{"id":796348,"date":"2025-05-28T06:01:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T11:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=796348"},"modified":"2025-05-28T06:01:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T11:01:04","slug":"what-is-this-weird-sphere-in-space-astronomers-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=796348","title":{"rendered":"What is this weird sphere in space astronomers found?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What Is This Near-Perfect Cosmic Sphere?\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Op6K4cIddbY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><em>EarthSky\u2019s Will Triggs talks about the odd sphere in space. Video via EarthSky.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Science matters. Wonder matters. You matter. Join our 2025 Donation Campaign today.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Spherical objects are common in space.<\/strong> They can include stars, planets and some moons. What else might there be?<\/li>\n<li><strong>An international team of astronomers has found a new spherical oddity<\/strong> in our Milky Way galaxy. It looks like a giant bubble and is nearly perfectly circular.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The astronomers said it is most likely a remnant of gas and dust from a supernova.<\/strong> There are many of those, but researchers aren\u2019t sure why this one is an almost perfect sphere.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>A near-perfect sphere in space<\/h3>\n<p>The universe is full of round things, such as stars, planets and some moons. But now, astronomers have discovered a nearly perfect spherical bubble in our Milky Way galaxy. The researchers said on May 7, 2025, that it\u2019s likely a supernova remnant, the gas and dust left over from an exploding star. But why this one is so circular is a mystery. The astronomers found the oddity \u2013 nicknamed <em>Teleios<\/em> (ancient Greek for \u201cperfection\u201d) \u2013 using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP).<\/p>\n<p>Teleios can only be seen faintly in radio waves, not visible light. And while Teleios is in the Milky Way, its distance is still a matter of debate. The two best estimates are 7,175 light-years and 25,114 light-years. That discrepancy could have implications for how large Teleios is and how it formed.<\/p>\n<p>There is some similarity between Teleios and another phenomenon called Odd Radio Circles (ORCs), first discovered in 2019. But it probably has a different origin since the radio circles are much, much larger in size.<\/p>\n<p>Astrophysicist Miroslav Filipovic at Western Sydney University in Australia led the new international study. The researchers submitted their results to <em>Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia<\/em> on May 7, 2025, and the preprint of the paper is available on arXiv.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_511358\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-511358\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-511358\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View larger. | This is Teleios, the near-perfect bubble that the international team of astronomers found. What is this unusual sphere in space? The researchers said it is most likely a supernova remnant, but they\u2019re not sure exactly how it formed the way it did. Image via Filipovic et al.\/ Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia\/ arXiv.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_511389\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-511389\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Miroslav-Filipovic-Western-Sydney-University-1.jpg\" alt=\"Man with eyeglasses and white dress shirt standing beside and touching an instrument attached to a telescope.\" width=\"800\" height=\"498\" class=\"size-full wp-image-511389\" srcset=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Miroslav-Filipovic-Western-Sydney-University-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Miroslav-Filipovic-Western-Sydney-University-1-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Miroslav-Filipovic-Western-Sydney-University-1-768x478.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-511389\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miroslav Filipovic at Western Sydney University in Australia is the lead author of the new study about Teleios. Image via Western Sydney University.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>A supernova remnant, but an odd one<\/h3>\n<p>The researchers said this cosmic bubble is most likely a supernova remnant. A supernova remnant is the leftover gas and dust from when a star has ended its life in a massive explosion. It could have been a Type Ia supernova, where a white dwarf star, closely orbiting its companion star, ingests too much material from the companion star and explodes. Or perhaps it was a much rarer Type Iax supernova. In that scenario, the explosion doesn\u2019t completely destroy the white dwarf. Instead, it leaves behind a remnant called a <em>zombie star<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a problem with both possibilities, however. The remnants of a Type Ia supernova should emit X-rays. But this bubble doesn\u2019t. <\/p>\n<h3>How far away is Teleios?<\/h3>\n<p>A Type Iax supernova is a close match to the supernova remnant of Teleios, based on its emission properties. But that would suggest that Teleios is a lot nearer to us than even the closer estimate, at only 3,262 light-years away.<\/p>\n<p>For the 7,175 light-years distance estimate, Teleios would be about 46 light-years across. If it\u2019s farther away, at 25,114 light-years, then its size would be around 157 light-years. There\u2019s another conundrum: If it is a Type Iax supernova remnant, then the emission properties suggest it would be smaller, only 11 light-years across. There <em>is<\/em> a candidate star that could be the zombie star at that distance. However, other independent measurements of the distance don\u2019t agree with the distance Teleios would need to be if it were that size.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_511361\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-511361\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Teleios-supernova-remnant-surroundings-ASKAP-PASA-May-7-2025.jpg\" alt=\"Yellowish rectangular shape with rounded bumps on its edges. Black spots and filaments are in the top half, and a small circle is in the bottom half, near the center. Numbers and text annotations are along the left, right and bottom edges.\" width=\"800\" height=\"471\" class=\"size-full wp-image-511361\" srcset=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Teleios-supernova-remnant-surroundings-ASKAP-PASA-May-7-2025.jpg 800w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Teleios-supernova-remnant-surroundings-ASKAP-PASA-May-7-2025-300x177.jpg 300w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Teleios-supernova-remnant-surroundings-ASKAP-PASA-May-7-2025-768x452.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-511361\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View larger. | This image shows Teleios (circle toward bottom center) and its surroundings in the galactic plane, aka the galactic equator. Image via Filipovic et al.\/ Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia\/ arXiv.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_511385\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-511385\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Teleios-supernova-remnant-zoomed-in-ASKAP-PASA-May-7-2025.png\" alt=\"Circular bubble-like object in space, with clouds of gas and many stars in a bluish background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" class=\"size-full wp-image-511385\" srcset=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Teleios-supernova-remnant-zoomed-in-ASKAP-PASA-May-7-2025.png 800w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Teleios-supernova-remnant-zoomed-in-ASKAP-PASA-May-7-2025-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/05\/Teleios-supernova-remnant-zoomed-in-ASKAP-PASA-May-7-2025-768x511.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-511385\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View larger. | A zoomed-in view of Teleios from the galactic plane image above this one. Image via Filipovic et al.\/ Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia\/ arXiv.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Why is it so spherical?<\/h3>\n<p>Distance and size aside, there\u2019s still the question of why Teleios is so round. It\u2019s almost perfectly spherical. By nature, supernova remnants tend to be more asymmetrical. This means that the explosion itself was asymmetrical in shape. But if the explosion starts off more symmetrical, the expanding gas and dust could retain a spherical shape. This might be what happened with Teleios.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers still aren\u2019t quite sure what the answer is, though. It will require more study and analysis to find out. The paper says:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>All possible scenarios have their challenges, especially considering the lack of X-ray emission that is expected to be detectable given our evolutionary modelling. While we deem the Type Ia scenario the most likely, we note that no direct evidence is available to definitively confirm any scenario and new sensitive and high-resolution observations of this object are needed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Odd Radio Circles<\/h3>\n<p>This spherical curiosity brings to mind another kind of unusual cosmic sphere: the Odd Radio Circles (ORCs), first seen by Australian researchers in 2019. Interestingly, they are roughly circular and are only visible in radio wavelengths. They\u2019re much larger, however, about a million light-years across (16 times bigger than our Milky Way galaxy). Astronomers have found five of them so far, and released another study and images in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: An international team of astronomers has found an odd sphere in space. The almost perfectly round bubble-like object is most likely a supernova remnant.<\/p>\n<p>Source: Teleios (G305.4-2.2) \u2014 the mystery of a perfectly shaped new Galactic supernova remnant<\/p>\n<p>Via Science Alert<\/p>\n<p>Read more: Powerful supernovas led to at least 2 mass extinctions<\/p>\n<p>Read more: Odd radio circles perplex astronomers<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"cp-load-after-post\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"post-author\">\n<h4>Paul Scott Anderson<\/h4>\n<p>                    View Articles\n                  <\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-tags\">\n<h6 data-udy-fe=\"text_7c58270d\">About the Author:<\/h6>\n<p>Paul Scott Anderson has had a passion for space exploration that began when he was a child when he watched Carl Sagan\u2019s Cosmos. He studied English, writing, art and computer\/publication design in high school and college. He later started his blog The Meridiani Journal in 2005, which was later renamed Planetaria. He also later started the blog Fermi Paradoxica, about the search for life elsewhere in the universe.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nWhile interested in all aspects of space exploration, his primary passion is planetary science and SETI. In 2011, he started writing about space on a freelance basis with Universe Today. He has also written for SpaceFlight Insider and AmericaSpace and has also been published in The Mars Quarterly. He also did some supplementary writing for the iOS app Exoplanet.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nHe has been writing for EarthSky since 2018, and also assists with proofing and social media.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/space\/sphere-in-space-teleios-supernova-remnant-supernovas\/?rand=772280\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EarthSky\u2019s Will Triggs talks about the odd sphere in space. Video via EarthSky. Science matters. Wonder matters. You matter. Join our 2025 Donation Campaign today. Spherical objects are common in&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":796349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-796348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-sky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=796348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/796349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=796348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=796348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=796348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}