Thursday, November 10, 2011

Astronomers Find Ancient, Pure Interstellar Gas

Science magazine reports this week that two clouds of interstellar gas have been found accidentally, and these clouds contain only hydrogen and deuterium. The gas was analyzed by means of quasars, which produce light which shined through the clouds and was analyzed in a manner revealing the elements contained in the gases. Discovery also summarized this report.

All other gas clouds in outer space contain trace amounts of other elements, particularly metals, which were formed in stars. But, uniquely, these two clouds are untainted by the heavier elements on the periodic table. All other clouds of interstellar gas contain trace elements of other elements, such as carbon, nitrogen, silicon or iron. The clouds are located 12 billion light-years from Earth in the constellations Ursa Major and Leo.

The big bang theory states that the lightest elements (hydrogen, helium, lithium and deuterium (which is hydrogen with a neutron in its nucleus) formed minutes after the universe was created, although no pristine clouds had ever been found of these gases before now. The trace elements of all other known interstellar gas clouds were made inside stars millions or even billions of years after the universe was formed..

A search for additional gas clouds of hydrogen and deuterium is underway.

Summarized by the blog author from: http://news.discovery.com/space/big-bang-gas-stars-111110.html

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