These are theorized to be produced by relativistic jets from a black hole in the galactic nucleus. Astronomical entities eject streams of matter along their axis or rotation. The energy comes from infalling matter (accretion disks). In the case of our sun, the accretion disk turned into planets and no longer powers strong polar jets.

In the case of active galactic nuclei, an incredible amount of energy is released as matter falls into the black hole. Particles are ejected at a significant fraction of the speed of light, transferring energy to the interstellar medium.

Galaxies moving quickly relative to an intergalactic medium can have helical trails, rather than bubbles. The jets precess (wobble) like the Earth or a top, which produces two helical paths. Tracing these paths is used as a tool to study cluster mergers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativistic_jet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_jet

I'm not sure you are talking about the same thing. These bubbles are thought to come from a black hole "eating" a star, and are a relatively recent result. You are talking about a long-known polar jet from an accretion disk.

See the article linked in my other comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3723535

EDIT: to clarify, the new result is a further development of the previous ideas.

A black hole pulls material off of the star it "eats", creating an accretion disk.

Artist's conception: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Accretion...

But you're right- the bubbles are not the jets themselves. The bubbles would be interstellar gas energized by the relativistic particles. As the gas diffuses, it spreads from the jet's cone into a large bubble.

Besides the black hole? Hmm.

We really need to get the James Webb telescope up there - if congress cancels that I will never forgive them.

This article is over a year old. See also

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27211/

... and yet, its information is just now reaching us across the vastness of the internet.

"The bubbles are just the natural x-ray results from the electromagnetic z-pinch nuclear effect in the middle of our galaxy."

From: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/02/image-of-the-da...

Not that I agree or disagree. It just seemed interesting from the Electric Universe perspective.

More discussion here: http://www.thunderbolts.info/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&...

Hehe very diplomatic seeding of EU theory.

I'm willing to shut up about EU if I get enough complaints. I barely understand the details. It's interesting though. I was curious about thorium reactors and ended up there after reading some James Hogan articles published on a private-property anarchist website. Who knew.

Question: could gamma rays such as these be collected to be used for energy consumption? Maybe a gamma engine? Hoping someone smarter than me can answer this theoretical q.

No.

While the individual energy of a single gamma ray can be very high the total energy flux of all of the gamma rays is quite low, many orders of magnitude less than the power available from ordinary sunlight. Also, it's very difficult to convert gamma rays into electrical power efficiently.

thanks. they were saying this stuff exists at billions of volts, thus my question.

Electron Volts are a unit of energy. It's basically the amount of energy that is released from a single electron travelling through an electric potential difference of one volt. Ten billion electron Volts is a lot of energy for a single particle but it is still one billionth of a single Joule.

Just to give you a perspective, one trillion electronvolts is the kinetic energy of a flying mosquito.

I wonder what impact these phenomena would or could have on planets like earth.

Gamma-ray bursts could destroy the ozone layer which filters the ultraviolet rays of the sun. Ultraviolet radiation could destroy all plants and make living on the surface unbearable.

It’s not an extinction level event but it’s pretty ugly .

>>It’s not an extinction level event but it’s pretty ugly .

Depends on the intensity, duration, & proximity of the radiation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst#Rates_and_poten...

Warrior Raiel.

Your mom?