Strange phenomena in space. The most mysterious phenomena in space. Microwave space background
The constant movement of the 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, which could have happened even several centuries ago, testify to themselves in the form of comets flying by. Below is a list of the rarest and most amazing astronomical phenomena.
The comet travels around the sun in six years. Its trajectory is under the gravitational influence of Jupiter. Formations of ice were found on the surface, which, as they approach the Sun, turn into steam. The distance between the closest point in the comet's orbit and the Earth is 525 million kilometers.
When approaching Neptune, the comet falls under the influence of the gravitational force of the planet.
Passing in their orbit past the Sun, the ice formations evaporate, forming steam with dust particles. Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko was discovered in 1969.
This phenomenon is observed at the intersection of the orbits of the Earth and comet Tempel-Tuttle. The periodicity of this comet is exactly 33 years. The stream is characterized by a large number of meteors flying through the atmosphere, the number of which can reach 100,000. The most famous meteor shower was observed in 1833.
Comet Hale-Bopp is considered the brightest comet in space. 1000 times brighter than Halley's comet. You can even watch it with the naked eye. According to scientists, the period of revolution of a comet around the Sun is 2392 years.
The comet was discovered on July 23, 1995 by American astronomers Alan Hale and Thomasos Bopp. The closest distance with which it flew around the Earth is 193 million kilometers. The comet's orbit is very difficult to predict, so it's hard to say where it might be seen next.
Halley's Comet is a short period comet that returns to the Sun every 75 years. It is named after the English astronomer Edmund Halley, who discovered the phenomenon in 1531. The comet follows an elliptical orbit. The distance of passage past 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 is 14 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide. Most of the surface is covered with ice formations. Halley's Comet last passed the Sun in 1986, and its next appearance is expected in 2061.
Comet ISON is believed to be a near-solar comet that came from the Oort Cloud 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 up into two parts.
The comet is believed to have traveled 3.5 billion years before colliding with the Sun. At the same time, its weight was constantly increasing due to the accumulation of dust particles. Having reached a distance of 1 million kilometers from the Sun, the comet disintegrated.
Such an astronomical phenomenon happens very rarely. So, according to the forecasts of scientists, 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 in 2015.
Periodic storms form in Saturn's atmosphere every 30 years. 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 source of energy that collides with the upper atmosphere of the planet.
It is estimated that in every second of such a storm, ten lightning flashes appear in Saturn's atmosphere. As a result, each lightning evaporates all the moisture within a radius of 16 thousand kilometers. And as soon as everything evaporates, the lightning becomes more frequent and stronger. The power of such lightning exceeds 10 thousand times the earth's equivalent.
This astronomical phenomenon is observed when Venus passes between the Sun and the Earth, covering 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, each time Venus passes in a different place. The planet follows the same trajectory every 110 years. In 2012, the last transit of Venus across the solar disk was recorded.
"Blue Moon" refers to the second full moon within one calendar month. This happens 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 does appear blue. So, for example, in 1883, as a result of the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatau, a huge amount of volcanic ash appeared in the air, due to which the moon seemed blue.
A 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 lies in the total eclipse of the Sun by the Moon from the Earth. The last time this happened was in November 2012. According to scientists' forecasts, the next total solar eclipse will occur 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.
Space is still an incomprehensible mystery for all mankind. It is incredibly beautiful, full of secrets and dangers, and the more we study it, the more we discover new amazing phenomena. We have collected for you the 10 most interesting phenomena that occurred in 2017.
1. Sounds inside the rings of Saturn
The Cassini spacecraft recorded sounds inside Saturn's rings. The sounds were recorded using the Audio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) device, which detects radio and plasma waves, which are then converted into sounds. As a result, scientists "heard" not at all what they expected.
The sounds were recorded using an Audio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) device that detects radio and plasma waves, which are then converted into sound. As a result, we can "hear" dust particles hitting the instrument's antennas, the sounds of which contrast with the usual "whistles and creaks" created in space by charged particles.
But as soon as Cassini dived into the void between the rings, everything suddenly became strangely quiet.
The planet, which is an ice ball, was discovered using a special technique and was named OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb.
With the help of microlensing, it was possible to discover a new planet, approximately equal to the Earth in mass and even revolving around its star at the same distance as the Earth from the Sun. However, the similarities end there - the new planet is probably too cold to be habitable, since its star is 12 times smaller than our Sun.
Microlensing is a technique that facilitates the detection of distant objects by using background stars as "highlights". When the studied star passes in front of a larger and brighter star, the larger star “illuminates” the smaller one for a short time and simplifies the process of observing the system.
The Cassini spacecraft successfully completed a narrow gap between the planet Saturn and its rings on April 26, 2017 and transmitted unique images to Earth. The distance between the rings and the upper atmosphere of Saturn is about 2,000 km. And through this "gap" "Cassini" had to slip at a speed of 124 thousand km / h. At the same time, as a protection against ring particles that could damage it, Cassini used a large antenna, turning it away from the Earth and towards obstacles. That is why he could not get in touch with the Earth for 20 hours.
A group of independent auroral researchers have discovered a yet unexplored phenomenon in the night sky over Canada and named it "Steve". More precisely, such a name for the new phenomenon was suggested by one of the users in the comments to the photo of the still unnamed phenomenon. And the scientists agreed. Taking into account the fact that the official scientific communities have not yet really responded to the discovery, the name will be assigned to the phenomenon.
"Big" scientists do not yet know how exactly to characterize this phenomenon, although the group of enthusiasts who discovered Steve initially called it the "proton arc." They didn't know that proton auroras were invisible to the human eye. Preliminary tests showed that Steve was a hot stream of fast-flowing gas in the upper atmosphere.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has already sent special probes to study Steve and found that the temperature of the air inside the gas stream rises above 3000 degrees Celsius. At first, scientists could not even believe it. The data showed that at the time of the measurements, Steve, 25 kilometers wide, was moving at a speed of 10 kilometers per second.
5. A new planet suitable for life
An exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf 40 light-years from Earth could become the new winner of the title of "best place to look for signs of life outside the solar system." According to scientists, the system LHS 1140 in the constellation Cetus may be even more suitable for the search for extraterrestrial life than Proxima b or TRAPPIST-1.
LHS 1140 (GJ 3053) is a star located in the constellation Cetus at a distance of approximately 40 light-years from the Sun. Its mass and radius are 14% and 18% of the sun's, respectively. The surface temperature is about 3131 Kelvin, which is half that of the Sun. The luminosity of the star is equal to 0.002 of the luminosity of the Sun. The age of LHS 1140 is estimated at about 5 billion years.
Source 6The asteroid that almost made it to Earth
Asteroid 2014 JO25 with a diameter of about 650 m approached the Earth in April 2017, and then flew away. This relatively large near-Earth asteroid was only four times farther from Earth than the Moon. NASA has classified the asteroid as "potentially hazardous". All asteroids larger than 100 meters and approaching the Earth closer than 19.5 distances from it to the Moon automatically fall into this category.
Pictured is Pan, a natural satellite of Saturn. The three-dimensional photograph was taken using the anaglyph method. You can get a stereo effect using special glasses with red and blue filters.
Pan opened on July 16, 1990. Researcher Mark Schoulter analyzed photographs taken by the Voyager 2 robotic interplanetary station in 1981. Experts have not yet agreed on why Pan has such a shape.
8. The first photos of the habitable Trappist-1 system
The discovery of a potentially habitable planetary system of the star Trappist-1 was the event of the year in astronomy. Now NASA has published the first photos of the star on its website. The camera took one frame per minute for an hour, and then the photo was assembled into an animation:
The animation is 11×11 pixels and covers an area of 44 arcseconds. This is equivalent to a grain of sand at arm's length.
Recall that the distance from the Earth to the star Trappist-1 is 39 light years.
9. Date of the collision of the Earth with Mars
American geophysicist Stephen Myers of the University of Wisconsin suggested that Earth and Mars could collide. This theory is by no means new, but scientists have recently confirmed it by finding evidence in an unexpected place. It's all because of the "butterfly effect".
It's the same phenomenon. A butterfly fluttering over the Indian Ocean could affect weather patterns over North America in a week.
This idea is not new. But Myers' team found evidence in an unexpected place. The rock formation in Colorado is made up of sedimentary layers that are evidence of climate change, which was caused by fluctuations in the amount of sunlight entering the planet. According to scientists, this is the result of changes in the Earth's orbit.
For at least the last 50 million years, the Earth's orbit has cyclically changed its shape from circular to elliptical every 2.4 million years. This created climate change. But for 85 million years, this periodicity was 1.2 million years, since the Earth and Mars slightly interacted, as if “pulling” each other, which is natural to expect in a chaotic system.
The discovery will help understand the relationship between orbital changes and climate. But other potential consequences are somewhat more worrisome: In billions of years, there is a very small chance that Mars could crash into Earth.
A giant vortex of hot, glowing gas extends over 1 million light-years through the very center of the Perseus Cluster. Matter in the area of the Perseus cluster is formed from gas, the temperature of which is 10 million degrees, which makes it glow. A unique NASA photo allows you to see the galactic vortex in all its details. It extends over a million light-years through the very center of the Perseus Cluster.
Starting from stars that suck life out of their own kind and ending with giant black holes that are billions of times larger and more massive than our Sun.
1 Ghost Planet
Many astronomers have said that the huge planet Fomalhaut B has sunk into oblivion, but it seems to be alive again.
In 2008, astronomers using the NASA Hubble Space Telescope announced the discovery of a huge planet that orbits the very bright star Fomalhaut, located at a distance of only 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 from Hubble, the planet is showing up 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 are literally coming back to life in a brutal and dramatic way. Astronomers classify these zombie stars as Type Ia supernovae, which create huge and powerful explosions that send the "innards" 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 come back to life, albeit briefly, in a giant explosion along with a supernova, sucking life out of their companion star or by merging with it.
3 Vampire Stars
Just like vampires in 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 "look" much younger than their 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 suck huge amounts of hydrogen from nearby stars.
4. Giant black holes
Black holes may seem like objects of science fiction - they are extremely dense, and the gravity in them is so strong that not even light is able to escape from them if it approaches close enough.
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 own Milky Way. Supermassive black holes are mind-boggling in size.
5 Killer Asteroids
The phenomena cited in the previous paragraph may be eerie or take an abstract form, but they do not pose a threat to humanity. What cannot be said about large asteroids that fly at a distance close to the Earth.
And even an asteroid only 40 meters in size can cause serious harm if it hits a populated area. 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 the 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 devastating effect on radio communications, satellite navigation and the operation of electrical networks.
Recently, such solar flares have been observed especially often, because the sun has entered its especially active phase of the 11-year cycle. Researchers expect solar activity to peak in May 2013.
The biggest scientific discoveries of 2014
Top 10 questions about the universe that scientists are looking for answers right now Have Americans been to the moon?
Space is full of mysteries and mysteries. It is not without reason that science fiction writers have devoted such a huge number of outstanding works to the space theme. And in space there are many more inexplicable processes than we think. We invite you to get acquainted with the most amazing phenomena that occur in space.
Everyone knows that a shooting star is a simple meteorite that burns up in the atmosphere. At the same time, many people are unaware of the existence of real shooting hypervelocity stars, which are huge fireballs of gas flying through outer space at a speed of millions of kilometers per hour. One hypothesis for such a phenomenon is as follows: when a binary star is very close to a black hole, one of the stars is absorbed by a massive black hole, and the other begins to move at great speed. Just imagine a huge ball, the size of which is 4 times the size of our sun, flying at great speed in our galaxy.
One of these planets, Gliese 581 c, revolves around a red small star, which is many times smaller than the sun. Its glow is hundreds of times less than that of our sun. The hellish planet is located much closer to its own star than our Earth. Due to its extreme proximity to its star, Gliese 581 c always turns to the star of one of its sides, while the other side, on the contrary, is removed from it. Therefore, a real hell is happening on the planet: one hemisphere resembles a “hot frying pan”, and the second is an icy desert. However, between the two poles there is a small belt where life is likely to exist.
The Castor system includes 3 double systems. Here the brightest star is Pollux. The second brightest is Castor. In addition to them, the system includes two double stars similar to Betelgeuse (class 3 - red and orange stars). The total brightness of the stars in the Castor system is 52.4 times higher than that of our sun. Look at the starry sky at night. Surely you will see these stars.
In recent years, scientists have been actively studying the dust cloud located near the center of the Milky Way. Some are convinced that God is there. If he still exists, then he approached the issue of creating such an object quite creatively. German scientists have proven that a dust cloud called Sagittarius B2 smells like raspberries. This is achieved due to the presence of a huge amount of ethyl formate, which gives a specific smell to forest raspberries, as well as rum.
The planet Gliese 436 b, discovered by scientists in 2004, is no less strange than Gliese 581 c. Its magnitude is almost the same as that of Neptune. The icy planet is located in the constellation Leo at a distance of 33 light years from our Earth. The planet Gliese 436 b is a huge water ball where the temperature is below 300 degrees. Due to the strong gravity of the core, water molecules on the surface of the planet do not evaporate, but the so-called “ice burning” process occurs.
55 Cancri e or the diamond planet is made entirely of real diamonds. It was valued at 26.9 nonillion dollars. Undoubtedly, this is the most expensive object in the galaxy. Once it was just a core in a binary system. But as a result of the influence of high temperature (over 1600 degrees Celsius) and pressure, most carbons became diamonds. The dimensions of 55 Cancri e are twice the size of our Earth, and the mass is as much as 8 times.
The huge Himiko cloud (half the size of the Milky Way) can show us the origins of the primordial galaxy. This object dates back 800 million years since the Big Bang. Previously, they thought that the Himiko cloud is one large galaxy, and recently they are of the opinion that 3 relatively young galaxies are located there.
The largest water reservoir, which has 140 trillion times more water than the entire Earth, is located 20 billion light years from the earth's surface. The water here is in the form of a massive cloud of gas, located next to a huge black hole, constantly spewing out such energy that 1000 trillion suns could produce.
Not so long ago (a couple of years ago), scientists discovered a cosmic-scale electric current of 10 ^ 18 amperes, which is equivalent to about 1 trillion lightning bolts. It is assumed that the strongest discharges originate in a huge black hole located in the center of the galactic system. One of these lightnings, launched by a black hole, is one and a half times the size of our galaxy.
The Large Quasar Group (LQG), consisting of 73 quasars, is one of the largest structures in the entire universe. Its magnitude is 4 billion light years. Scientists still have not been able to understand how such a structure could form. According to cosmological theory, the existence of such a huge group of quasars is simply impossible. LQG undermines the generally accepted cosmological principle, according to which there can be no structure more than 1.2 billion light years.
On April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched. People have always been drawn to space, and when it became known that the stars are real objects in the vast expanses of space, the thirst for knowledge played with a vengeance. But often discoveries bring only new and new mysteries, and astronomers have 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 gas structure with a temperature of -258.15 degrees Celsius form a figure eight - the symbol of infinity. Astronomers cannot explain the shape and nature of this structure.
What confuses astronomers even more is that the center of “infinity” does not coincide with the center of the Galaxy, but is slightly shifted in relation to it, which contradicts known scientific laws.
The expansion of the universe. Scientists from the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Beijing Tu Zhong Liang and Cai Gen Rong proved that the Universe evolves inhomogeneously: some parts of it develop much faster than others.
Experts believe that with the help of the theory of the inhomogeneity 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. It used to be thought 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.
Why this happens, scientists cannot answer. If the Earth's removal rate does not change, then the "freezing" of the planet will occur in hundreds of millions of years. But if the speed suddenly increases? ..
Where are the Pioneers going? The interplanetary probes Pioneer 10 (launched in 1972) and Pioneer 11 (1973) were the first spacecraft to be launched this far.
Having completed the planned programs, the equipment of the probes transmitted information for many more years. In November 1995, Pioneer 11, having moved 6.5 billion km from the Sun, stopped communicating. Signals from Pioneer 10, 12 billion kilometers from Earth, were received until January 2003.
Probes can no longer be seen from Earth. It became known that the probes are moving away from the solar system more slowly than expected. They are affected by an incomprehensible braking force that scientists cannot explain.
Water on Mars. Experts believe that in the early stages of the history of Mars, 3.8 - 3.5 billion years ago, the climate on the planet was warmer and more humid, and the northern hemisphere was an ocean.
Martian channels in the Chrysian Plain may indicate that lakes of liquid water and underground springs may be located a few meters below the surface.
"Monolith" on Phobos. On the Martian satellite is a very mysterious object, called the "Monolith", about 76 meters high. It was first noticed by NASA astronaut Edwin Eugene Aldrin, who was the second to walk on the moon in 1969.
An object resembling a tower or dome was discovered in 1998 in images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor research station. The Monolith rises on the side facing Mars.
NASA does not comment 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 on 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 with the help of the Kepler telescope, but scientists still cannot solve its riddle.
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 artwork) to the Sun is three times that from the Sun to Neptune, but most of the planet's orbit is even 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 so long ago, a new moon began to form near Saturn.
It was possible to observe how a natural satellite formed on one of the ice rings, and scientists cannot understand in any way what prompted 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 can 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 are not aware of any astronomical object capable of generating such a level of radio emission 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 a star. The star KIC 8462852, named "Tubby", attracted the attention of astronomers with strange properties: the nature of the reflected light may indicate that real construction work is underway 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, said Tabeta Boyajyan, lead author of the NASA study.
The 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 far from always the case: about four billion years ago, the molten core of the satellite suddenly began to rotate in the opposite direction to the rotation of the mantle surrounding this core.
The moon was able to generate a magnetic field much stronger than on Earth. At present, none of the scientists understands how such a small celestial body could develop such magnetic activity.
This field persisted for quite a long time, perhaps due to the constant meteorite bombardment, which fueled the lunar magnetism. Many believe that the phenomenon is artificial in nature.
The mysterious island of Titan. Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is very reminiscent of the primitive Earth, with its atmosphere, materials, and possibly geological activity.
In 2013, the Cassini spacecraft, while exploring the moon, discovered a completely new piece of land on its surface, which suddenly appeared in Titan's second largest sea - Ligeria Mare.
Shortly thereafter, the "mysterious island" also suddenly disappeared into the translucent methane-ethane sea. Then he reappeared, but already increased in size.
Black holes. Scientists believe that black holes are formed when a giant star collapses: an explosion in a relatively small space causes a gravitational field of such intensity that even the surrounding light falls under its influence.
However, in practice, scientists have not seen any of the Black Holes. We can only guess what it really is.
Dark matter- another of the main mysteries for modern astronomers. Having understood what exactly it is, it means to actually reveal the secret of the Universe, which consists of 27% of dark matter.
