Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

AutoModerator t1_izglo9r wrote

Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our normal comment rules apply to all other comments.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

tehtinman t1_izgv50r wrote

So there really is a space ghost that spans coast-to-coast of the galaxy

241

Bad_Mad_Man t1_izgxdcg wrote

It’s a warning to intelligent life to stay away.

20

shottylaw t1_izgxr8t wrote

This is human smugness. Soon it will kill us all

9

Beautifulblueocean t1_izgzzde wrote

Its all the dead souls that can't stand what we have done to the planet.

−12

101955Bennu t1_izh62j7 wrote

Probably light reflecting off the Oort Cloud

42

buzzonga t1_izh8ska wrote

FTL suppression field. We gonna be here a looooonnnnng time.

58

HendoJay t1_izhayv3 wrote

Is it the cosmic cage that confines us as an exhibit in the intergalactic zoo?

3

flaagan t1_izhew1p wrote

Someone forgot to set the "keep humans contained" shield to invisible.

77

Riegel_Haribo t1_izhjt1x wrote

"Hubble detects", and then a barrage of snarky comments. Jeez. Science, folks.

This is an effort to characterize the zodiacal light, the solar system's illuminated dust, along with the galactic background and any light in darkest areas, by a massive reprocessing of raw data from Hubble, which is just underway. Especially challenging because these observations are on different instruments, have different exposures, cosmic ray flux, electronic noise, and changing parameters. This might lead to a new backgrounding method for historic observations.

...which can be photographed from Earth and is not a shocking discovery:

https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/w6kfza/all_of_the_zodiacal_light_the_dust_of_our_solar/

39

AnotherWarGamer t1_izhthma wrote

There is a bubble of space created by our star. The radiation pressure from the sun is countering something else outside. My guess is they finally got out with one of the probes and got a picture looking in.

1

Wordymanjenson t1_izhy92u wrote

They mentioned that this wasn’t zodiacal light. Maybe I misunderstood but part of what they subtracted was the light from this and the end result was a glow that’s not coming from something we know to subtract.

13

PurpEL t1_izi58lp wrote

Is this the Heliosphere?

2

ScholarObjective7721 t1_izi9m1t wrote

Ahhh the rare phenomenon of fog yes indeed, only few have witnessed such a feat. Finally got it in a picture

−2

vferriero t1_izidfz5 wrote

The force field the alien police set up to stop other aliens from tampering with us too soon?

1

asdaaaaaaaa t1_iziof4m wrote

> This is an effort to characterize the zodiacal light, the solar system's illuminated dust, along with the galactic background and any light in darkest areas, by a massive reprocessing of raw data from Hubble, which is just underway.

Was my first guess, random small stuff like dust, ice, possibly some gas molecules reflecting light as they orbit/hang out around the solar system. I do wonder how much of an improvement we'd have visually if we could somehow drag JWST or something like it beyond that dust/debris cloud into the bare, emptier space.

2

PantsOnHead88 t1_izip9c1 wrote

Typically yes, although we could coin a term for the concept expanded to the galactic level.

Dyson suggested the Dyson sphere.

I propose that a megastructure harnessing the entirety of a galaxy’s energy output be referred to as a PantsOnHead Sphere.

7

everyusernamestaken3 t1_iziutl7 wrote

From the article (4th sentence):

>This would be any leftover light after subtracting the glow from planets, stars, galaxies, and from dust in the plane of our solar system (called zodiacal light).

Pretty sure you understood it just fine, and this guy didn't click the article.

7

_craq_ t1_izjv9xk wrote

If I understood the article correctly, it says the source is somewhere between earth and the New Horizons spacecraft. New Horizons hasn't reached the Oort cloud yet, so I think they've ruled this idea out.

3

AdolescenceOfP1 t1_izlbcsj wrote

> "Hubble detects", and then a barrage of snarky comments. Jeez. Science, folks.

It looks like the children on reddit rush to r/science to compete with each other with absurd jokes. The moderators are going to be very busy tonight. :-/

1

Lonely-Tumbleweed-56 t1_izpn8xf wrote

Watch it being a lamp from a superior, aggressive, colonizing life form who pointed their light to highlight us as their next target

Next space signal: " run away "

2