CRYSTALLOGRAPHY OF RARE GALACTIC HONEYCOMB STRUCTURE NEAR SUPERNOVA 1987A

Near supernova 1987a, the rare honeycomb structure of 20-30 galactic b ubbles measures 30 x 90 light years. Its remarkable regularity in bubb le size suggests a single-event origin which may correlate with the ne arby supernova. To test the honeycomb's regularity in shape and size, the formalism of statistical crystallography is developed here for bub ble sidedness. The standard size-shape relations (Lewis's law, Desch's law, and Aboav-Weaire's law) govern area, perimeter and nearest neigh bor shapes. Taken together, they predict a highly non-equilibrium stru cture for the galactic honeycomb which evolves as a bimodal shape dist ribution without dominant bubble perimeter energy.