Plasma blobs observed blocking light from quasars and pulsars
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029020
New Scientist : As astronomers using the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia have scanned the skies for the faint signals from distant pulsars and quasars, they have noted sporadic interstellar interference that interrupts the radio emissions. Through the use of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array, those extreme scattering events have now been measured and found to consist of massive blobs of hot plasma about one astronomical unit in size and 100 times as dense as other areas of space. Several theories have been proposed as to what causes them, including supernova shock waves that compress regions of interstellar gas, the brushing up against each other of two regions of thin interstellar dust and gas, or the presence of nuggets of dark matter.
