After spending yesterday at home sick, missing my daily web reading and other stuff, I was delighted to see that astronomers found a double helix in space. It has been dubbed a "DNA nebula," and it is the first known extraterrestrial example of such a geometry. From the article at SPACE.com:
Magnetic forces at the center of the galaxy have twisted a nebula into the shape of DNA, a new study reveals.
The double helix shape is commonly seen inside living organisms, but this is the first time it has been observed in the cosmos.
"Nobody has ever seen anything like that before in the cosmic realm," said the study’s lead author Mark Morris of UCLA. "Most nebulae are either spiral galaxies full of stars or formless amorphous conglomerations of dust and gas—space weather. What we see indicates a high degree of order."
These observations, made with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, are detailed in the March 16 issue of the journal Nature.
The article continues to explain some of the physics in forming such a nebula. It’s fascinating, and it makes me wish for a career change again.
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