Literally every month, astronomers from all over the world find something new that cannot yet be explained. modern science. I present to you a list of strange space phenomena that astronomers have noticed lately.
1. Boomerang Nebula
A temperature of -272°C makes the Boomerang Nebula the coldest place in the entire universe. The reason for this is the constant expansion of the nebula at a speed of 367,000 miles per hour, which, for a minute, is 10 times faster than the fastest man-made object in the universe, the New Horizons device, moves.
2.R136a1 
This star is 256 times more massive than our Sun and shines 7.4 million times brighter. In other words, it's just a giant. Scientists believe that the R136a1 object was formed from several other stars, but still cannot understand why it has existed for so long.
3. The oldest black hole 
Object J0100+2802 may be considered the oldest black hole in the galaxy. When the universe was only 875,000,000, this hole was already formed from 12 billion suns. By comparison, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way is only 5 million suns across.
4. HD 189733b 
The blue hue of this planet may remind you of the world's oceans, or a pleasant summer day. But don't be fooled: this huge gas giant has a minimal orbit, very close to its star. There is no water here and never will be. The temperature is 900 degrees Celsius and the azure sky is a rain of molten glass.
5. Galaxy X 
Galaxy X, discovered by Indian astronomers, is composed almost entirely of mysterious black matter. It was possible to notice it only due to the influence of the galaxy on the surrounding stars. Scientists suggest that before them - the beginning of the creation of the largest black hole in the universe.
6. Cloud Smith
The giant gas cloud is several million times the mass of our Sun. And, unlike him, Cloud Smith rushes towards the Milky Way. 70 million years ago, it already collided with our galaxy. In 30 million years, astronomers predict a new collision, but no one knows where it will lead.
7. Hermit planet 
The lone planet recently discovered by astronomers is only 70 million years old. It is quite close to our galaxy. Most likely, the object CFBDSIR2149 was ejected from its home system and now drags out a hermit existence.
8 Asteroid Cruitney
Cruitney - the rarest phenomenon, the appearance of which astronomers still cannot explain. This near earth asteroid, regularly flying dangerously close to our planet. It moves in orbital resonance with the Earth and, theoretically, will crash into it in a few million years. The size of Cruitney will most likely lead to the death of all life.
9. Pulsar Black Widow 
A neutron star remains from the explosion of a massive star and is called a pulsar. The Black Widow is a millisecond pulsar that also emits gamma rays. It literally devours a small planet rotating with it.
10 El Gordo Galaxy Cluster 
In such a vast place as our universe is, there are many very, very strange things. One of the phenomena is the giant cluster of galaxies El Gordo. It is located 9.7 billion light years from us. It contains about 3,000,000,000,000,000 (three million billion stars). Chance to find here extraterrestrial life very large.
The science
The more advanced technology becomes, the more opportunities open up for scientists and the more we can learn about our Universe. Every year, space reveals more and more of its secrets to us, in the near future we will probably find out what we could not even guess about before. Find out what discoveries in the field of space have been made in recent years.
1) Another moon of Pluto
To date, 4 moons of Pluto are known. Charon was discovered in 1978, and it is its largest satellite. This moon has a diameter of 1,205 kilometers, leading many scientists to believe that Pluto is actually a "double dwarf planet." Nothing new was heard about the icy bodies that orbit Pluto until 2005, while the space telescope Hubble did not find 2 more satellites - Nikta and Hydra. The diameter of these cosmic bodies is from 50 to 110 kilometers. But the most amazing discovery awaited scientists in 2011, when "Hubble" managed to capture another satellite of Pluto, which is temporarily called P4. Its diameter is only 13 to 34 kilometers. Notable in this case is that Hubble photographed such a tiny space object, which is located at a distance of about 5 billion kilometers from us.
2) Giant space magnetic bubbles
Two NASA spacecraft "Voyager" found magnetic bubbles in the area solar system known as heliosphere, which is located 15 billion kilometers from Earth. In the 1950s, scientists believed that the area outer space relatively smooth, but when "Voyager 1" reached the heliosphere in 2005, and "Voyager 2" in 2008, they detected the turbulence that the Sun's magnetic field creates, and magnetic bubbles form there, about 160 million kilometers in diameter.
3) The tail of the star of World A
In 2007 the orbiting space telescope GALEX scanned Mira A, an old red dwarf star, as part of an upcoming project to scan the entire sky in ultraviolet light. Astronomers were shocked when they discovered that Mira A has a long comet-like tail that spans about 13 light-years. This star moves through the universe at an unusually high speed, approximately 470 thousand kilometers per hour. Before that, it was believed that stars do not have tails.
4) Water on the Moon
October 9, 2009 NASA's LCROSS Lunar Crater Observation and Sounding Spacecraft discovered water in a cold and permanently shadowed crater at the south pole of the moon. LCROSS is a NASA probe that was built to hit the lunar surface, and a small satellite following it was supposed to measure chemical composition material that has risen up in a collision. After a full year of data analysis, NASA has reported that our satellite has water in the form of ice at the bottom of this eternally dark crater. Later, other data showed that a thin layer of water covers the lunar soil, at least in some areas of the Moon.
5) Dwarf planet Eris
In January 2005, a new planet in the solar system, Eris, was discovered, which caused a lot of controversy in the astronomical world about what should be considered a planet in general. Eris was originally considered the 10th planet of the solar system, but then all the objects of the Kuiper belt and the asteroid belt were equated to a new class - dwarf planets. Eris lies beyond the orbit of Pluto and is about the same size, although it was originally thought to be larger than Pluto. It is known that Eris has one satellite, which was named Dysnomia. So far, Eris and Dysnomia are considered the most distant objects in the solar system.
6) Traces of water flows on Mars
In 2011, NASA, after providing photographs of the Red Planet, made a statement that it had evidence that water could have flowed on Mars in the past, which left traces. Indeed, the images show long streaks similar to those left in the rocks by current flows. Scientists believe these streams are salt water that heats up during the summer months and begins to run down the surface. Signs that Mars once had liquid water have been discovered before, but for the first time, scientists have noticed that these traces change over a short period of time.
7) Saturn's moon Enceladus and its geysers
In July 2004 spacecraft "Cassini" went into orbit around Saturn. After the mission "Voyager" approached this satellite, the researchers decided to launch another apparatus into the area for a more detailed study of Enceladus. After "Cassini" flew past the satellite several times in 2005, scientists managed to make a number of discoveries, in particular, that in the atmosphere of Enceladus there is water vapor and complex hydrocarbon compounds that are released from a geologically active region South Pole. In May 2011, NASA scientists at a conference dedicated to this satellite stated that Enceladus can be considered the very first contender for the discovery of life.
8) Dark Stream
The dark stream, discovered in 2008, has given scientists more questions than answers. Accumulations of matter in the universe, as it turned out, move at a very high speed in the same direction, which cannot be explained using any known gravitational force within the observable part of the universe. This phenomenon has been called "Dark Stream". By observing large clusters of galaxies, scientists have found about 700 galaxy clusters moving at a certain speed towards a distant part of the universe. Some scientists have even dared to suggest that the Dark Stream is moving due to pressure caused by another universe. However, some astronomers dispute the existence of the dark stream altogether.
9) Exoplanets
The first exoplanets, that is, planets that exist outside the solar system, were discovered in 1992. Astronomers have discovered several small planets orbiting the star Pulsar. The first giant planet was seen in 1995 near the star 51 Pegasus, close to us, which made a complete revolution around this star in 4 days. By May 2012, 770 exoplanets had already been registered in the encyclopedia of exoplanets. Of these, 614 are part of planetary systems and 104 are part of multiple planetary systems. By February 2012, the NASA mission "Kepler" identified 2,321 unconfirmed exoplanet candidates associated with 1,790 stars.
10) The first planet in the habitable zone
In December 2011, NASA confirmed reports of the discovery of the first planet to be located in the habitable zone, orbiting its Sun-like home star. The planet was named Kepler-22b. Its radius is 2.5 times the radius of the Earth, and it orbits its star in a zone suitable for the emergence of life. Scientists are not yet sure about the composition of this planet, but this discovery was a major step towards the discovery of Earth-like worlds.
Man constantly turns to the sky. It is there that the friends or enemies of humanity may be, and those whom we do not yet know. Since ancient times, man has assumed that there is another life in the sky. The search for extraterrestrial life has always occupied humanity. ? What is she? How to discover it?
Life exists on Earth. Scientists engaged in the search for extraterrestrial life argue that if life exists, then nothing certain can be said about it. Friedrich Engels gave the following definition of life: “Life is a mode of existence of protein bodies, the essential point of which is the constant exchange of substances with the external nature surrounding them, and with the cessation of this metabolism, life also ceases, which leads to the decomposition of the protein.”
First, liquid water is a key factor in the Universe. “Look for water,” astronomers repeat this phrase. liquid water, unlike most other liquids, is a "universal solvent". This is an ideal environment for the emergence of increasingly complex molecules. The second thing to look for is carbon, since the carbon atom is tetravalent and can bond with up to four other atoms to create complex molecules. Carbon is the main element organic chemistry. Thirdly, the molecule is the basis of life, capable of self-reproduction. For the development of life on the planet, it is necessary that a number of general conditions be fulfilled. And it is quite obvious that not every planet can have life. Let's turn to history. , a Dominican monk and philosopher, was the first to raise the question of the search for life outside the Earth in his teachings back in 1600. For which he was burned alive. Like Copernicus, Bruno was convinced that he revolved around the Sun, but unlike Copernicus, he believed that somewhere out there, in space, lived, perhaps, countless other people, just like us. At that time, it was easier for the church to burn the author of a crazy idea than to think about the possible existence of billions of other saints, popes, churches and Jesuses. For four hundred years the memory of Bruno did not allow historians of science to live in peace. But now Bruno is avenged. Approximately twice a month, astronomers discover in space near a star new planet. At the moment, about 300 planets are reliably known to exist in various stars, so Bruno's prediction regarding extrasolar planets has come true. In 1611, the astronomer Johannes Kepler, relying on the most advanced scientific knowledge of that time, argued in his work "Dream" about traveling to. He wrote that during this journey, people can meet intelligent strangers and plants and animals alien to the Earth. But science and religion often contradict each other on the question of life in space, and the result of this contradiction sometimes results in tragedy.
To date, there is a program in which radio astronomers in Russia and the United States carefully examine the sky in the hope of finding traces extraterrestrial civilizations. Astronomers are carefully studying the starry sky, trying to fix the signals of brothers in mind. For some time, Frank Drake, an employee of the Green Bank National Radio Astronomy Observatory, located in West Virginia (SPA), listened to two nearby stars at a wavelength of 21 cm (1420 MHz): and Tau Ceti. This work was carried out as part of one of the first such projects, OZMA. He failed to detect the signals of "brothers in mind." Such signals, if they exist, are more difficult to detect than it seems at first. After all, you need to know the place where the signal is directed, time and frequency. However, humanity has just entered the path of search.
The equipment is becoming more and more perfect every year, and it is possible that the day is not far off when signals from another planet (if only they were sent) will be received and deciphered. Detailed development of a program to search for intelligent beings in the universe began in the early 70s. It was then that the Cyclops project began. For these purposes, a giant telescope was used, consisting of a large number of radio telescopes. The entire system was computerized. In the mid-1980s, a proposal was put forward to carry out serious international searches extraterrestrial civilizations. Then the costs should have been several billion dollars. Subsequently, more economical possibilities appeared for searching for signals within 100 sv. years from Earth: only a radio telescope and a computer were required. It is believed that the highest probability of detecting a signal exists in the frequency range from 1400 to 1730 MHz. With the help of the giant telescopes used for the Cyclops project, it will be possible to search for signals within a radius of 1000 ly. years. In the future, antennas for receiving signals will be installed not only on Earth, but also on the Moon.
Scientists around the world are in search of extraterrestrial life forms, but so far they have not found an answer to the question - are we alone in the Universe, is there intelligent life on other planets. People on Earth often see and think that these are aliens, although the probability of this is very small. Thus, there is no clear evidence that there is life in the Universe (except for life on Earth), although no other refutation has been found either. Perhaps the search for life in the universe will excite the minds of many more generations of people, and who knows, maybe the inhabitants of other planets.
I. A. Bickert
Scientific adviser - V. A. Kozlovskaya
Siberian State Aerospace University
named after academician M. F. Reshetnev, Krasnoyarsk
Humanity has been staring at the sky for thousands of years, and all we've learned in that time is that space is a crazy place. Every day scientists discover a large number of strange things that give rise to new questions, inspire fear and cause incredible admiration.
1. The smell of rum and raspberries at the center of the galaxy
The Sagittarius B2 cloud is several million times the mass of the Sun and floats around our galaxy. Milky Way. Recently, scientists have established that this cloud is mainly a giant river of raspberry rum.
The fact is that Sagittarius B2 contains 10 billion billion billion liters of alcohol and molecules called ethyl formate. It is this substance that gives raspberries their sweet taste, and rum its distinctive smell. However, the origin of these molecules remains a mystery to scientists, so the opening of the intergalactic pub should be postponed.
2. Mickey Mouse
Astronomers from the USA, studying the surface of the planet Mercury, discovered 3 craters, which in their shape resemble the silhouette of Mickey Mouse. Scientists have said that it was from space that Disney drew his ideas.
Of course, serious scientists are just joking. And they can be understood: every day they receive thousands of letters from enthusiasts who have found another crater that looks like this or that object.
3. The truth about the shooting star
Everyone knows that shooting stars are meteorites that hit the atmosphere. But many do not know that there are really shooting stars.
When a supermassive black hole swallows a binary star system, one star is swallowed up by the black hole, and the second one shoots out to the side, as if from a huge slingshot. Just imagine a huge fireball of gas that is 4 times the size of our Sun, rushing at millions of kilometers per hour. It doesn't sound so romantic anymore.
You've probably heard that it rains diamonds on Jupiter and Saturn. But what about a planet that is itself a huge diamond?
Exoplanet PSR J1719-1438 b was discovered in 2009. It is located at a distance of 3,900 light years from us. And 1/3 of the mass of the planet is pure diamond, the rest is graphite. According to scientists, on such planets there may be areas completely covered with kilometers of diamonds (diamond fields).
5. Eye of Sauron
If you look up at night, you might see one of the brightest stars in the sky, Fomalhaut. It is located not far from our Milky Way galaxy and is 2.3 times heavier than the Sun.
Scientists have been studying the star for a long time, but the real magic happened when, with the help of the latest equipment, they took pictures of it in the infrared filter. It turned out that Fomalhaut is similar to the famous eye of Sauron (Sauron) from the movie "The Lord of the Rings".
The black area in the center is the star itself, and the oval around it is space debris. Looks creepy but beautiful.
No metaphors. Indeed, at a distance of 10 billion light years from us is the largest reservoir of water in the universe. This rain cloud is 100,000 times larger than the Sun, contains 140 trillion times more water than the world's oceans, and is thought to envelop a supermassive black hole.
“Now that we know about it, we can only hope that the wind does not blow in our direction,” astronomers joke.
7. Message
But this thing in space, perhaps, will be found by another alien civilization. The Voyager spacecraft was launched in 1977 and is still exploring space. Thanks to him, we have photographs of the Earth from a distance of 6 billion km, as well as images of Jupiter and Saturn. But the most interesting thing is what is attached to the device itself.
On the body of the Voyager there is a golden record, which contains a greeting in 55 languages, music of different nations, people's voices, sounds of nature, 100 photographs and the coordinates of the planet Earth. This message was sent in the hope that some kind of extraterrestrial civilization will notice the device.
8. Huge lens
One of the most interesting discoveries is the gravitational lens. This is a formation in space, the mass of which is so great that its gravitational field it bends the direction of electromagnetic radiation. Just like an ordinary magnifying glass bends a beam of light.
That is, when we look through a cosmic lens, we see an object outside our field of view and slightly distorted. Thanks to such lenses, scientists can observe objects that are in other galaxies.
9. Dark stream
Scientists say that beyond our visible universe there is something huge. We cannot see what it is, but we observe that it is something that is sucking in parts of the neighboring Universes, like a gutter draining water.
The scientists called it the Dark Stream because it was the only name, which sounded quite mysterious and ominous. Some of the astrophysicists believe that this is the edge of another large universe that is moving towards ours. But there is no exact answer yet, so it remains to wait until a more powerful telescope is invented.
