In 2008, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope announced the discovery of a huge planet orbiting the very bright star Fomalhaut, located just 25 light-years from Earth. Other researchers later questioned this discovery, saying that scientists had actually discovered a giant cloud of dust.
However, according to the latest data obtained from Hubble, the planet is being discovered again and again. Other experts are carefully studying the system surrounding the star, so the zombie planet may be buried more than once before a final verdict is made on this issue.
2. Zombie stars
Some stars literally come back to life in brutal and dramatic ways. Astronomers classify these zombie stars as Type Ia supernovae, which produce huge and powerful explosions, sending the “insides” of stars into the Universe.
Type Ia supernovae explode from binary systems that consist of at least one white dwarf—a tiny, superdense star that has stopped undergoing nuclear fusion. White dwarfs are "dead", but in this form they cannot remain in the binary system.
They can return to life, albeit briefly, in a giant supernova explosion, sucking the life out of their companion star or by merging with it.
3. Vampire stars
Just like the vampires from fiction, some stars manage to stay young by sucking the life force out of unfortunate victims. These vampire stars are known as “blue stragglers,” and they “look” much younger than the neighbors with whom they were formed.
When they explode, the temperature is much higher and the color is “much bluer.” Scientists believe this is the case because they are sucking huge amounts of hydrogen from nearby stars.
4. Giant black holes
Black holes may appear to be objects science fiction- they are extremely dense, and the gravity in them is so strong that even light is not able to escape from them if it approaches a close enough distance.
But these are very real objects that are quite common throughout the Universe. In fact, astronomers believe that supermassive black holes are at the center of most (if not all) galaxies, including our Milky Way. Supermassive black holes are mind-boggling in size.
5. Killer asteroids
The phenomena listed in the previous paragraph may be creepy or take an abstract form, but they do not pose a threat to humanity. The same cannot be said about large asteroids that fly close to Earth.
And even an asteroid only 40 m in size can cause serious harm if it hits locality. Probably the influence of the asteroid is one of the factors that changed life on Earth. It is assumed that 65 million years ago it was an asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs. Fortunately, there are ways to redirect dangerous space rocks away from Earth, if, of course, the danger is detected in time.
6. Active sun
The sun gives us life, but our star is not always so good. From time to time, serious storms occur on it, which can have a potentially destructive effect on radio communications, satellite navigation and the operation of electrical networks.
IN Lately Such solar flares are observed especially often because the sun has entered its particularly active phase of the 11-year cycle. The researchers expect that solar Activity will reach its peak in May 2013.
Every year, scientists are increasingly faced with phenomena on our planet that they cannot explain. In the USA, near the city of Santa Cruz (California), there is one of the most mysterious places on our planet - the Preizer zone. It occupies only a few hundred square meters, but scientists believe that this is an anomalous zone. After all, the laws of physics do not apply here. So, for example, people of the same height standing on a completely flat surface will seem taller to one and shorter to the other. The anomalous zone is to blame. Researchers discovered it back in 1940. But after 70 years of studying this place, they were never able to understand why this was happening. In the center of the anomalous zone, George Preiser built a house in the early 40s of the last century. However, just a few years after construction, the house tilted. Although this shouldn't have happened. After all, it was built in compliance with all the rules. It stands on a strong foundation, all angles inside the house are 90 degrees, and the two sides of its roof are absolutely symmetrical to each other. They tried to level this house several times. They changed the foundation, installed iron supports, even rebuilt the walls. But the house returned to its previous position every time. Scientists explain this by the fact that in the place where the house is built, the earth's magnetic field is disturbed. After all, even the compass here shows absolutely opposite information. Instead of north it indicates south, and instead of west - east. Another curious property of this place: people cannot stay here for a long time. After just 40 minutes of being in the Preiser zone, a person experiences an inexplicable feeling of heaviness, his legs become weak, he feels dizzy, and his pulse quickens. Long stay may cause sudden heart attack. Scientists cannot yet explain this anomaly, one thing is known that such a terrain can have a beneficial effect on a person, giving him strength and vital energy, and destroy it. Researchers of the mysterious places of our planet in recent years have come to a paradoxical conclusion. Anomalous zones exist not only on Earth, but also in space. And it is possible that they are interconnected. Moreover, some scientists believe that our entire solar system is a kind of anomaly in the Universe. Having studied 146 star systems that are similar to our solar system, researchers found out: the larger the planet, the closer it is to its star. Closer to the luminary is the most big planet, then smaller ones follow, and so on. However, in our solar system everything is just the opposite: the most major planets– Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are on the outskirts, and the smallest are located closest to the Sun. Some researchers even explain this anomaly by saying that our system was allegedly artificially created by someone. And this someone specially arranged the planets in such an order to make sure that nothing happened to the Earth and its inhabitants. For example, the fifth planet from the Sun - Jupiter - is the real shield of planet Earth. The gas giant is in an orbit that is atypical for such a planet. It’s as if it’s specially positioned to serve as a kind of cosmic umbrella for the Earth. Jupiter acts as a kind of “trap”, intercepting objects that would otherwise fall on our planet. Suffice it to recall July 1994, when fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy crashed into Jupiter at tremendous speed, the area of the explosions was then comparable to the diameter of our planet. In any case, science now relates to the issue of searching and studying anomalies, as well as trying to meet other intelligent beings already serious. And it bears fruit. So, suddenly scientists made an incredible discovery - there are two more planets in the solar system. An international group of astronomers recently published even more sensational research results. It turns out that in ancient times our Earth was illuminated by two suns at once. This happened about 70 thousand years ago. On the outskirts solar system a star appeared. And our distant ancestors, who lived in the Stone Age, could observe the radiance of two heavenly bodies at once: the Sun and a foreign guest. Astronomers called this star, which tours alien planetary systems, Scholz's star. Named after the discoverers Ralf-Dieter Scholz. In 2013, he first identified it as a star belonging to the class of closest to the Sun. The size of the star is equal to one tenth of our Sun. How much time celestial body stayed on a visit to the solar system, it is not known for sure. But in this moment Scholz's star, according to astronomers, is located at a distance of 20 light years from Earth, and continues to move away from us. Astronauts talk about many anomalous phenomena. However, often their memories long years hide. People who have been in space are reluctant to reveal the secrets they witnessed. But sometimes astronauts make statements that become a sensation. Buzz Aldrin is the second person after Neil Armstrong to set foot on the moon. Aldrin claims that he observed space objects of unknown origin long before his famous flight to the Moon. Back in 1966. Aldrin then made his exit to open space, and his colleagues saw some unusual object next to him - a luminous figure of two ellipses, which almost instantly moved from one point in space to another. If only one astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, had seen the strange luminous ellipse, then this could be attributed to physical and psychological overload. But the luminous object was spotted by the command post controllers. The American Space Agency officially admitted in July 1966: the objects that the astronauts saw were impossible to classify. They cannot be classified as phenomena explainable by science. The most surprising thing is that all the cosmonauts and astronauts who have been in Earth orbit mentioned strange phenomena in space. Yuri Gagarin repeatedly said in interviews that he heard beautiful music in orbit. Cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, who visited space three times, said that he clearly heard a dog barking and a child crying. Some scientists believe that for millions of years the entire space of the solar system has been under the careful supervision of extraterrestrial civilizations. All the planets of the system are under their control. And these cosmic forces are not only observers. They save us from cosmic threats, and sometimes from self-destruction. March 11, 2011, 70 kilometers from east coast Japanese island An earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale occurs in Honshu - the strongest in the entire history of Japan. The center of this destructive earthquake was in the Pacific Ocean, at a depth of 32 kilometers below sea level, so it caused a powerful tsunami. Huge wave it took only 10 minutes to walk to the largest island in the archipelago, Honshu. Many Japanese coastal cities were simply washed away from the face of the Earth. But the worst happened the next day - March 12. In the morning, at 6:36 a.m., the first reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant exploded. A radiation leak has begun. Already on this day, at the epicenter of the explosion, the maximum permissible level of pollution was exceeded 100 thousand times. The next day, the second block exploded. Biologists and radiologists are sure: after such huge leaks, almost the entire globe should be infected. After all, already on March 19 - just a week after the first explosion - the first wave of radiation reached the shores of the United States. And according to forecasts, the radiation clouds were then supposed to move further... However, this did not happen. Many at that moment believed that a catastrophe on a global scale was avoided only thanks to the intervention of some inhuman, or rather extraterrestrial, forces. This version sounds like science fiction, like a fairy tale. But if you trace the quantity anomalous phenomena, which the residents of Japan observed in those days, one can draw a striking conclusion: the number of UFOs seen was greater than in the last six months around the world! Hundreds of Japanese photographed and filmed unidentified luminous objects in the sky. Researchers are absolutely sure that the radiation cloud, which was not unexpected for environmentalists, and contrary to weather forecasters, dissipated only due to the activity of these strange objects in the sky. And there were many such amazing situations. In 2010, scientists experienced a real shock. They decided that they had received the long-awaited answer from their brothers in mind. The American Voyager spacecraft could become a liaison with the aliens. It was launched towards Neptune on September 5, 1977. On board it was both research equipment and a message for extraterrestrial civilization. Scientists hoped that the probe would pass near the planet and then leave the solar system. This carrier plate contained general information about human civilization in the form of simple drawings and audio recordings: greetings in fifty-five languages of the world, children's laughter, sounds of wildlife, classical music. At the same time, the then-current American President, Jimmy Carter, personally participated in the recording: he addressed the extraterrestrial intelligence with a call for peace. For more than thirty years, the device broadcast simple signals: evidence of the normal functioning of all systems. But in 2010, Voyager’s signals changed, and now it was not the aliens who needed to decipher the information from the space traveler, but the creators of the probe themselves. First, the connection with the probe was suddenly lost. Scientists decided that, after thirty-three years of continuous operation, the device simply malfunctioned. But literally a few hours later, Voyager came to life and began broadcasting very strange signals to Earth, much more complex than they had been before. At the moment, the signals have not been deciphered. Many scientists are confident that the anomalies that lurk in every corner of the Universe are, in fact, just a sign that humanity is just beginning its long journey to understanding the world.
April 12 marks the 56th anniversary of the appearance of man in space. Since then, astronauts regularly report incredible stories that happened to them in space. Strange sounds that cannot propagate in airless space, inexplicable visions and mysterious objects are present in the reports of many astronauts. Next, the story will talk about something for which there are no clear explanations yet.
A few years after the flight, Yuri Gagarin attended one of the concerts of the popular VIA. Then he admitted that he had already heard similar music, but not on Earth, but during a flight into space.
This fact is all the more strange, since before Gagarin’s flight electronic music did not yet exist in our country, and it was precisely this melody that the first cosmonaut heard.
People who visited space later experienced similar sensations. For example, Vladislav Volkov spoke about strange sounds that literally surrounded him while in space.
“The earthly night flew below. And suddenly from that night came... the barking of a dog. And then the baby’s crying became clearly audible! And some voices. It’s impossible to explain all this,” is how Volkov described the experience.
The sounds followed him almost the entire flight.
American astronaut Gordon Cooper said that while flying over the territory of Tibet, he was able to see houses and surrounding buildings with the naked eye.
Scientists gave the effect the name “increase in ground objects,” but scientific explanation There is no way yet to view something from a distance of 300 kilometers.
A similar phenomenon was experienced by cosmonaut Vitaly Sevastyanov, who said that while flying over Sochi he was able to see his own two-storey house, which caused controversy among optical specialists.
Candidate of technical and philosophical sciences, test cosmonaut Sergei Krichevsky first heard about inexplicable space visions and sounds from his colleague, who spent six months on the Mir orbital complex.
When Krichevsky was preparing for his first flight into space, a colleague told him that while in space a person can be subject to fantastic daydreams, which were observed by many astronauts.
Literally, the warning was as follows: “A person undergoes one or more transformations. Transformations at that moment seemed to him a natural phenomenon, as if it should be so. All astronauts have different visions...
... One thing is similar: those who have been in such a state identify a certain powerful flow of information coming from outside. None of the astronauts can call this a hallucination - the sensations are too real.”
Later, Krichevsky called this phenomenon the “Solaris effect,” which was described by the author Stanislav Lemm, whose science fiction work “Solaris” quite accurately predicted inexplicable cosmic phenomena.
Although there is no clear scientific answer regarding the occurrence of such visions, some scientists believe that the occurrence of such inexplicable cases is due to exposure to microwave radiation.
In 2003, Yang Liwei, who became the first Chinese astronaut to travel into space, also witnessed the inexplicable.
He was on board the Shenzhou 5 when one night on October 16 he heard a strange sound outside, like a crash.
According to the astronaut, he had the feeling that someone was knocking on the wall of the spaceship in the same way as an iron ladle knocking on a tree. Liwei says that the sound did not come from outside, but also not from inside the spacecraft.
Liwei's stories have been called into question, since the propagation of any sound in a vacuum is impossible. But during Shenzhou's subsequent missions in space, two other Chinese astronauts heard the same knocking sound.
In 1969, American astronauts Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan and John Young were on dark side Moons, calmly removing craters. At that moment, they heard “an otherworldly, organized noise” coming from their headset.
“Cosmic Music” lasted for one hour. Scientists assumed that the sound arose due to radio interference between spacecraft, but could three experienced astronauts mistake ordinary interference for an alien phenomenon.
May 5, 1981 Hero Soviet Union Pilot-cosmonaut Major General Vladimir Kovalenok noticed something inexplicable in the window of the Salyut station.
“Many astronauts have seen phenomena that go beyond the experience of earthlings. For ten years I never spoke about such things. At that time we were over the area South Africa, moving in the direction Indian Ocean. I was just doing some gymnastic exercises when I saw an object in front of me through the porthole, the appearance of which I could not explain...
... I looked at this object, and then something happened that is impossible according to the laws of physics. The object had an elliptical shape. From the outside it seemed as if it was rotating in the direction of flight. After this, there was a kind of explosion of golden light...
... Then, one or two seconds later, there was a second explosion somewhere else and two spheres appeared, golden and very beautiful. After this explosion I saw white smoke. The two spheres never returned."
In 2005, American astronaut Leroy Chiao, commander of the ISS, led it for six and a half months. One day he was installing antennas 230 miles above the Earth when he witnessed the inexplicable.
“I saw lights that seemed to line up. I saw them flying and thought it looked terribly strange,” he later said.
Cosmonaut Musa Manarov spent a total of 541 days in space, of which one in 1991 was memorable for him more than others. On the way to space station“Mir” he managed to film a cigar-shaped UFO.
The video recording lasts two minutes. The astronaut said that this object glowed at certain moments and moved in a spiral in space.
Dr. Story Musgrave has six academic degrees, and in addition is a NASA astronaut. It was he who told a very colorful story about UFOs.
In a 1994 interview, he said: “I saw a snake in space. It is elastic because it had internal waves, and it followed us for quite a while. long period time. The more you spend in space, the more incredible things you can see there.”
Cosmonaut Vasily Tsibliev was tormented by visions in his sleep. While sleeping in this position, Tsibliev behaved extremely restlessly, he screamed, ground his teeth, and rushed about.
“I asked Vasily, what’s the matter? It turned out that he had enchanting dreams, which he sometimes mistook for reality. He could not retell them. He only insisted that he had never seen anything like this in his life,” said a colleague of the ship’s commander.
Six cosmonauts aboard the ISS, waiting for the arrival of Soyuz-6, observed translucent figures 10 meters high that accompanied the station for 10 minutes, and then disappeared.
Nikolai Rukavishnikov observed flares in the near-Earth outer space during a flight on board the Soyuz-10 spacecraft.
During his rest, he was in a darkened compartment with eyes closed. Suddenly he saw flashes, which at first he took for signals from a flashing light board, shining through his eyelids.
However, the scoreboard was on even light and its brightness was not sufficient to create the observed effect.
Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin recalled: "There was something there, close enough to us that we could see it."
“During the Apollo 11 mission on the way to the Moon, I noticed a light in the ship's window that seemed to move with us. There were several explanations for this phenomenon, another ship from another country, or it was panels that came off when we removed the rocket lander. But it wasn’t all that.”
“I feel absolutely convinced that we are face to face with something incomprehensible. I couldn’t classify what it was. Technically, the definition can only be “unidentified.”
James McDivitt made the first manned flight on June 3, 1965 on Gemini 4 and recorded: “I looked out the window and saw a white spherical object against the black sky. He abruptly changed the direction of his flight.”
McDivitt also managed to photograph a long metal cylinder. The Air Force command again resorted to a proven technique, announcing that the pilot had confused what he saw with the Pegasus 2 satellite.
McDivitt responded: “I report that during my flight I did see what some people call a UFO, namely an unidentified flying object.”
At the same time, many fellow astronauts also observed unidentified flying objects during flights.
They say that it is described in the archives of Roscosmos unusual story with the crew of the Soyuz-18 spacecraft, which happened in April 1975, was classified for 20 years. Due to a launch vehicle accident, the ship's cabin was shot off from the rocket at an altitude of 195 km and rushed towards the Earth.
The astronauts experienced enormous overloads, during which they heard a “mechanical, robot-like” voice that asked if they wanted to live. They didn’t have the strength to answer, then a voice said: We won’t let you die so that you can tell your people that you need to give up conquering space.
Having landed and climbed out of the capsule, the astronauts began to wait for rescuers. When night came, they lit a fire. Suddenly they heard a growing whistle and at the same time saw some luminous object in the sky, hovering right above them.
By the way, ISS cameras record unknown space objects with enviable regularity.
Cosmonaut Alexander Serebrov expressed his opinion on this issue: “There, in the depths of the Universe, no one knows what is happening to people. The physical condition is studied at the very least, but changes in consciousness are a dark forest. Doctors pretend that a person can be prepared for anything on Earth. In fact, this is absolutely not the case."
Vladimir Vorobyov, doctor medical sciences and senior Researcher center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, states the following: “But visions and other inexplicable sensations in space orbit, as a rule, do not torment the astronaut, but give him a kind of pleasure, despite the fact that they cause fear...
... It is worth considering that there is also a hidden danger in this. It is no secret that, after returning to Earth, most space explorers begin to experience a state of longing for these phenomena and at the same time experience an irresistible and sometimes painful craving to feel these states again.”
Space has always interested humanity, but it lifted the veil of its mystery some 60 years ago - it was then that people launched the first satellites and rockets, but this did not reduce its mystery, but rather gave rise to a lot of new questions and helped to discover very unusual phenomena, which will be discussed.
Galactic cannibalism– it turns out that the phenomenon of eating one’s own kind was not limited to our planet, but spread to the vast expanses of the galaxy. For example, Andromeda, located next to the Milky Way, eats its smaller neighbors, and inside it you can observe the remains of former “meals”. By the way, the Milky Way is currently active in the direction of the Dwarf spherical galaxy in Sagittarius.
Quasars- unusual beacons, the light of which hits us from the very edges of space and allows us to judge the period of the birth of the Universe, about times of chaos and instability. The energy released by quasars can be compared to that released simultaneously by several hundred galaxies. According to scientists, quasars are huge black holes that are located in the central part of distant galaxies and have variable radiation.
Dark matter– there is still no evidence of visibility or any recording of this phenomenon. There are only assumptions that the Universe contains places of concentration of dark matter (hidden mass or dark matter). The idea of the existence of such a phenomenon was prompted by the traceable discrepancy between the mass of objects of observation and the gravitational effects that they create.
Gravity waves– scientists call this the curvature of the continuum in space and time. This phenomenon was predicted by Einstein himself in his various theories gravity. The speed of movement of gravitational waves is equal to the speed of light, but it is very difficult to record them. Only waves produced by large-scale and irreversible changes in space, such as the merger of black holes or the collision of galaxies, are noticeable.
Vacuum energy– according to scientists, the vacuum of space is not so empty, and interstellar space contains virtual subatomic particles that can be destroyed and reborn. Thanks to them, space is filled with anti-gravity energy, which makes space objects and the entire cosmos move. Where exactly to go remains a mystery.
Microscopic black holes- the size of an atom, fill the Universe. This is the opinion of those scientists who doubt the theory big bang. Micro holes behave differently from their larger counterparts. They are invisibly connected to the fifth dimension, which allows them to influence time and space. It is extremely difficult to verify the existence of micro black holes; in the future it is planned to conduct research into this unexplained phenomenon using the Large Andron Collider.
Neutrino– neutrally charged elementary particles, having almost no own specific gravity. Due to their neutrality, particles can pass through the lead layer, since the interaction of neutrinos with matter is minimal. Thus, every second we ourselves and everything around us are pierced by 10^14 neutral particles emitted by the sun.
exoplanet- these are those planets that exist regardless of the Sun. As of 2010, scientists declared the existence of 452 exoplanets located in 385 planetary systems. The discovered exoplanets vary in size, from huge stars to small rocky objects. With the discovery of such a phenomenon as an exoplanet, scientists were able to confidently say that planetary systems in space are very common.
Microwave space background– the phenomenon was discovered in the 60s of the twentieth century. The space between stars has a weak background radiation - or cosmic microwave background radiation. Some believe that these are the consequences of the Big Bang, which became the beginning. It is the microwave cosmic background main fact, on which the Big Bang theory is based.
Antimatter– its particles oppose the ordinary world. Each negatively charged electron has a counterpart in antimatter - a positron, which has a positive charge. When a collision of 2 opposites occurs, they are destroyed, accompanied by the release of energy equal to their total mass. An antihydrogen atom (positron + antiproton) has already been obtained and scientists can study its properties. According to some futurists, the time will come when spaceships will be driven precisely by the energy of the collision of the antipodes.
Huge amounts of data are processed every day at observatories around the world. New discoveries are made regularly that can be very useful for science, but seem unremarkable ordinary people. However, some of the cosmic phenomena that astronomers have been able to observe in recent years are so rare and unexpected that they will surprise even the most ardent opponents of astronomy.
Ultradiffuse galaxies
This is what a rare space object looks like - an ultra-diffuse galaxyIt's no secret that the shapes of galaxies can vary greatly. But just a few years ago, scientists did not even suspect that so-called “fluffy” galaxies existed. They are very thin and contain very few stars. The diameter of some of them reaches 60 thousand light years, which is comparable to the size of the Milky Way, but they contain about 100 times fewer stars.
This is interesting: Using the giant Mauna Kea telescope located in Hawaii, astronomers discovered 47 previously unknown ultra-diffuse galaxies. There are so few stars in them that any outside observer, looking at the desired part of the sky, would see only emptiness there.
Ultradiffuse galaxies are so unusual that astronomers still cannot confirm a single guess about their formation. Perhaps these are simply former galaxies that have run out of gas. There is also an assumption that UDGs are simply pieces “broken off” from larger galaxies. Their “survivability” raises no less questions. Ultradiffuse galaxies were discovered in the Coma cluster - a region of space in which dark matter bubbles, and any normal galaxies are compressed by enormous speeds. This fact suggests that ultradiffuse galaxies acquired their appearance due to the crazy gravity in outer space.
The comet that committed suicide
As a rule, comets are tiny in size, and if they are very distant from Earth, they are difficult to observe even with the help of modern technology. Fortunately, there is also the Hubble Space Telescope. Thanks to him, scientists have recently witnessed a rare phenomenon– spontaneous disintegration of the comet’s nucleus.
It is worth noting that in reality, comets are much more fragile objects than they might seem. They are easily destroyed during any cosmic collisions or when passing through a gravitational field massive planets. However, comet P/2013 R3 disintegrated thousands of times faster than other similar space objects. It happened very unexpectedly. Scientists have found that this comet has been gradually disintegrating for a long time due to the cumulative impact sunlight. The sun illuminated the comet unevenly, thereby causing it to rotate. The intensity of rotation increased over time, and at one point the celestial body could not withstand the load and fell apart into 10 large fragments weighing 100–400 thousand tons. These pieces slowly move away from each other and leave behind a stream tiny particles. By the way, our descendants, if they wish, will be able to witness the consequences of this decay, because parts of R3 that did not fall on the Sun will still be encountered in the form of meteors.
A star is born
Over the course of 19 years, the young star's size and appearance have changed significantly. For 19 recent years Astronomers are able to watch as a small young star, called W75N(B)-VLA2, matures into a fairly massive and mature celestial body. The star, only 4,200 light years distant from Earth, was first noticed in 1996 by astronomers at the Radio Observatory in San Augustine, New Mexico. Observing it for the first time, scientists noticed a dense gas cloud that emanated from an unstable, barely born star. In 2014, the radioelectric telescope was again pointed towards W75N(B)-VLA2. Scientists decided to once again study the emerging star, which is already in its “teenage years.”
They were very surprised when they saw that in such a short period of time, by astronomical standards, the appearance of W75N(B)-VLA2 had changed noticeably. True, it evolved as experts predicted. Over the course of 19 years, the gas part of the star has been greatly stretched during its interaction with the colossal cluster. cosmic dust, surrounding cosmic body at the moment of its occurrence.
An unusual rocky planet with large temperature fluctuations
55 Cancri E is one of the most unusual planets, known to astronomers Scientists have dubbed a small cosmic body called 55 Cancri E a “diamond planet” due to the high carbon content in its depths. But recently, astronomers have identified another distinctive detail of this space object. The temperature on its surface can vary by as much as 300%. This makes this planet unique compared to thousands of other rocky exoplanets.
Because of its unusual position, 55 Cancri E completes a full circle around its star in just 18 hours. One side of this planet is always turned towards her, like the Moon towards the Earth. Considering that temperatures can range from 1100 to 2700 degrees Celsius, experts suggest that the surface of 55 Cancri E is covered with constantly erupting volcanoes. This is the only way to explain the unusual thermal behavior of this planet. Unfortunately, if this assumption is correct, 55 Cancri E cannot represent a giant diamond. In this case, we will have to admit that the carbon content in its depths was overestimated.
Confirmation of the volcanic hypothesis can be found even in our solar system. For example, Jupiter's moon Io is located very close to the gas giant. The gravitational forces acting on it turned Io into a huge red-hot volcano.
The most amazing planet - Kepler 7B
Kepler 7B is a planet whose density is approximately the same as that of polystyrene foam The gas giant called Kepler 7B is a cosmic phenomenon that surprises all astronomers. Firstly, experts were amazed when they calculated the size of this planet. It has a diameter 1.5 times larger than Jupiter, but weighs several times less. Based on this, we can conclude that the average density of Kepler 7B is approximately the same as that of expanded polystyrene.
This is interesting: If somewhere in the Universe there was an ocean in which such a giant planet could be placed, it would not drown in it.
And in 2013, astronomers were able to map the cloud cover of Kepler 7B for the first time. It was the first planet outside the solar system to be explored in such detail. Using infrared images, scientists were also able to measure the temperature on the surface of this celestial body. It turned out that it ranges from 800 to 1000 degrees Celsius. This is quite hot by our standards, but much colder than expected. The fact is that Kepler 7B is located even closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun. After three years of observations, astronomers were able to figure out the reason for the temperature paradox: it turned out that the cloud cover was quite dense, so it reflected most thermal energy.
This is interesting: One side of Kepler 7B is always shrouded in dense clouds, and on the other it constantly reigns clear weather. Astronomers do not know of any other similar planet.
The next triple eclipse of Jupiter will occur in 2032 We can observe eclipses quite often, but we do not understand how rare such phenomena are in the Universe.
A solar eclipse is an amazing cosmic coincidence. The diameter of our star is 400 times larger than that of the Moon, and it is approximately 400 times farther from our planet. It just so happens that the Earth is located in ideal location so that people can observe how the Moon obscures the Sun, and their contours coincide.
A lunar eclipse has a slightly different nature. We stop seeing our satellite when the Earth takes a position between the Sun and the Moon, blocking the latter from its rays. This phenomenon is observed much more often.
This is interesting: Both solar and lunar eclipses are magnificent, but the triple eclipse of Jupiter is much more impressive. In early January 2015, the Hubble Space Telescope was able to record the moment when three “Galilean” satellites gas giant– Io, Europa and Callisto, as if on command, lined up in one line in front of their “dad.” If we could be on the surface of Jupiter at this moment, we would witness a psychedelic triple eclipse.
Fortunately, the perfect harmony of satellite motion makes this phenomenon repeat itself, and scientists get the opportunity to predict it the exact date and time. The next triple eclipse of Jupiter will occur in 2032.
A colossal “nursery” of future stars
Astronomers have discovered a forming globular cluster of stars, in which so far there is only gas Stars often form groups or so-called globular clusters. Some of them include up to a million stars. Similar clusters are found throughout the Universe, only in our galaxy there are about 150 of them. Moreover, they are all quite old, so that astronomers cannot understand the mechanisms of formation of star clusters.
But 3 years ago, astronomers discovered a rare object - a forming globular cluster, which so far consists only of gas. This cluster is located in the so-called “Antennae” - two interacting galaxies NGC-4038 and NGC-4039, belonging to the constellation Raven.
The emerging cluster is 50 million light years away from Earth. It is a giant cloud with a mass 52 million times greater than the sun. Perhaps hundreds of thousands of new stars will be born in it.
This is interesting: When astronomers first saw this cluster, they compared it to an egg from which a chicken would soon hatch. In reality, the chicken probably “hatched” a long time ago, because in theory, stars begin to form in such areas after about 1 million years. But the speed of light is limited, so we can observe their birth only when they are real age has already reached 50 million years.
The significance of this discovery is difficult to overestimate. It is thanks to him that we begin to learn the secrets of one of the most mysterious processes in space. Most likely, it is from such massive gas regions that all the stunningly beautiful globular clusters are born.
Stratospheric observatory helped scientists solve the mystery of cosmic dust
All stars were once formed from cosmic dust NASA's sophisticated stratospheric observatory, used for infrared imaging, is located on board a state-of-the-art Boeing 747SP aircraft. With its help, scientists conduct hundreds of studies at altitudes from 12 to 15 kilometers. This layer of the atmosphere contains very little water vapor, so the measurement data is practically not distorted. This allows NASA scientists to get more accurate views of space.
In 2014, SOFIA immediately justified all the money spent on its creation when it helped astronomers solve a mystery that had been troubling their minds for decades. As you may have heard in one of their educational shows, all objects in the Universe are made of the smallest particles of interstellar dust - planets, stars, and even you and me. But it was not clear how tiny grains of stellar matter could survive, for example, supernova explosions.
Looking through the infrared lenses of the SOFIA observatory at the former supernova Sagittarius A, which exploded 100 thousand years ago, scientists found that dense gas regions around stars serve as shock absorbers for particles of cosmic dust. This is how they are saved from destruction and dispersion in the depths of the Universe under the influence of the most powerful shock wave. Even if 7-10% of dust remains around Sagittarius A, this will be enough to form 7 thousand bodies comparable in size to the Earth.
Bombardment of the Moon by Perseid meteors
Meteors constantly bombard the surface of the Moon The Perseids are a meteor shower that annually illuminates our sky from July 17 to August 24. The highest intensity of “star rain” is usually observed from August 11 to 13. The Perseids are observed by thousands of amateur astronomers. But they could see a lot more interesting things if they pointed the lens of their telescope at the Moon.
In 2008, one of the American amateurs did just that. He witnessed an unusual sight - constant impacts of cosmic rocks on the Moon. It should be noted that large blocks and small grains of sand bomb our satellite constantly, because there is no atmosphere on it in which they would heat up and burn from friction. The scale of the bombing increases many times by mid-August.
This is interesting: Since 2005, NASA astronomers have observed more than 100 such “massive space attacks.” They have collected a huge amount of data and now hope that they will be able to protect future astronauts or, what the hell, colonists of the Moon from bullet-shaped meteorite bodies, the appearance of which cannot be predicted. They are capable of breaking through a much thicker barrier than a spacesuit - the impact energy of a small pebble is comparable to the power of an explosion of 100 kilograms of TNT.
NASA even drew up detailed bombing plans. So if you ever want to take a vacation to the Moon, we recommend checking out the meteor hazard map, which updates every few minutes.
Huge galaxies produce far fewer stars than dwarf galaxies
The process of star formation occurs most rapidly in dwarf galaxies As the name implies, the size of dwarf galaxies on the scale of the Universe is very modest. However, they are very powerful. Dwarf galaxies are cosmic proof that what matters most is not their size, but the ability to manage them.
Astronomers have repeatedly carried out studies aimed at determining the rate of star formation in medium and large galaxies, but they only recently got to the smallest ones.
After analyzing data received from space Hubble telescope, who observed dwarf galaxies in the infrared, experts were very surprised. They found that stars form in them much faster than in more massive galaxies. Before this, scientists assumed that the number of stars directly depends on the amount of interstellar gas, but, as you can see, they were wrong.
This is interesting: Tiny galaxies are the most productive of all known to astronomers. The number of stars in them can double in just 150 million years - an instant for the Universe. In galaxies of normal size, such an increase in population can occur in no less than 2-3 billion years.
Unfortunately, on at this stage Astronomers do not know the reasons for such fertility of dwarfs. Note that in order to reliably determine the relationship between mass and star formation features, they would need to look back about 8 billion years. Perhaps scientists will be able to unlock the secrets of dwarf galaxies when they discover many similar objects at different stages of development.
400 years ago, the great scientist Galileo Galilei created the first telescope in history. Since then, studying the depths of the Universe has become an integral part of science. We live in an age of incredibly rapid scientific and technological progress, when important astronomical discoveries are done one after another. However, the more we study space, the more questions arise that scientists cannot answer. I wonder if people will one day be able to say that they know everything about the Universe?
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