think that would be pretty awesome. But we mustn't bend data to fit theories.

a reply to: swanne

It's not that I would like to prove such a sub-stellar object exists within our solar system. The thing is that more and more evidence continues to point out that it does indeed exists out there within the confines of the Oort cloud. Yes, triangulation would show us exactly where this object is, but still the lack of this information does not deny the fact that there is a source within our solar system that emits such high energy x-rays. If it was a star even close to our solar system we would be able to see it, but there are types of brown dwarfs, and sub-brown dwarfs that are not that easy to find.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

On the existence of something in the Oort cloud, I most agree with you.

However we must be careful as to what to call "evidences". Gravitational pull on planets is good enough for me, as the force has a direction and a range which can be calculated. X rays burst with unknown intrinsical luminosity and unknown distance of origin... Not so much.

You could be right, of course, I just want to make sure we follow the scientific method in its entirety.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

I have always been interested in space, especially the orbit of long-period comets. I'm at work so I can't upload any pictures right now so I'll refer you to this to visualize better. No one ever really explained well why comets turn so tightly around the sun and then turn tightly again in the Oort cloud. They give the explanation that it is Jupiter's gravity or the smaller objects in the Oort cloud that cause it to happen but it doesn't seem to me like they should be so tight. Especially with the example I provided before, in the last reply to that thread, you could see where an object could have an orbit around our solar system in much that same way.

Of course that does raise the question that the object should be moving so why would the orbits be constant. For that I just say relativity and move on, but long period comets have not really been tracked that long relative to the age of the universe, so who is to say they aren't actually making flower shaped orbits (Science, Astrophysics... maybe). From our viewpoint would they look like a constant orbit? Just spitballing, further research would do me good, but that doesn't make my idea any less feasible (in my mind).

a reply to: swanne

First of all, the research paper wasn't done by just one astrophysicist, although Galeazzi was one of the authors, he had collaborators from NASA, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Michigan, the University of Kansas, the Johns Hopkins University and CNES in France.

Here is part of the research from the Astrophysics Journal.

iopscience.iop.org...

Here is a list of astrophysicists who were part of this research.

Y. Uprety1,11, M. Chiao2, M. R. Collier2, T. Cravens3, M. Galeazzi1, D. Koutroumpa4, K. D. Kuntz5, R. Lallement6, S. T. Lepri7, W. Liu1, D. McCammon8, K. Morgan8, F. S. Porter2, K. Prasai1,10, S. L. Snowden2, N. E. Thomas2, E. Ursino1,12, and B. M. Walsh9

Here is a link from Nasa, the second article is about this research paper in particular.

www.nasa.gov...

Second, the amount of high energy x-rays reaching us from this unknown source is much higher than the amount that comes from the solar wind.

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DXL’s data revealed that about forty percent of most observed X-rays come from the solar wind. But in higher energy ranges, some X-rays are still unexplained. DXL’s observations show that less than a quarter of the X-ray emission at higher energy levels comes from the solar wind, and the Local Hot Bubble isn’t a good explanation either.
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www.nasa.gov...

Less than a quarter of the x-ray emissions at the higher levels comes from the solar wind, and the Local Hot Bubble is not the source of the majority of these high energy x-rays. Whatever this source is, is sending more high energy x-rays than either the solar wind, or the Local Hot Bubble.

And again, this source cannot be far off outside the solar system because we wouldn't be receiving so much high energy x-rays as this source is sending our way.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Yes, but what is the direction and the parallax of the source?

I have trouble seeing how one distant brown dwarf can be sending us more HE X-rays than our nearby Sun.

Chandra X-rays observatory stated that an actual brown dwarf makes about the same amount of X-rays than the Sun, which means that here on Earth the Sun would easily take over 50% of the amount of X-rays we've seen - and that's if the "brown dwarf" was somewhere in the Asteroid Belt, at perfect opposition. The minute the brown dwarf gets further, as it most probably would, such as inside the Oort Cloud, then you can be sure that its X-rays amount reaching us would be insignificant and that the Sun would be the winner. Brown dwarf as an explanation just doesn't match the observations, which say that X-rays actually surpass the Sun by three to one. If the cause was a brown dwarf, then the brown dwarf would have to be somewhere next to Mars!

It just makes no sense.

For all we know, these X-rays could be annihilation of heavy fermions in space, or even perhaps matter getting crushed by a small black hole.

Nibiru!!!
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Sorry, I just had to. Seriously, though, it is amazing that such an object could exist so close to us, and we did not have a clue about it the whole time. Fascinating.

originally posted by: ElectricUniverse

Detecting x-rays from far away sources is not the same as those x-rays reaching us.

I'm not following you here. If X-Rays don't reach the sensor, how could they possibly be detected?