Outer space has always been a subject of fascination and awe for humans. People have questioned everything from how old the solar system is to where do stars come from. Through a NASA-funded sounding rocket, an answer to the question of where do the space's light that one can't see come from.
According to the recent studies, space is filled with light that can't be seen. Before the publication of the data last September 23, what is only known that this light manifests in the form of X-rays. Naturally, the probing question was where does it come from?
It wasn't until the flight of the DXL sounding rocket did we find out. The NASA-funded DXL sounding rocket is short for Diffuse X-ray emission from the Local galaxy. In a study published in the Astrophysical Journal, the data provides concrete evidence of existing theories of where the X-rays come from.
The first source of the X-ray emission was discovered in the late 1990s: the solar wind charge exchange. According to NASA, the process is as follows:
"Our sun is constantly releasing solar material in all directions, a flow of charged particles called the solar wind. Like the sun, the solar wind is made up of ionized gas, where electrons and ions have separated. This means that the solar wind can carry electric and magnetic fields."
"When the charged solar wind interacts with pockets of neutral gas, where the electrons and ions are still tightly bound together, it can pick up electrons from these neutral particles, exciting them. As these electrons settle back into a stable state, they lose energy in the form of X-rays - the same type of X-rays that had been thought to come from the Local Hot Bubble."
On the other hand, the Local Hot Bubble was only just a theorized source. According to scientists, the Local Hot Bubble was a huge bubble of hot ionized gas enveloping the solar system. The DXL sounding rocket discovered that only forty percent comes from the solar wind charge and the rest of X-rays could only come from the Local Hot Bubble.
Though the question of where do the regular X-ray emissions come from was answered, the DXL sounding rocket gave back more interesting data. It detected and analyzed X-ray emissions that registered at higher energy levels. This would be impossible for the solar wind charge and the Local Hot Bubble to emit.
The study of where the X-ray emissions come from is important because it gives enlightenment on what the structure around the universe is made up of.
"It helps us build better models of the interstellar material in our solar neighborhood," said Youaraj Uprety, lead author on the study.
