Huge Energy Bubbles

Something huge is happening in the center of our Milky Way, and scientists have no clue as to what it is. Two newly discovered gamma ray and X-ray energy bubbles together span a distance of more than 50,000 light years. They contain energy equivalent to 100,000 supernova explosions. “They’re big,” said Doug Finkbeiner, leader of the team at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who discovered the balls. The source of energy of these cosmic balloons is unknown, but a possible theory is that they are fueled by star births and deaths at the center of the galaxy. Another theory is that they are a giant "burp" from a black hole known to live in the center of the galaxy. “And we think we know a lot about our own galaxy,” Dr. Spergel said, mentioning that the bubbles are roughly the size of our entire galaxy, and that they were previously undetected. It really just goes to show how little we know about our universe. Nobody on Earth understands exactly just what these balloons are, and in all honesty, the only reason it matters to us is because we are afraid of the implications it has for our little planet. Could this be the coming of the end of our world as we know it? Probably not. This reporter says: the galaxy has got some pretty big balls.

Sources:

-NY Times
-Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics