Mega-Stellar Nursery within Terragen Space

[Cray]

"The long, thin filament of gas is a whopping 9,000 light-years long and 400 light-years wide. It lies around 500 light-years from our Sun, which is relatively close by in astronomical distances."
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51021704

[stevebowers]

I'd really like to know where this structure is in comparison to the Terragen Sphere. It seems to be part of the Orion Spur, so is probably aligned with it; this implies that only one end of the structure is near Sol, and it might lay in the Cygnus or Vela direction (to spinward or to counterspinward, respectively).

[Drashner1]

I want to know what the MPA is going to do with it

Rather more seriously, barring protection by one or more Caretaker Gods, it seems unlikely that Terragens would just ignore such a large source of raw matter lacking a deep gravity well.

Todd

[Rakuen07]

It'd be interesting if there were a past conflict between the transapient factions such as the MPA, Caretaker Gods and the neighbors regarding the territory ownership and resource usage.

[stevebowers]

This filament, or 'wave', appears to have its closest segment to Sol in the Orion region, and extend from Canis Major towards Cygnus. Here's an interactive map of the sky showing where it is.
http://worldwidetelescope.org/webclient/...AS_Sky.WTT

Looks to me like it extends along much of the Orion Spur; it doesn't, however extend into MPA space. Most of it is in the Orion Federation, Solar Dominion, the Panvirtuality, and Cygexpa. It is much too diffuse to be claimed by a single empire.

[stevebowers]

This illustration gives an idea of what the Radcliffe Wave looks like in 3D.
   

The wave seems to extend along the Orion Spur, from Canis Major to Cygnus; the wave also extends above and below the galactic plane, in a serpentine shape that is about 500ly to rimward of Sol.
Source
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1874-z.epdf

[stevebowers]

One thing that this structure seems to clarify is why the Orion Spur is so dense to the south of the Galactic plane in the region of Orion. The major concentration of starbuilding clouds in our vicinity is located here, significantly further south than the rest of our local arm.

[stevebowers]

Nice 3d image here.

[stevebowers]

Revisiting one of my older maps, here is the Radcliffe Wave enhanced on an image of the Terragen Sphere