Scrub the timeline to watch the Local Bubble - the roughly 1,000-light-year-wide cavity in space that surrounds the Sun today - grow from its first supernova to its current size, then click the real star-forming regions on its surface (and two nearby regions that are NOT on it) for their published figures.
Local Bubble Interstellar Cavity 3D Explorer
Scrub the timeline to watch the Local Bubble - the roughly 1,000-light-year-wide cavity in space around the Sun today - grow from its first supernova about 14 million years ago, then click its real star-forming regions to read each one's published figures.
Drag to orbit the view, scroll or pinch to zoom, and press Play or Pause to animate the timeline. Drag the slider to jump to any point in the bubble's 14-million-year history, click the Sun or any of the seven blue region markers to refresh the facts panel, and press "Show Perseus & Orion" to reveal two well-known regions that are commonly assumed to sit on this bubble's surface but, per the published research, actually belong to two separate structures.
The facts panel lists the real published totals: about 15 supernovae (published range 8-26) shaping the bubble over its 14-million-year history, the Sun drifting in from more than 1,000 light-years away about 5 million years ago, a current expansion speed of about 4 miles (about 6 km) per second, and interior gas roughly 1,000,000 K and at least 10 times thinner than the Milky Way's typical interstellar gas. A live supernova counter and a bubble-radius readout update as you scrub.
- A 14-million-year timeline showing the Local Bubble's growth from its first supernova to today, with a live supernova counter and radius readout
- Seven clickable, real published star-forming regions on the bubble's surface: Ophiuchus, Lupus, Pipe, Chamaeleon, Musca, Corona Australis, and the Taurus molecular cloud
- A toggle revealing two well-known nearby regions - the Perseus molecular cloud and the Orion complex - that are NOT on this bubble's surface, with the published reason why
- The Sun's own drift into the bubble, from more than 1,000 light-years away to inside it about 5 million years ago
- Runs fully in the browser with the vendored three.js engine - no account, no upload
Readers who assume every nearby star-forming region sits inside the Local Bubble get a direct, sourced correction here: Perseus and Orion, two of the most famous nearby star-nurseries, are NOT on this bubble's surface. Students and teachers use the timeline to see how a chain of supernovae millions of years apart can carve out a structure a thousand light-years wide, and where the Sun itself fits into that history.
| Quantity | Published value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter | About 1,000 light-years across | Zucker et al. 2022, Nature; CfA/Harvard-Smithsonian press release |
| Formed by | About 15 supernovae (published range 8-26) beginning about 14 million years ago | Zucker et al. 2022, Nature; Universe Today coverage |
| The Sun's path | Over 1,000 light-years away when the bubble began forming; drifted in about 5 million years ago | CfA/Harvard-Smithsonian press release, 2022-01-12 |
| Current expansion speed | About 4 miles per second (about 6 km/s) | Smithsonian Magazine, reporting the CfA press release |
| Interior gas | Roughly 1,000,000 K; density about 0.001-0.07 atoms/cm^3 depending on source and gas phase - at least 10x thinner than typical Milky Way gas | American Scientist; Frisch 1997; Berghofer & Breitschwerdt 2002 |
| Regions on the surface | 7 published: Ophiuchus, Lupus, Pipe, Chamaeleon, Musca, Corona Australis, Taurus | Zucker et al. 2022, Nature |
| Regions NOT on the surface | Perseus (Perseus-Taurus Shell, far side); Orion (Orion Shell / Orion-Eridanus superbubble intersection) | Zucker et al. 2022; Bialy et al. 2021; Universe Today coverage |
The whole scene renders on your device through WebGL: the vendored three.js engine loads once (about 0.7 MB) and then stays cached, so scrubbing the 14-million-year timeline or clicking a region marker never sends the scene or your position to a server. Because it runs in the page with no account and no upload, you can leave it open as a classroom demonstration and reload it offline once the engine is cached.
The scene is an educational approximation of a real astrophysical structure, not a physics simulation. The bubble's growth curve, the Sun's straight-line entry path, and the supernova counter are illustrative, paced to the real cited totals above rather than a precise chronology of individually dated events - and the seven on-surface markers sit at fixed, evenly-spread illustrative directions, not each region's real reconstructed galactic coordinates. The table above holds the real published figures.
For a step-by-step walkthrough, read the Local Bubble Interstellar Cavity how-to guide. The Space 3D collection also includes the Galactic Year - Sun's Orbit explorer for the Sun's much larger, galaxy-wide orbital motion around the Milky Way's center.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Local Bubble Interstellar Cavity 3D Explorer show?
The Local Bubble - a real, roughly 1,000-light-year-wide cavity in space that surrounds the Sun today, carved out by about 15 supernovae over the last 14 million years. Scrub the timeline or press Play to watch it grow, and click the region markers or the Sun to read the real published figures in the facts panel.
Is the Sun always inside the Local Bubble?
No. The Sun was more than 1,000 light-years away from the bubble's birthplace when the first supernovae went off about 14 million years ago, and its path through the galaxy only carried it into the bubble about 5 million years ago. The timeline's status line marks the moment it crosses in.
Which star-forming regions sit on the Local Bubble's surface?
Seven, per the published research (Zucker et al. 2022, Nature): Ophiuchus, Lupus, Pipe, Chamaeleon, and Musca (all part of the Scorpius-Centaurus association), plus Corona Australis and the Taurus molecular cloud. Click any of the seven blue markers on the scene for its published distance and role.
Are Perseus and Orion on the Local Bubble too?
No - despite being two of the most famous nearby star-forming regions, neither sits on this bubble's surface. Perseus sits on the far side of a separate, related structure (the Perseus-Taurus Shell), with Taurus on its near side. Orion sits at the intersection of two different superbubbles entirely (the Orion Shell and the larger Orion-Eridanus superbubble). Press "Show Perseus & Orion" to see both marked and read the sourced explanation.
How dense is the gas inside the Local Bubble?
Very thin. Published estimates for the hot interior gas range from about 0.001 to 0.07 neutral-hydrogen atoms per cubic centimeter depending on the source and which gas phase is measured - all sources agree it is at least about 10 times thinner than the Milky Way's typical interstellar gas, and roughly 1,000,000 K.
Is this a physics simulation of the real bubble?
No. The bubble's growth curve, the Sun's straight-line entry path, and the supernova counter are illustrative animations paced to match the real cited totals (the 14-million-year formation window, about 15 supernovae, 5 million years since the Sun's entry) - not a precise dynamical simulation or a chronology of individually dated events. The figures in the facts panel and the table on the main page are the real published values.