09-28-2016, 08:05 PM
More mysterious hydrogen blobs have been discovered, much closer this time which allows a much better understanding of the phenomenon. Gemini North on Mauna Kea was used in the study.
http://www.gemini.edu/node/12570
One bit of the article caught my attention because it reminded me of something I learned many years ago which has stuck in my mind; the random walk of photons. In this case, the photons we detect may have spent hundreds of thousands of years bouncing around inside the blob before they escaped and were then detected by us millions or billions of years later. It means whatever created those photons might no longer exist once the photons leave the blobs.
Years ago, I learned that the random walk process meant that photons created in the center of our sun take roughly 100 thousand years from being created to escaping the sun's photosphere. Most people know (I hope) that sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach the earth, but wonder how many know that the light they see was created so long ago?
http://www.gemini.edu/node/12570
One bit of the article caught my attention because it reminded me of something I learned many years ago which has stuck in my mind; the random walk of photons. In this case, the photons we detect may have spent hundreds of thousands of years bouncing around inside the blob before they escaped and were then detected by us millions or billions of years later. It means whatever created those photons might no longer exist once the photons leave the blobs.
Years ago, I learned that the random walk process meant that photons created in the center of our sun take roughly 100 thousand years from being created to escaping the sun's photosphere. Most people know (I hope) that sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach the earth, but wonder how many know that the light they see was created so long ago?