[Pyrotex]

If the notion of dark energy sounds improbable, get ready for an even more outlandish suggestion.

Earth may be trapped in an abnormal bubble of space-time that is particularly void of matter. Scientists say this condition could account for the apparent acceleration of the universe's expansion, for which dark energy currently is the leading explanation.

Dark energy is the name given to the hypothetical force that could be drawing all the stuff in the universe outward at an ever-increasing rate. Current thinking is that 74 percent of the universe could be made up of this exotic dark energy, with another 21 percent being dark matter, and normal matter comprising the remaining 5 percent.

Until now, there has been no good way to choose between dark energy or the void explanation, but a new study outlines a potential test of the bubble scenario.

More here...

[Turtle]

Not sure if this is the same bubble or not, but the article popped this old post in(to) my caranium.

galactic plane

Originally Posted by americanscientist

...The sun is on the edge of what is sometimes called the Local Bubble, a great void in the distribution of interstellar gas in the nearby galactic neighborhood.

[Pyrotex]

Turtle, me lad!
Excellent association you've made here.
The "local bubble" has been in the literature for at least a decade, maybe two. This refers to the relative lack of gas and dust in our vicinity, has been accurately measured, and is generally blamed on either a supernova, or a cluster of hot blue stars having "cleared out" the area many millions of years ago. It's diameter extends a few tens of lightyears at most. It appears that the Sun accidently wandered into this "void" some time after it was formed.

I don't think the "cosmic bubble" is the same thing. To be effective at changing the ... let's say, "index of refraction" ... of a large enough volume around us, the relative paucity of matter would have to extend --- I'm just guessing here --- out past the nearest galaxies. Say, around 10,000,000 light years.