The amazing and mysterious Cosmos is gradually revealing its secrets.
Outer space is so vast and colossal that it is not just too early to speak of its complete study, but it is absolutely impossible. The human race has only slightly opened the veil that hides the greatness and power of the universe. And the fact that we are only at the very beginning of our path of knowledge is once again proved by discoveries that, according to modern scientists, simply should not exist. But they do exist, and therefore researchers will again have to "reshape" their beliefs. And we are given the opportunity to observe the disclosure of new galactic secrets.
She shouldn't be there …
An unusual planetary system was discovered by an international team of researchers this year. Based on the calculations available to astronomers, her and all the celestial bodies that make up the system should not have existed.
In the center of the newly discovered system is the star 65426, which in its main parameters is twice the size of our Sun. But the special attention of scientists was attracted by a huge gas giant, which very quickly revolves around its star. The object was named HIP-65426.
The planet should be much larger than its current size, which is only 12 times the size of Jupiter. And this, according to scientists, is impossible, since the star of the system has a rotation speed 150 times higher than that of the Sun.
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Astronomers and space theorists once again found themselves at a loss, since all the earlier accepted orders for the formation of planets and systems should be revised again. And this, as you know, is not so simple, and requires new ideas and efforts.
Asteroid with rings
Another unexpected discovery was made entirely in 2013 by astronomers of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Not the largest asteroid Khariklo suddenly had to be put on a par with such planets as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. And all because this celestial body from the centaur family was found to have a system of rings that resemble the rings of more massive objects in the solar system.
During the observation of the coverage of the specified asteroid star UCAC4 248-108672, astronomers recorded not one eclipse of the star, as expected, but five at once. Despite the fact that the phenomenon was monitored by seven telescopes at once, including the TRAPPIST telescope, located at the La Silla ESO observatory. These results meant only one thing, that a relatively small asteroid, no more than 250 km in diameter, has two clear rings around it. Calculations have shown that the diameter of the larger of them is 7 km, and of the smaller 3 km.
The researchers speculate that the rings emerged from a flat debris disk that resulted from the collision of an asteroid with a similar celestial object. Chariklo also has one or more shepherd companions. It was they who, by the force of their gravity, formed the rings.
Both rings were named after two rivers located in Brazil - Oyapoca and Chui. And this year, Japanese scientists presented a three-dimensional model of the ring system. To create the model, the movement of 345 million particles that make up an array of rings was mathematically described. In this case, possible collisions and the gravity of objects in relation to each other were taken into account. The power of the supercomputer was enough for the calculation, but only because the system of Chariklo's rings is not as large as that of Saturn. It is not possible to calculate the motions of the planet's rings at the moment, since the necessary powers have not yet been created.
Unimaginably large exoplanet HD 106906 b
Another unsolved space mystery to date can be considered an exoplanet codenamed HD 106906 b. The object is unique in that its mass is 11 times the mass of Jupiter, and the distance to the center of the system in which it is located is 650 times greater than the similar distance between the Earth and the Sun.
The unusual space system immediately aroused the interest of astronomers, since no such example had been discovered until that moment. And what is very important, the discovery violated all existing models of planet formation.
It is believed that planets like Earth, which are close to their stars, were formed due to the collision of small cosmic bodies. These include asteroids that exist in large numbers in the protoplanetary disks of young stars. For larger planets in distant orbits, scientists propose a different model of formation. The main material for their creation is the compressed matter of the protoplanetary disk.
Object HD 106906 b belongs to large planets, but in the orbit along which it revolves, there would not be enough protoplanetary matter for the appearance of such a massive celestial body.
Currently, there are two theories to explain the appearance of such a large object. According to the first of them, we are presented with a binary star system formed as a result of the compression of two clouds of hot gas. They capture each other in a single gravitational field and begin to rotate together. And if this assumption is correct, then the planet HD 106906 b can be considered a failed star.
The second theory was suggested by the planetary system itself, in which the circumstellar debris disk of primordial matter was preserved, from which most of the planets arose. Observation of this substance will help to unravel the riddle of the formation of HD 106906 b.
Sergey Cheryshev