5 ms·

I'm no physicist, but I do enjoy hypothesising what these sorts of things could be. It's interesting when the question of what is driving electrons across thes

I'm no physicist, but I do enjoy hypothesising what these sorts of things could be. It's interesting when the question of what is driving electrons across these filaments at near-light speed is still open... could they be natural accelerators? What if you could ride one of these filaments? Or what if they're like the exhaust trails of an FTL vehicle/body? Or something inter-dimensional? Knowing they're very far away, are we looking for them closer to home? Can they even be observed with such clarity if they were closer to us?

mNemoN 5y ago
I had pretty same thoughts about it!
dave_sullivan 5y ago
Lines for communication and direct energy transfer at the Galaxy's center?
idontwantthis 5y ago
I wonder if they are interference patterns from some massive waves interacting.
- motohagiography 5y ago
  Came here to ask this. A 1-D artifact with even or periodic spacing really suggested an interference pattern to me as well.
- Atlas667 5y ago
  Yeah, this is pure uninformed speculation, but what if they're the edge of cosmic ray propagation. Where they lose most of their energy between stars ans are still bound by gravity and just interact with other edges forming resonating lines.
sbierwagen 5y ago
>what if they're like the exhaust trails of an FTL vehicle That would be rather depressing, if true. There's only a couple strands, so it would seem that FTL travel is very very rare. Among the 100 billion stars in our galaxy, only a handful have used FTL travel in the last 25,000 years?
- simonh 5y ago
  Since the strands cut across the galaxy, if they are FTL trails whoever left them was probably just passing through, in equally spaced formations.
- Razengan 5y ago
  How is it depressing if something previously thought of as impossible turns out to be possible? Maybe the costs are *ahem* astronomical, so the tech is reserved for very large ships, only needing or affording a few trips. You know, like our one ever visit to the Moon. Maybe they’re the tubes connecting gates or wormholes carrying a regular traffic of thousands of ships.
  - darkwater 5y ago
    > You know, like our one ever visit to the Moon. You know this is not factually true, even if you just consider the Apollo project.
- tsimionescu 5y ago
  Well, if FTL travel were even possible, it would consume monumental amounts of energy (current known physics say you need an infinite amount to accelerate a mass to v=c), so it would have to be an extremely rare event.
  - wruza 5y ago
    It probably goes down after that, cause you’re traveling back in time. Just a leverage from Quantum Gods, not a real investment. /jk
- tiborsaas 5y ago
  The current situation is more depressing that we have zero evidence of any life outside Spaceship Earth. One single evidence of physics breaking aliens would be the most cheerful thing in my lifetime.
  - 5y ago
moralestapia 5y ago
>Knowing they're very far away, are we looking for them closer to home? Not only that but they're also huge. If we were inside one we may see them as some sort of an almost uniform, isotropic field ... perhaps like cosmic background radiation?
- kumarvvr 5y ago
  True, but if another filament, not parallel to us, can interact with ours, it will still be visible.
- dnadler 5y ago
  The CMB is fairly uniform in all directions whereas this beam would appear very red/blue shifted depending on the direction you look.
the_biot 5y ago
> Or what if they're like the exhaust trails of an FTL vehicle/body? Thank you for saying it. I desperately want this to be the case.
- raxxorrax 5y ago
  Me too. Even if an alien race that wants to annihilate us had them. It would be just awesome to know if it was indeed possible to craft such devices.
- mmazing 5y ago
  My less than plausible wishful thinking theory - The balloon structures are civilizations with the ability to move at least throughout their local group, the strands are results of experimentation for whatever technology allows them to do so. :)
willis936 5y ago
It's never aliens. Black hole accretion disks are my bet. Accretion disks are the most hot and violent places we know of. The more powerful the plasma dynamo, the larger the magnetic field lines will be. Think Van Allen belts but galactic scale. Electrons move freely along magnetic field lines and they are very lightweight. Moving at near light speed along them isn't a unique phenomenon. Hell, every TV on the planet until 20 years ago used to make an electron beam.
- usrusr 5y ago
  And electrons avoid close proximity to each other? But of course this is not exactly what we usually call "close".. But it would fit so well, because those wobbly curves almost scream "vortex" to my eyes. Interplay between forces towards some sink/collector and repulsive forces amongst the attracted, doesn't this almost always end up looking like that? If a mathematical pattern can be found across a range as wide as bathtub sinks and tornadoes, perhaps we should not be surprised to find it on galactic scale as well. But the dimensions involved, the fact that this whole thing apparently emits sufficient waves/particles for us to detect, crazy!
- ncmncm 5y ago
  The primary requirement on any accounting is to explain why the streaks run parallel and equidistant. One could imagine black holes forming far out in the accretion disk of a supermassive black hole, with the matter already organized by the central mass. That would seem to demand a collection of coplanar accretion discs around the baby holes (which could themselves be quite large), and the holes themselves in that plane. (But we still need to explain their regular spacing.) Maybe that would also help explain how the "impossible"-mass holes seen by LIGO form?
jeffybefffy519 5y ago
Or Astrophage???

mNemoN 5y ago

I had pretty same thoughts about it!

dave_sullivan 5y ago

Lines for communication and direct energy transfer at the Galaxy's center?

idontwantthis 5y ago

I wonder if they are interference patterns from some massive waves interacting.

motohagiography 5y ago
Came here to ask this. A 1-D artifact with even or periodic spacing really suggested an interference pattern to me as well.
Atlas667 5y ago
Yeah, this is pure uninformed speculation, but what if they're the edge of cosmic ray propagation. Where they lose most of their energy between stars ans are still bound by gravity and just interact with other edges forming resonating lines.

sbierwagen 5y ago

>what if they're like the exhaust trails of an FTL vehicle That would be rather depressing, if true. There's only a couple strands, so it would seem that FTL travel is very very rare. Among the 100 billion stars in our galaxy, only a handful have used FTL travel in the last 25,000 years?

simonh 5y ago
Since the strands cut across the galaxy, if they are FTL trails whoever left them was probably just passing through, in equally spaced formations.
Razengan 5y ago
How is it depressing if something previously thought of as impossible turns out to be possible? Maybe the costs are *ahem* astronomical, so the tech is reserved for very large ships, only needing or affording a few trips. You know, like our one ever visit to the Moon. Maybe they’re the tubes connecting gates or wormholes carrying a regular traffic of thousands of ships.
- darkwater 5y ago
  > You know, like our one ever visit to the Moon. You know this is not factually true, even if you just consider the Apollo project.
tsimionescu 5y ago
Well, if FTL travel were even possible, it would consume monumental amounts of energy (current known physics say you need an infinite amount to accelerate a mass to v=c), so it would have to be an extremely rare event.
- wruza 5y ago
  It probably goes down after that, cause you’re traveling back in time. Just a leverage from Quantum Gods, not a real investment. /jk
tiborsaas 5y ago
The current situation is more depressing that we have zero evidence of any life outside Spaceship Earth. One single evidence of physics breaking aliens would be the most cheerful thing in my lifetime.
- 5y ago

moralestapia 5y ago

>Knowing they're very far away, are we looking for them closer to home? Not only that but they're also huge. If we were inside one we may see them as some sort of an almost uniform, isotropic field ... perhaps like cosmic background radiation?

kumarvvr 5y ago
True, but if another filament, not parallel to us, can interact with ours, it will still be visible.
dnadler 5y ago
The CMB is fairly uniform in all directions whereas this beam would appear very red/blue shifted depending on the direction you look.

the_biot 5y ago

> Or what if they're like the exhaust trails of an FTL vehicle/body? Thank you for saying it. I desperately want this to be the case.

raxxorrax 5y ago
Me too. Even if an alien race that wants to annihilate us had them. It would be just awesome to know if it was indeed possible to craft such devices.
mmazing 5y ago
My less than plausible wishful thinking theory - The balloon structures are civilizations with the ability to move at least throughout their local group, the strands are results of experimentation for whatever technology allows them to do so. :)

willis936 5y ago

It's never aliens. Black hole accretion disks are my bet. Accretion disks are the most hot and violent places we know of. The more powerful the plasma dynamo, the larger the magnetic field lines will be. Think Van Allen belts but galactic scale. Electrons move freely along magnetic field lines and they are very lightweight. Moving at near light speed along them isn't a unique phenomenon. Hell, every TV on the planet until 20 years ago used to make an electron beam.

usrusr 5y ago
And electrons avoid close proximity to each other? But of course this is not exactly what we usually call "close".. But it would fit so well, because those wobbly curves almost scream "vortex" to my eyes. Interplay between forces towards some sink/collector and repulsive forces amongst the attracted, doesn't this almost always end up looking like that? If a mathematical pattern can be found across a range as wide as bathtub sinks and tornadoes, perhaps we should not be surprised to find it on galactic scale as well. But the dimensions involved, the fact that this whole thing apparently emits sufficient waves/particles for us to detect, crazy!
ncmncm 5y ago
The primary requirement on any accounting is to explain why the streaks run parallel and equidistant. One could imagine black holes forming far out in the accretion disk of a supermassive black hole, with the matter already organized by the central mass. That would seem to demand a collection of coplanar accretion discs around the baby holes (which could themselves be quite large), and the holes themselves in that plane. (But we still need to explain their regular spacing.) Maybe that would also help explain how the "impossible"-mass holes seen by LIGO form?

jeffybefffy519 5y ago

Or Astrophage???