Astronomers have made a startling discovery. Using data from the eRosita X-ray instrument, researchers say they’ve discovered a “cosmic tunnel” that connects our solar system to other stars.
Scientists have long known that our solar system exists in a Local Hot Bubble. This bubble is believed to have formed following several supernovas over the past several million years and is estimated to be around 300 light-years across.
Using data from the eRosita, researchers from the Max Planck Institute say they found evidence of a cosmic tunnel stretching from our solar system out toward the Centaurus constellation. The tunnel appears to move through the material that makes up the Local Hot Bubble.
The researchers say that they also discovered a second cosmic tunnel that links our solar system to Canis Major. Exactly what caused these tunnels is unclear—or even if they are something we could ever travel through. However, their existence does suggest that there may be a larger network of channels between different star regions.
Astronomers have long proposed the idea of wormholes—rips in space and time that we could possibly use to travel between distant places. These wormholes play a vital part in science fiction media. And perhaps these newly discovered cosmic tunnels could be key to tapping into that power.
That, of course, is just a lot of conjecture on my part. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if scientists did start trying to connect the two pieces together in some way. For now, this new research, featured in Astronomy & Astrophysics, raises some intriguing questions about how connected the different parts of our universe are.
