“The find completely breaks our theory of the formation of the Universe, which can be called a catastrophic event for modern science. We still cannot believe our eyes and that we have found such a huge something. We do not know how it can exist at all”(Lajos Balatz).
Recently (August 2015), a group of Hungarian astrophysicists led by Professor Lajos Balac of Budapest Konkoy Observatory published a sensational article in the prestigious British Bulletin of the Royal Astronomical Society. It states that something difficult to imagine has been discovered in the vastness of the visible Universe - the Metagalaxy.
At a distance of seven light billion years (so much is required for a ray of light to overcome this cosmic abyss), a supergiant ring with a diameter of five billion light years is spread.
It consists of nine colossal "volcanoes of energy", spewing out bursts of gamma radiation into the surrounding space. By themselves, gamma rays are the closest relatives of X-rays - ultrashort electromagnetic waves that shine through us, taking pictures of internal organs during fluorography.
This astronomical discovery immediately caused a lot of controversy, because modern science does not know such the largest structures in the Universe. In general, this somehow does not even fit into the general principles of cosmology - the science of the Universe as a single organism.
According to generally accepted astronomical concepts, our Universe is rather homogeneous, and does not represent a "matryoshka" from some more and more complex formations nested into each other.
Previously, experts on large-scale galaxy clusters - cosmologists - believed that in our world there are cosmic structures no more than 1.5 billion light years long. Now they will have to revise their theories in many ways.
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Gamma-ray bursts are called super-bright fluxes of radiation, during which a monstrous energy is thrown into space in a few seconds, comparable to the radiation of the Sun during its entire existence - five billion years.
Astrophysicists in stellar physics believe that such catastrophic gamma-ray bursts of energy can occur during the collapse of massive stars tens of times larger than the Sun. At the same time, stellar colossus (they are called red giants) are rapidly collapsing under the load of the outer layers of the shell "inside themselves", turning into black holes of "bottomless holes" of space-time."
Riddles of gamma-ray bursts
The first skeptics who responded to the sensational discovery of Hungarian astronomers assumed that scientists simply met with a random distribution of objects in the universe. For example, so often the stars are located in the constellations, in fact, the stars are simply visible together "in one projection", but in reality they are not connected with each other in any way.
However, further research has shown that the probability of random location of gamma-ray burst sources is one chance in twenty thousand.
Apparently, scientists have discovered a mysterious universal "sphere", on the borders of which the emission of radiation occurs.
Many astrophysicists immediately recalled the old story, when, in 1967, a pair of NASA twin satellites of the Vela series recorded two pulses of gamma radiation at once. They did not in any way resemble traces of supernova explosions or solar flares. This is how a new branch of space physics arose, associated with the study of gamma-ray bursts, or, as they were called, gamma-bursters.
It soon became clear that the flares occurred in distant galaxies, about once a day the gamma sky was illuminated by gamma radiation from an unusual explosion. So far, no one knows the true causes of these explosions, or the distance at which they occur.
Even more striking is the map of thousands of such emissions, somewhat reminiscent of the fighting from Hollywood "Star Wars" …
An echo of the opposition of supercivilizations?
The first to dare to present to the scientific community his fantastic hypothesis of "galactic battle" was the Kharkov astronomer A. V. Arkhipov, known for his search for "lunar artifacts".
According to his version, gamma-ray flares resemble a series of short-term explosions of different power, and their size does not exceed tens of kilometers. In addition, the gamma-ray emission occurs within a compact volume - narrow and directional. In general, this is somewhat similar to a shot from a giant cannon, followed by a hit and destruction of the target.
A weighty argument in favor of his hypothesis, according to Arkhipov, is the fact that the power of the studied gamma-ray explosions are very close in magnitude and are, as it were, standardized for "space munitions." This is extremely rare in the galactic expanses, where the sizes of the same stars vary over a very wide range - from dwarfs to supergiants.
In our Milky Way Galaxy, traces of gamma-ray explosions can be found in a relatively narrow strip between the constellations Taurus and Ursa Major. Meanwhile, astronomers have not recorded any celestial bodies in this space that could carry such a gigantic store of energy.
All this, the Kharkov scientist sums up, is more reminiscent of some frontal battles of the space fleet, as science fiction writers describe them.
Hit the ground
More recently, archaeologists have also joined in the discussion of the "activity" of gamma-bursters. Exploring the cultural layers of the 8th century, they discovered traces of the most powerful cosmic gamma radiation in the wood of Japanese cedars in 774-775. Astrophysicists took over the baton of research from them, initially suggesting that a supernova explosion was the cause of the high level of isotopes in the tree crust.
However, this hypothesis was soon rejected, since no supernova remnants were found in the sky in the form of a gas and dust "shroud" with the remains of a star in the form of a white dwarf. So, scientists came to the conclusion that our planet was struck by a powerful gamma-ray impact, which came from somewhere from a distance of ten light millennia. Moreover, this cosmic cataclysm was hundreds of times larger than a supernova explosion and a million trillion times brighter than the Sun.
Although the 8th century gamma burst was extremely powerful, nothing is said about it in medieval chronicles. This is understandable: after all, the radiation was invisible, and medieval doctors attributed the subsequent spread of skin cancers to another mysterious pestilence.
Today, the consequences of such a "gamma shot" from distant space would be much more catastrophic. Along with the destruction of the ozone layer - this shield from cosmic radiation - the electronic equipment of many satellites would be severely damaged. Well, mankind for a long time would forget about beaches and sunbathing …
However, some ufologists gloomily predict that at any moment near the solar system a bloody battle may break out between alien starships, armed with monstrous "gamma-bombs". Then the earthlings really may not be good.
Dangers of the METI program
40 years ago the program "Messages to Extraterrestrial Civilizations" (METI) was born, and the first interstellar "telegram" left the Arecibo radio observatory in Puerto Rico in the direction of the constellation Hercules.
Since then, two dozen "space dispatches" have been sent into space at different addresses. And although none of them received an answer, even some ufologists express concern about such "noisy" behavior of earthlings in the Universe.
The discovery of new strange bursts of gamma radiation gave rise to the famous American science fiction writer Glen David Brin to declare that the transmission of signals may not so much lead to an alien invasion that requires a lot of forces and resources, but rather cause a "preventive" gamma strike from space. Alternatively, one or a series of "gamma shots" can immediately precede the landing of hostile aliens.
Brin and his associates believe that for now it is necessary to postpone the transmission of interstellar signals and give time for astrophysicists to understand in detail the nature of galactic gamma-ray bursters. Moreover, during this forced time-out, our civilization will become more mature and will receive some kind of protection from the expansion of "aliens".
Nevertheless, METI supporters in this case are united in opinion with the majority of astronomers, who usually view their activities with great irony. Together, they are actively proving that since gamma pulses are caused by natural causes, any targeting of interstellar radio signals is perfectly safe.
At the same time, their main argument is that the “era of radio” began more than a century ago and all close developed civilizations already know about our existence.
In many ways, such arguments do not stand up to criticism, since, according to the same Brin, the terrestrial radio noise resembles "walking in a space minefield." At any moment, a directed radio signal can reach the detectors of the "death star", a warring supercivilization, which, in the absence of the "friend or foe" code, will purely automatically respond with an oncoming "gamma shot".
And after a preemptive strike, the stellar aggressors themselves will go to the Earth, or they will send an automatic "berserker probe" that destroys all living things in its path.
Oleg FAYG