Visuals

Interactive Figures

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A 3D spatial view of the solar neighborhood. This interactive figure (direct link) supports interactive panning, zooming, and rotation. Individual data layers can be toggled on/off by clicking on the layer in the legend on the right side of the figure. The surface of the Local Bubble is shown in purple. The short squiggly colored lines (a.k.a. “skeletons”) demarcate the 3D spatial morphology of dense gas in prominent nearby molecular clouds. The 3D cones indicate the positions of young stellar clusters, with the apex of the cone pointing in the direction of stellar motion. The Sun is marked with a yellow cross. We also overlay the morphology of the 3D dust (gray blobby shapes) and the models for two Galactic scale features — the Radcliffe Wave (red)¹⁶ and the Split (blue)¹⁰. The Per-Tau Superbubble (green sphere) is also overlaid.

The evolution of the Local Bubble and sequential star formation at the surface of its expanding shell. This interactive figure (direct link) supports interactive panning, zooming, and rotation. Individual data layers can be toggled on/off by clicking on the layer in the legend on the right side of the figure. Stellar cluster tracebacks are shown with the colored paths. Prior to the cluster birth, the tracebacks are shown as semi-transparent circles meant to guide the eye, since our modeling is insensitive to the dynamics of the gas before its conversion into stars. After the cluster birth, the tracebacks are shown with filled circles and terminate in a large dot, which marks the cluster’s current position. For time snapshots ≤ 14 Myr ago, we overlay a model for the evolution of the Local Bubble (purple sphere), as derived in the Methods section. Click “Play Forward” to see the Local Bubble evolve starting 17 Myr ago and progressing forward to the present day. Click “Play Backward” to see the evolution in reverse. Click “Pause” to stop the animation. Alternatively, drag the time slider back and forth to view the Local Bubble’s expansion at any time. To jump to epochs of particular interest, click on any of the “action” buttons (e.g. “UCL Born”) on the left side of the figure.

Figures

Image Caption/Credit: Artist's illustration of the Local Bubble with star formation occurring on the bubble's surface. Scientists have now shown how a chain of events beginning 14 million years ago with a set of powerful supernovae led to the creation of the vast bubble, responsible for the formation of all young stars within 500 light years of the Sun and Earth. Credit: Leah Hustak (STScI).

The Local Bubble in Context: If we zoomed in on famous star-forming regions on the surface of the Local Bubble, what would we see? The two inset images (one of HL Tau, the other of the Ophiuchus nebula) show what astronomers call “plane of the sky” images, in that they are necessarily 2D projections taken from our vantage point near the Sun on Earth. If an astronomer on Earth looked in the direction of the Taurus star-forming region, with ALMA, they would see see HL Tau ( 200 AU in size) if they zoomed in 10,000 times compared to the typical scale of the Taurus cloud. If an astronomer on Earth looked toward Ophiuchus (with a wide-field-of-view telescope on the ground) and zoomed in 10x compared to the typical size of the Ophiuchus cloud, they would see the beautiful Ophiuchus nebula.

A 3D spatial view of the solar neighborhood. Panel a: A top-down projection of star-forming regions on the surface of the Local Bubble, whose young stars show motion mainly perpendicular to its surface. The surface of the Local Bubble is shown in purple. The short squiggly colored lines (a.k.a. “skeletons”) demarcate the 3D spatial morphology of dense gas in prominent nearby molecular clouds. The 3D arrows indicate the positions of young stellar clusters, with the apex of the arrow’s cone pointing in the direction of stellar motion. The Sun is marked with a yellow cross. The zoom-in to the lower right shows a close-up of Ophiuchus, Pipe, Lupus, and Corona Australis on the Bubble’s surface, along with arrows illustrating the outward motion of their young stellar clusters. Panel b: A 3D view of the relationship between the Local Bubble, prominent nearby star-forming regions, and Galactic structure. The Local Bubble and cloud skeletons are the same as in Panel a. We also overlay the morphology of the 3D dust (gray blobby shapes⁹) and the models for two Galactic scale features — the Radcliffe Wave (red) and the Split (blue). The Per-Tau Superbubble (green sphere) is also overlaid.

The evolution of the Local Bubble and sequential star formation at the surface of its expanding shell. Selected time snapshots (seen from a top-down projection) are shown here. The central figure shows the present day. Stellar cluster tracebacks are shown with the colored paths. Prior to the cluster birth, the tracebacks are shown as unfilled circles meant to guide the eye, since our modeling is insensitive to the dynamics of the gas before its conversion into stars. After the cluster birth, the tracebacks are shown with filled circles and terminate in a large dot, which marks the cluster’s current position. For time snapshots ≤ 14 Myr ago, we overlay a model for the evolution of the Local Bubble (purple sphere). The solar orbit is shown in yellow and indicates that the Sun entered the Local Bubble approximately 5 Myr ago.

Videos

Video Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)