EntranceUnexplained phenomena on earth and in space. Very rare cosmic phenomena witnessed by astronomers
On April 24, 1990, the Hubble Orbital Telescope was launched. People have always been drawn to space, and when it became known that stars are real objects in the vast expanses of space, the thirst for knowledge began to play with redoubled force. But often discoveries bring only more and more mysteries, and astronomers conduct long discussions, trying to somehow explain the new questions presented to the Universe.
Infinity sign in space. In the central part of the Milky Way, you can see a gas and dust structure in the form of a twisted loop, the length of which is about 600 light years.
Parts of the structure made of gas at a temperature of -258.15 degrees Celsius form a figure eight - a symbol of infinity. Astronomers cannot explain the shape and nature of this structure.
What leads astronomers even more into a dead end is that the center of “infinity” does not coincide with the center of the Galaxy, but is slightly shifted relative to it, which contradicts known scientific laws.
Expansion of the Universe. Scientists at the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Beijing, Tu Zhong Liang and Cai Gen Rong, have proven that the Universe is evolving heterogeneously: some parts of it are developing much faster than others.
Experts believe that with the help of the theory of heterogeneity of the Universe it will be possible to explain the hypothetical existence of parallel worlds.
Removal of the Earth from the Sun. The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is 1.496×1011 meters. Previously, it was believed that this distance is constant, but back in 2004, Russian astronomers discovered that the Earth is gradually moving away from the Sun by about 15 cm per year.
Scientists cannot answer why this happens. If the rate of Earth's retreat does not change, then the “freezing” of the planet will occur in hundreds of millions of years. But what if the speed suddenly increases?..
Where are the Pioneers flying? The interplanetary probes Pioneer 10 (launched in 1972) and Pioneer 11 (1973) were the first spacecraft, launched so far.
Having completed the planned programs, the probe equipment transmitted information for many years to come. In November 1995, Pioneer 11, having moved 6.5 billion km from the Sun, stopped communicating. Signals from Pioneer 10, which moved 12 billion kilometers from Earth, were received until January 2003.
The probes can no longer be seen from Earth. It became known that the probes are moving away from solar system slower than expected. They are subject to an incomprehensible braking force that scientists cannot explain.
Water on Mars. Experts believe that in the early stages of Mars' history, 3.8 - 3.5 billion years ago, the climate on the planet was warmer and wetter, and the northern hemisphere was an ocean.
Martian channels on the Chrysos Planitia may indicate that there may be lakes of liquid water and underground springs a few meters below the surface.
“Monolith” on Phobos. On the Martian satellite there is a very mysterious object called "Monolith", approximately 76 meters high. NASA astronaut Edwin Eugene Aldrin, who was the second to set foot on the moon in 1969, was the first to notice it.
The tower or dome-like object was discovered in 1998 in images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor research station. The "monolith" rises on the side facing Mars.
NASA has not commented on the presence of the artifact on Phobos. Many serious scientists believe that the Monolith is an artificial structure.
Black planet. In 2006, astronomers discovered a black exoplanet whose surface reflects less than 1% of the light from the star it orbits. At the same time, it is always turned to the star with one side.
The planet almost completely absorbs light instead of reflecting it, and the temperature of its atmosphere is more than a thousand degrees Celsius.
The planet was explored using the Kepler telescope, but scientists still cannot solve its mystery.
Sedna- our neighbor in the solar system, was discovered on November 14, 2003. Some astronomers consider it the 10th planet in the solar system.
The distance from Sedna (NASA artistic depiction) to the Sun is three times greater than from the Sun to Neptune, but most of the planet's orbit is further away.
In 2076, Sedna will pass perihelion, the point in its orbit closest to the Sun.
Great attractor. This gravitational anomaly is located in intergalactic space at a distance of 250 million light years.
The mass of the object is tens of thousands of times greater than the mass of the entire Milky Way. Scientists believe that it is here that the chance of the existence of another civilization is very high.
New moon of Saturn. Not long ago, a new moon began to form around Saturn.
One could watch how natural satellite formed on one of the ice rings and scientists cannot understand what was the impetus for this.
Radio signals from space. More than ten years ago, fast discrete radio pulses were received from space. Intergalactic bursts of radio emissions have been tried to be explained in different ways; there is also a theory that they may be of a technological nature.
Many scientists believe that these fast radio pulses could be used by extraterrestrial civilizations as a means to accelerate their spacecraft.
“We do not know of any astronomical object capable of generating such a level of radio emissions with such a level of brightness, tens of billions of times greater than the brightness level of the same powerful pulsars known to us,” the scientists say.
“Construction” on the star. The star KIC 8462852, called "Tabby", has attracted the attention of astronomers due to its strange properties: the nature of the reflected light may indicate that real construction work is being carried out around the star.
The possibility of the existence of a highly developed extraterrestrial civilization engaged in the construction of structures for the accumulation of stellar energy was stated by Tabetha Boyajian, the lead author of the NASA study.
Magnetic field of the Moon. For many thousands of years, the Moon did not have its own magnetic field, but a recent study showed that this was not always the case: about four billion years ago, the moon's molten core suddenly began to rotate in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the mantle surrounding this core.
The Moon turned out to be capable of generating a magnetic field much stronger than on Earth. Currently, none of the scientists understands how such a small celestial body could develop such magnetic activity.
This field lasted for quite a long time, perhaps due to the constant meteorite bombardment, which fueled lunar magnetism. Many believe that the phenomenon is artificial in nature.
The mysterious island of Titan. Saturn's largest moon, Titan, closely resembles the primordial Earth, with its atmosphere, materials and possibly geological activity.
In 2013, the Cassini spacecraft, while exploring the satellite, discovered a completely new piece of land on its surface, which unexpectedly appeared in the second largest sea of Titan - Ligeria Mare.
Soon after this, the “mysterious island” also suddenly disappeared into the translucent methane-ethane sea. Then it appeared again, but already increased in size.
Black holes. Scientists believe that black holes are formed when a giant star collapses: the explosion in a relatively small space causes a gravitational field of such intensity that even the surrounding light is affected by it.
However, practically scientists have not seen any of the Black Holes. We can only guess what it really is.
Dark matter- another one of the main mysteries for modern astronomers. Understanding what exactly it is means actually revealing the secret of the Universe, which consists of 27% dark matter.
Space is truly mysterious place. There is always something extremely unusual happening in the Universe, so it is not surprising that it is full of secrets that we long to uncover. Since the earliest days of space exploration, astronauts and ground-based researchers have encountered a number of incredible phenomena. From UFOs to mysterious glows, there is always something unexplained outside the atmosphere of our planet right in the middle of the limitless vacuum. 
Is there intelligent life in the Universe besides us? How to explain the strange events that we manage to register with our still insufficiently advanced instruments? There are many more questions, but scientists are now only at the beginning of the thorny path of exploring our world. Do you want to know about 25 interesting cases from their practice?
25. Knock in a Chinese spacecraft, the origin of which was never clarified
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
Taikonaut (participant of the Chinese space program) Yang Liwei was the first person whom the Chinese authorities sent into space on the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. During his 21-hour flight, the hero cosmonaut heard a strange noise, as if someone was knocking on the skin of his ship from outside. The pilot was never able to determine the source of the mysterious sound, and none of the Chinese experts were also able to offer a sufficiently convincing version of the nature of what happened. Some believe that it was all about the ship's reaction to the influence of the space environment. The ship's hull probably contracted and expanded, emitting the sounds that disturbed Liwei.
24. NASA astronaut Story Musgrave saw space eels
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
When American astronaut Story Musgrave was on his next space mission, he allegedly saw some mysterious objects resembling the shape of wriggling eels. The astronaut claims to have seen them twice. Experts are sure that it was some kind of space debris, but Musgrave continues to stand his ground - it was something else...
23. Apollo astronauts said they saw strange flashes of light in space.
Photo: NASA on The Commons / flickr
Many scientists who took part in the flight spaceship Apollo 11 and subsequent launches within the same program (lunar missions Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, 17), claim that they saw strange flashes of light in space. The astronauts stated that the glow was visible even when they closed their eyes, and that it was white, blue or yellow. Scientists believe that such visions were caused by contact with cosmic rays ( elementary particles and atomic nuclei moving with high energies in outer space).
22. American astronauts aboard the ISS saw a strange orange glow
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
On her first flight to the ISS, Samantha Cristoforetti, the third female astronaut of the European Space Agency and the first female astronaut of the Italian Space Agency, saw something very strange. As she approached the station, she noticed that the ISS was glowing with an unusual blood-orange light. No one has been able to explain this phenomenon.
21. Major Gordon Cooper claims he saw a strange green ball in space
As a member of the Mercury space program, Major Gordon Cooper orbited the Earth in an orbital capsule. According to the astronaut, during his mission he saw a green sphere confidently approaching him, and then suddenly disappeared. At the same time, the equipment of the Australian Center for Deep Space Communications registered an unusual signal. Coincidence?
20. NASA astronauts deliberately started a fire on board the ISS
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
Of course, the last thing you want to see on board a spacecraft as a passenger is a fire. However, NASA decided that there would still be fire in space. In fact, this idea had purely scientific goals - the researchers wanted to observe the behavior of the flame in microgravity conditions. What's the lesson? Firstly, in such unusual conditions the fire takes the form of a sphere or drop. Secondly, flames usually follow the source of air from ventilation systems, rather than simply rising upward under any circumstances, as is most often the case on Earth. Scientists plan to conduct several more similar experiments to learn more about how fires spread, how quickly they can ignite, and which materials pose the greatest risk to astronauts in the event of an uncontrolled fire on board.
19. Astronauts flew into space, taking with them an unusual companion - an earthly bacterium
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
Living organisms in space behave differently than on our planet. Bacteria in this case are no exception. Astronaut Cheryl Nickerson was tasked with taking a sample of salmonella into space, and the bacteria spent 11 days in space. Upon returning to Earth, the bacterium was quickly injected into a test mouse to test how an infection with salmonella would proceed if it survived the journey through space. Typically, mice sick with salmonellosis die after 7 days, but laboratory animals that were infected with “cosmic” bacteria died 2 days earlier and from a smaller dose. Similar experiments were carried out with other bacteria, but the results were always unpredictable and ambiguous. To date, scientists still have not figured out exactly how to fly beyond earth's atmosphere and return back affect various microorganisms.
18. While flying around the moon, participants in the Apollo 10 mission heard strange music
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
When the astronauts orbiting the Moon were at their furthest point from us, they heard sounds that were later called “the music of outer space.” At that moment, they had no connection with the flight center in Houston, and the astronauts were completely cut off from the rest of the world. Upon returning home, none of the mission participants spoke about what had happened, but a few years later, on the recordings of their flight, scientists heard a low-frequency whistling noise of unknown origin...
17. Neil Armstrong may have seen aliens on the Moon
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
You may doubt this, of course, but it is rumored that Neil Armstrong sent NASA a secret message in which the pioneer claimed that during his legendary mission he met with an extraterrestrial civilization. In a classified report, the astronaut wrote something like this: “They are watching us with reverse side Moons! Armstrong himself denies all this.
16. Mysterious flashes of light from space that no astronomer can explain
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
This phenomenon was discovered in February 2007. At the same time, these mysterious flashes of an unknown nature were called “fast radio bursts,” which last only a few milliseconds. Scientists do not yet know what kind of radio pulses these are, or what exactly provokes their occurrence. There are several theories, including the theory that these flares are somehow related to neutron stars, black holes, or even aliens.
15. Astronauts who spend a lot of time on a mission grow taller
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
One of the interesting effects of a relatively long stay in space is the change in the height of astronauts. Due to the influence of microgravity, the spine does not experience the usual load and pressure, as it does in the conditions of earth's gravity at home. Therefore, upon returning home, the astronauts seem to “stretch out” by about 3% of their height. However, over time, the previous growth returns, and the same force of attraction is to blame for this.
14. At a distance of 10.7 billion light years from Earth, a real cosmic cataclysm occurred
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
While we float around in our cozy galaxy, something frightening regularly happens in the Universe... For example, researchers recently detected a sudden burst of X-ray radiation at a distance of about 10.7 billion light years from Earth. Astronomers believe that this was some kind of extremely destructive phenomenon that can be compared to a cosmic cataclysm. The energy released by the burst was a thousand times more powerful than the energy that all the stars in our galaxy are capable of releasing! No one yet knows what kind of event this was, or what caused it, and whether any special consequences await us.
13. A Russian cosmonaut saw a mysterious finger-sized object through the window.
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
During a mission on board orbital station Salyut-6 Russian cosmonaut, Colonel General Vladimir Kovalyonok, saw an object in space the size of an ordinary finger. While the astronaut was examining this strange object, trying to understand what it was, the mysterious thing exploded and split into 2 parts. The golden fragments disappeared as soon as they fell into the shadow of the Earth.
12. The Milky Way has a rather “bloodthirsty” past
Photo: NASA.gov/commons.wikimedia.org
Using the Hubble Orbital Telescope research fellows NASA has discovered an interesting phenomenon of “galactic cannibalism” from our home – the Milky Way. American astronomers came across this phenomenon as they studied 13 stars on the outer edge of our galaxy's halo to better understand exactly how the Milky Way formed. According to experts, our galaxy is growing over time, and this is happening by eating smaller star clusters.
11. During the flight of the reusable space shuttle Atlantis as part of the STS-115 program, the shuttle collided with a UFO
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
During the STS-115 mission, the Atlantis spacecraft was hit by a small undefined object. The astronauts even had to conduct a full check of the ship to make sure that it was not damaged and could continue its mission. According to experts from NASA, it was just some kind of space debris or a wandering piece of ice. Of course, there were those who were sure that such statements were just a cover, and that something more significant happened in space then.
10. Leroy Chiao saw strange flashes of light in space, appearing out of nowhere.
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
During his next mission, American astronaut Leroy Chiao saw five bright lights in the direction opposite to the Sun. According to the researcher, he was amazed by what he saw to the core, and he could not understand what kind of luminous objects they were, or where they came from. The astronaut claims that the lights flew very quickly and in a certain order, except for the second one. Later, scientists from NASA tried to understand what happened, but they did not go further than theories. These were probably some reflections from the Earth.
9. One very distant quasar has incredible huge stock water
Photo: NASA.gov
About 12 billion light-years from Earth, one of the quasars (active galactic nucleus) we discovered is believed to contain a huge reservoir of water, the mass of which is estimated to be 140 trillion times greater than the mass of water in all of Earth's oceans. Water itself in space is not that uncommon. However, in this case, the researchers were amazed at how much water was concentrated in one place.
Photo: Scott Kelly
American astronaut Scott Kelly likes to share his impressions of flights in in social networks. In one of his tweets, the scientist posted a photograph of India taken from space. However, the most interesting thing in this picture was not our planet. In the corner of this photo, users noticed 2 strange white lights. Many immediately believed that this was new evidence of the existence of UFOs and aliens, although experts were unable to establish the nature of the mysterious objects. It could be a flying saucer, or just a flare on the lens.
7. After a long stay in space, researchers' eyes become deformed.
Photo: www.theguardian.com
Astronauts who have been on a mission for too long (more than a month) sometimes begin to complain about their vision upon returning home. According to a new study, many astronauts experience certain changes in the eyeball due to long-term exposure to microgravity. The deformity also affects the optic nerve and pituitary gland. This condition is closely related to intracranial hypertension (increased pressure in the cranial cavity).
6. ISS cameras captured an object that closely resembles a ship “ Millennium Falcon»
Photo: Kory Westerhold / flickr
Enthusiast Jadon Beeson is passionate about everything related to space and astronaut activities. During one of the live broadcasts from a NASA video camera installed on the ISS, a man saw something very strange. According to Beeson, it was a pair of lights illuminating an object whose outline reminded him very much of the fictional ship Millennium Falcon from the famous TV show Star Wars. The enthusiast took a photo of this moment of the broadcast and sent it to NASA experts. There was no explanation from them.
5. There is still a ninth planet in our solar system
You've probably heard more than once that in 2006 Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet from the honorary ninth planet of the solar system. However, the title of the ninth planet is remembered every now and then in the scientific community, and today some researchers are almost sure that in our planetary system there was once this planet 9, but it was long ago thrown to a distance farther from the Sun. Astronomers believe that it was the size of Neptune, and right now they are working on new data that can prove this statement. The elliptical orbit of this planet is supposedly so large that full turn It takes about 15 thousand years around the Sun. This is not 365 days...
4. Soviet cosmonaut Musa Manarov captured a mysterious UFO
Photo: UR3IRS / Russian Wikipedia
In March 1991 Soviet cosmonaut Musa Manarov was on board the ISS, and at the same time he managed to photograph something very unusual. Got into the frame strange object white in color, and Manarov is still sure that it was not some ordinary space debris.
3. NASA interrupted the live broadcast from space as soon as a UFO entered the frame
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
On January 15, 2015, during a live broadcast from the ISS, an unidentified object hovering directly above the Earth came into view of the lens. As soon as the UFO became absolutely clear, NASA interrupted its broadcast without any explanation. What kind of object it was, and why the Americans tried to hide it - these are the main questions...
2. Long periods in space cause space shuttle crew members to lose bone mass.
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
You might be surprised, but it turns out that microgravity even affects human bones. If astronauts spend too long on a mission, their bone mass changes noticeably. Bones are a very active organ, and they are constantly developing, which largely depends on the physical activity of their owner (running, walking, or vice versa, a passive lifestyle). The less the load, the weaker and lighter the bones.
1. Living bacteria were discovered outside the ISS
Photo: wikipedia.commons.com
Previously, it was generally accepted that living organisms were not able to survive in the conditions of the permafrost vacuum of space. However, recently astronauts found out that this is not at all the case, and this was proven by the discovery of a living bacterium, a sample of which was taken directly from the surface of the ISS. In connection with this discovery, some researchers began to claim that this is the first evidence of the existence of life beyond the Earth. However, other experts believe that this phenomenon can be explained in a much more trivial way - rising air currents could have picked up these bacteria from the upper layers of the earth’s atmosphere, from where these microorganisms ended up on the outer shell of the ISS.
Every day, an incredible volume passes through observatories around the world. new information and data from telescopes aimed at various corners of the Universe. Each piece of this data is of great interest to science, but not all of the information deserves public attention. And yet, some discoveries turn out to be so rare and unexpected that they attract the attention of even those people who are almost completely indifferent to space.
The Hubble Space Telescope recently witnessed a very rare cosmic phenomenon - the spontaneous destruction of an asteroid. Typically, such a set of circumstances is caused by cosmic collisions or too close approach to larger cosmic bodies. However, the destruction of asteroid P/2013 R3 under the influence of sunlight turned out to be a somewhat unexpected phenomenon for astronomers. The increasing influence of the solar wind caused R3 to rotate. At some point, this rotation reached a critical point and broke the asteroid into 10 large pieces weighing about 200,000 tons. Slowly moving away from each other at a speed of 1.5 kilometers per second, pieces of the asteroid ejected an incredible amount of small particles.
A star is born
While observing the object W75N(B)-VLA2, astronomers witnessed the formation of a new celestial body. Located just 4,200 light-years away, VLA2 was first discovered in 1996 by the VLA (Very Large Array) radio telescope located at the San Augustine Observatory in New Mexico. During their first observation, scientists noted a dense cloud of gas emitted by the tiny young star.
In 2014, during the next observation of object W75N(B)-VLA2, scientists noted obvious changes. In such a short period of time from an astronomical point of view, the celestial body has changed, but these metamorphoses did not contradict previously created scientifically predictable models. Over the past 18 years, the spherical shape of the gas surrounding the star has acquired a more elongated shape under the influence of accumulated dust and cosmic debris, essentially creating a kind of cradle.
An unusual planet with incredible temperature changes
Space object 55 Cancri E has been nicknamed the “diamond planet” because it is almost entirely composed of crystalline diamond. However, scientists have recently discovered another unusual feature of this cosmic body. Temperature differences on the planet can spontaneously change by 300 percent, which is simply unimaginable for a planet of this type.
55 Cancri E is perhaps the most unusual planet within its system of five other planets. It is incredibly dense, and its complete orbit around the star takes 18 hours. Under the influence of the strongest tidal forces of the native star, the planet faces it with only one side. Since the temperature on it can vary from 1000 thousand degrees to 2700 degrees Celsius, scientists suggest that the planet may be covered with volcanoes. On the one hand, this could explain such unusual temperature changes, on the other hand, it could refute the hypothesis that the planet is a giant diamond, because in this case the level of carbon contained would not meet the required level.
The volcanic hypothesis is supported by evidence found in our own solar system. Jupiter's satellite Io is very similar to the planet described, and tidal forces directed at this satellite turned it into one continuous giant volcano.
The strangest exoplanet is Kepler 7b
Gas giant Kepler 7b is a real revelation for scientists. At first, astronomers were struck by the incredible “obesity” of the planet. It is about 1.5 times larger than Jupiter, but has much less mass, which could mean that its density is comparable to that of Styrofoam.
This planet could easily sit on the surface of an ocean, if it were possible to find an ocean large enough to accommodate it. Additionally, Kepler 7b is the first exoplanet for which a cloud map has been created. Scientists have found that the temperature on its surface can reach 800-1000 degrees Celsius. Hot, but not as hot as expected. The fact is that Kepler 7b is located closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun. After three years of observing the planet, scientists figured out the reasons for these inconsistencies: clouds in the upper atmosphere reflect excess heat from the star. Even more interesting was the fact that one side of the planet is always covered with clouds, while the other always remains clear.
Triple eclipse on Jupiter
An ordinary eclipse is not such a rare occurrence. Yet a solar eclipse is an amazing coincidence: the diameter of the solar disk is 400 times larger than the Moon, and at this moment the Sun is 400 times farther from it. It so happens that the Earth is the ideal place to observe these cosmic events.
Solar and lunar eclipses- these are truly beautiful phenomena. But in terms of entertainment, the triple eclipse on Jupiter outperforms them. In January 2015, the Hubble telescope captured three Galilean satellites - Io, Europa and Callisto - lined up in front of their "gas daddy" Jupiter.
Anyone on Jupiter at that moment could have witnessed a psychedelic triple solar eclipse. The next such event will not occur until 2032.
Giant star cradle
Stars are often found in groups. Large groups are called globular star clusters, and they can contain up to one million stars. Such clusters are scattered throughout the Universe, and at least 150 of them are located inside the Milky Way. All of them are so ancient that scientists cannot even imagine the principle of their formation. However, just recently, astronomers discovered a very rare cosmic object - a very young globular cluster, filled with gas, but without stars inside it.
Deep among the Antennae group of galaxies, located 50 million light-years away, there is a gas cloud whose mass is equivalent to 50 million Suns. This place will soon become a “nursery” for many young stars. This is the first time astronomers have discovered such an object, and so they compare it to a “dinosaur egg about to hatch.” From a technical point of view, this “egg” could have “hatched” a long time ago, since, presumably, such regions of space remain starless for only about one million years.
The importance of opening such objects is colossal. Since they can explain some of the most ancient and as yet inexplicable processes in the Universe. It is quite possible that it is precisely such regions of space that become the cradles of incredibly beautiful globular clusters that we can now observe.
A rare phenomenon that helped solve the mystery of cosmic dust
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is installed directly on board the modernized Boeing 747SP aircraft and is designed to study various astronomical events. At an altitude of 13 kilometers above the Earth's surface, there is less atmospheric water vapor, which would interfere with the operation of an infrared telescope.
Recently, the SOFIA telescope helped astronomers solve one of the cosmic mysteries. Surely many of you who have watched various programs about space know that we all, like everything in the Universe, consist of star dust, or rather, of the elements from which it consists. However, scientists for a long time could not understand how this star dust does not evaporate under the influence of supernovae, which carry it throughout the Universe.
Using its infrared eye to peer at the 10,000-year-old supernova Sagittarius A East, SOFIA discovered that the gathering dense regions of gas around the star act as cushions that repel particles. cosmic dust, protecting them from the effects of heat released during the explosion and the shock wave.
Even if 7-20 percent of cosmic dust could survive the encounter with Sagittarius A East, then it would be quite enough to form about 7000 space objects the size of the Earth.
Perseid meteor collides with the Moon
Every year from mid-July until about the end of August, you can see the Perseid meteor shower in the night sky, but the best place to start observing this cosmic phenomenon is by observing the Moon. On August 9, 2008, amateur astronomers did just that, witnessing an unforgettable event - the impact of meteorites on our natural satellite. Due to the latter's lack of atmosphere, meteorites falling on the Moon occur quite regularly. However, the fall of the Perseid meteors, which, in turn, are fragments of the slowly dying comet Swift-Tuttle, was marked by especially bright flashes on the lunar surface, which could be seen by anyone who has even the simplest telescope.
Since 2005, NASA has witnessed about 100 similar meteorite impacts on the Moon. Such observations could one day help develop methods to predict future meteorite impacts, as well as means to protect future astronauts and lunar colonists.
Dwarf galaxies containing more stars than huge galaxies
Dwarf galaxies are amazing cosmic objects that show us that size doesn't always matter. Astronomers have already conducted studies to find out the rate of star formation in medium and large galaxies, but there was a gap in this matter about tiny galaxies until recently.
After the Hubble Space Telescope provided infrared data on the dwarf galaxies it was observing, astronomers were surprised. It turned out that star formation in tiny galaxies occurs much faster than star formation in larger galaxies. What is surprising is that larger galaxies contain more gas, which is required for the appearance of stars. However, in tiny galaxies, the same number of stars are formed in 150 million years as are formed in galaxies of standard and larger sizes in about 1.3 billion years of hard and intense work of local gravitational forces. And what’s interesting is that scientists don’t yet know why dwarf galaxies are so prolific.
The constant movement of planets, the force of gravity and the evolution of stars cause the formation of various astronomical phenomena. Some of them, under certain conditions, can be seen even with the naked eye. Other phenomena that could have happened even several centuries ago testify to themselves in the form of comets flying past. Below is the top most rare and amazing astronomical phenomena.
A comet takes six years to make its way around the sun. Its trajectory is under the gravitational influence of Jupiter. Ice formations have been found on the surface, which turn into steam as they approach the Sun. The distance between the closest point in the comet's orbit and the Earth is 525 million kilometers.
When approaching Neptune, the comet is affected by the gravitational force of the planet.
As they pass the Sun in their orbit, the ice formations evaporate, forming steam with dust particles. Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko was discovered in 1969.
This phenomenon is observed when the orbits of the Earth and comet Tempel-Tuttle intersect. The periodicity of this comet is exactly 33 years. The shower is characterized by a large number of meteors flying through the atmosphere, the number of which can reach 100 thousand. The most famous meteor shower occurred in 1833.
Comet Hale-Bopp is considered the brightest in space. 1000 times brighter than Halley's Comet. You can even observe it with the naked eye. According to scientists, the comet's orbital period around the Sun is 2392.
The comet was discovered on July 23, 1995 by American astronomers Alan Hale and Thomasos Bopp. The closest distance from which it flew near the Earth was 193 million kilometers. The comet's orbit is very difficult to predict, so it is difficult to say where it will be seen next.
Halley's Comet is a short-period comet that returns to the Sun every 75 years. Named after the English astronomer Edmund Halley, who discovered the phenomenon in 1531. The comet follows an elliptical orbit. The distance it passes the Sun varies from 5 billion to 74 kilometers.
It is one of the brightest comets in the Solar System. It can be easily seen even with the naked eye. The comet measures 14 kilometers in length and 8 kilometers in width. Most of the surface is covered with ice formations. The last time Halley's Comet passed the Sun was in 1986, and its next appearance is expected in 2061.
Comet ISON is considered a near-solar comet that came from the Oort Cloud located at the edge of the solar system. It is the brightest comet of the first half of the 21st century. It was discovered on September 12, 2012 by two Russian astronomers. On November 28, 2013, the comet broke into two parts.
It is believed that the comet traveled 3.5 billion years before colliding with the Sun. At the same time, its weight constantly increased due to the accumulation of dust particles. Having reached a distance of 1 million kilometers from the Sun, the comet disintegrated.
Such astronomical phenomena happen very rarely. Thus, according to scientists’ forecasts, the next parade of planets with the participation of Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon will occur in 2040.
In 2000, a parade of five planets (Mars, Saturn, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter) was recorded. In 2011, a parade of three planets (Jupiter, Mercury, Venus) was recorded. The next time such a small parade of planets will occur is in 2015.
Every 30 years, periodic storms form in Saturn's atmosphere. This phenomenon is also known as the Great White Oval. Such spots can reach several thousand kilometers in size. The cause of the phenomenon is considered to be a certain energy source that collides with the upper layers of the planet’s atmosphere.
It is estimated that for every second of such a storm, ten flashes of lightning appear in Saturn's atmosphere. As a result, each lightning evaporates all moisture within a radius of 16 thousand kilometers. And as soon as everything evaporates, the lightning becomes more frequent and stronger. The force of such lightning exceeds 10 thousand times the earth's equivalent.
This astronomical phenomenon observed when Venus passes between the Sun and Earth, obscuring a tiny part of the solar disk. At this moment, the planet looks like a small black speck moving across the Sun.
This passage occurs every eight years. However, Venus passes in different places each time. The planet follows the same trajectory every 110 years. In 2012, the last transit of Venus across the disk of the Sun was recorded.
A "Blue Moon" is the second full moon within one calendar month. This phenomenon occurs once every two years. The difference between two full moons is 29 days. Therefore, it is likely that you can see such an event twice in one month. However, this happens very rarely.
In fact, the term "Blue Moon" has little to do with the actual color of the phenomenon. However, sometimes, due to a certain optical effect, the Moon actually appears blue. For example, in 1883, as a result of the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa, a huge amount of volcanic ash was released into the air, which made the Moon appear blue.
Solar eclipse can be observed several times a year. However, it is very rare to see a total solar eclipse. The essence of the phenomenon is total eclipse Moon of the Sun from the Earth. IN last time This phenomenon was observed in November 2012. According to scientists' forecasts, next time the solar eclipse will happen only after 138 years.
The Moon is much closer to the Sun than the Earth. It is thanks to this fact that the inhabitants of the Earth have the opportunity to observe such an astronomical phenomenon.
Although in recent decades science has been moving forward by leaps and bounds, people's knowledge about space is still approaching zero. And it is not surprising that scientists are constantly discovering new, sometimes seemingly fantastic, phenomena in the Universe. About the “hottest” ten such discoveries made in Lately and will be discussed in this review.
1. “Cosmic shield” of humanity
NASA researchers have discovered a surprising and beneficial byproduct of radio transmissions: a man-made "VLF (low frequency) bubble" around the Earth that protects people from certain types of radiation. Earth also has naturally occurring Van Allen radiation belts, in which the sun's energetic particles become "trapped" in the Earth's magnetic field.
But now scientists believe that the accumulated electromagnetic radiation The Earth has inadvertently created a kind of radioactive barrier that deflects some of the high-energy cosmic particles that continually cause damage to the Earth.
2.Galaxy PGC 1000714
Galaxy PGC 1000714 may be the "most unique" ever observed by scientists. This is a Hoag-type object with 2 rings around it (in some ways it is similar to Saturn, but only the size of a galaxy). Only 0.1% of galaxies have one ring, but PGC 1000714 is unique in that it boasts two. The 5.5-billion-year-old galaxy's core is composed primarily of old red stars. Surrounding it is a large, much younger (0.13 billion years) outer ring, in which hotter, younger blue stars shine.
When scientists looked at the galaxy at several wavelengths, they discovered a completely unexpected imprint of a second, inner ring, which is much closer to the core in terms of age and is also not connected to the outer ring at all.
3. Exoplanet Kelt-9b
The hottest exoplanet discovered on this moment, hotter than many stars. The newly described Kelt-9b's surface temperature rises to 3,777 degrees Celsius, and that's on its dark side. And on the side facing the star, the temperature is approximately 4,327 degrees Celsius - almost the same as on the surface of the Sun. The star in which the planet is located, Kelt-9, is an A-type star located 650 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.
Type A stars are among the hottest, and this particular individual is a "baby" by galactic standards, being only 300 million years old. But as the star grows and expands, its surface will eventually engulf Kelt-9b.
4. Collapse inward
It turns out that black holes can form without titanic supernova explosions or the collision of two incredibly dense objects such as neutron stars. Apparently, stars can “collapse in on themselves,” turning into black holes, relatively quietly. The Large Binocular Telescope study found thousands of potential "failed supernovae."
For example, the star N6946-BH1 had enough mass to go supernova (about 25 times more than the Sun). But the images show that it only briefly glowed a little brighter and then simply disappeared into the darkness.
5. Magnetic fields of the Universe
Many celestial bodies produce magnetic fields, but the largest fields ever discovered are due to gravitationally bound galaxy clusters. A typical cluster spans about 10 million light years (compared to the Milky Way's size of 100,000 light years). And these gravitational titans create incredibly powerful magnetic fields. Clusters are essentially collections of charged particles, gas clouds, stars and dark matter, and their chaotic interactions create real “electromagnetic witchcraft.”
When the galaxies themselves pass too close to each other and touch, the flammable gases at their boundaries are compressed, eventually shooting out arcing "relics" that extend out to distances of up to six million light years, potentially even larger than the cluster that gave birth to them.
6. Accelerated development of galaxies
The early Universe is full of mysteries, one of which is the existence of a bunch of mysteriously "fattened" galaxies that should not have existed long enough to gain such size. These galaxies contained hundreds of billions of stars (a decent number even by today's standards) when the universe was only 1.5 billion years old. And if we look even further into space-time, astronomers have discovered a new type of hyperactive galaxies, which “fed” these early anomalously developed galaxies.
When the Universe was a billion years old, these progenitor galaxies were already producing an insane amount of stars at a rate 100 times the star formation rate of the Milky Way. Researchers have found evidence that even in the sparsely populated young Universe, galaxies merged.
7. A new type of catastrophic event
The Chandra X-ray Observatory has discovered something strange while peering into the early universe. Chandra astronomers observed a mysterious source of X-rays at a distance of 10.7 billion light years. It suddenly became 1000 times brighter and then disappeared into darkness over the course of about a day. Astronomers had detected similar bizarre X-ray bursts before, but this one was 100,000 times brighter in the X-ray range.
Giant supernovae, neutron stars or white dwarfs have been tentatively listed as possible culprits, but evidence does not support any of these events. The galaxy where the explosion occurred is much smaller and far from previously discovered sources, so astronomers hope they have found "an entirely new type of catastrophic event."
8. Orbit X9
Black holes are generally thought to destroy anything that dares to get close to them, but the recently discovered white dwarf X9 is the closest orbital body ever to a black hole. X9 is three times closer to the black hole than the Moon is to Earth, so it completes a full orbit in just 28 minutes. This means the black hole is spinning the white dwarf around itself faster than the average pizza delivery.
X9 lies 15,000 light-years from Earth in the globular star cluster 47 Tucanae, part of the constellation Tucana. Astronomers think X9 was likely a large red star before a black hole pulled it towards itself and sucked out all its outer layers.
9. Cepheids
Cepheids are cosmic “children” ranging in age from 10 to 300 million years. They pulsate and their regular changes in brightness make them ideal landmarks in space. Researchers found them in Milky Way, but they weren't sure what it was (after all, Cepheids are located near the galactic core, and are almost invisible behind huge clouds of interstellar dust).
Astronomers observing the core in infrared light discovered a surprisingly barren "desert" devoid of young stars. Several Cepheids lie near the center of the galaxy, and just outside this region a huge dead zone extends 8,000 light-years in all directions.
10. "Planetary Trinity"
So-called "hot Jupiters" are balls of gas like Jupiter, but they are closer in structure to stars than they should be and orbit their stars in closer orbits than even Mercury. Scientists have studied these strange celestial bodies over the past 20 years, having detected about 300 such “hot Jupiters,” all of them orbiting their stars alone.
But in 2015, researchers from the University of Michigan finally confirmed what seemed impossible - a hot Jupiter with a companion. In the WASP-47 system, the star is orbited by hot Jupiter and two other completely different planets - a larger Neptune-shaped one, and a smaller, much denser, rocky "super-Earth".