People in all ages were frightened by "hairy stars" (as the word "comet" is translated from Greek), considering them to be harbingers of misfortune. We now know for sure that their fears were not unfounded.
Mysterious catastrophe on Jupiter
As recently as July last year, a strange Earth-sized object crashed into Jupiter. The object was absolutely black and almost did not reflect the sun's rays, which is why, apparently, astronomers missed its appearance. They noticed him only in the very last hours before the collision. What it is - it was not possible to understand. It is assumed that it was still a large comet.
The collision itself turned out to be strange. In contrast to the bright flares that accompanied the massive debris of comet Shoemaker-Levy that entered Jupiter's atmosphere in 1994, the current object caused a huge black spot. Astronomers watched with fear and amazement as it spreads across the entire southern hemisphere of the planet. Probably, the comet consisted of some kind of loose black matter, which "splashed" when entering the upper layers of the Jupiterian atmosphere. If something like this happened on Earth, then hundreds of millions of people would die …
Comet Denning's Big Tour
Unlike planets with constant orbits, comets move in very changeable routes, and sometimes so strange that they cannot be explained by the influence of gravitational fields alone.
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In 1881, the English astronomer Denning discovered a comet, the mystery of which still haunts scientists. Unlike other comets, it did not come close to the Sun and had almost no traditional tail. When we analyzed the trajectory of its movement, amazing things were discovered. Comet Denning, having bypassed the Sun at a respectful distance, first approached the Earth, then Mars, from Mars went to Venus and passed near it, then visited Jupiter. In general, the researchers got the impression that the comet deliberately flew around one planet after another.
In this regard, I recall the grandiose project developed in the 70s of the XX century by American specialists. According to this project, called the "Big Tour", the spacecraft launched into space had to consistently fly fairly close to several planets of the solar system. Especially for this, a strictly defined launch moment and a trajectory of movement were chosen so that the planets with their gravitational fields adjusted the apparatus, throwing it to each other like a ball.
To capture such a moment, a whole team of scientists, armed with the most powerful computer technology, worked for a long time. But for technical reasons, the project was never fully implemented. And then some comet purely by chance appeared in the right place at the right time and followed a trajectory that experts could only dream of.
Some even hastened to announce that at that time our brothers in mind had organized their "Big Tour" by launching a reconnaissance probe into the solar system.
Strange as it may seem, serious scientists do not object to such a hypothesis. “Can't intelligent life move through the boundless space on“islands”that we, earthly observers, sometimes mistakenly identify with comets? - they ask a question. "Is it right to limit the search for extraterrestrial life only by listening to radio signals from distant stellar systems?"
Comet Probe
Denning's comet is not the only celestial body to suggest such speculation. For example, the tail of another comet, discovered in 1926, behaved independently of the direction of the solar wind. In addition, the comet flew not along the calculated trajectory, but significantly deviating from it, which could only be if it had an engine …
Only by agreeing with the fantastic hypothesis about the presence of an engine, we can explain why the famous comet Arenda-Roland, discovered in 1956, had two tails: one was normal, directed from the Sun, and the other was directed in the opposite direction. This second, anomalous tail appeared suddenly and just as suddenly disappeared. Calculations showed. that the velocity of the outflowing particles in the anomalous tail exceeded 3000 m / s. as in the nozzles of modern rocket engines!
The two tails are not the only mystery of comet Arenda-Roland. In 1957, astrophysicists from Ohio (USA) registered an incomprehensible radio emission emanating from it. Moreover, the radiation source did not remain in place, but shifted from the comet's nucleus to the very end of its tail, and then completely began to move away from it. The impression is that the "comet probe" dropped a buoy with a radio beacon.
Asteroids that look like stars
Asteroids also pose many questions to scientists. Relatively recently, for example, measurements were made of the brightness of especially large ones, located in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It revealed. that the asteroid Bamberg is blacker than the blackest soot - it reflects no more than 3% of the sun's rays falling on it. But Vesta significantly surpasses the reflectivity of Mars - 28% of the reflected rays give it the opportunity to show off a bright star in the sky. The reason for its shine has been established by spectrometric analysis methods. It turned out that it consists of a very rare material on Earth - basalt achondrites. But achondrites are formed only at very high pressures and temperatures, which are only deep in the bowels of terrestrial planets. It turns out that the hypothesis about the once-existed planet Phaethon,which exploded and formed the asteroid belt, nevertheless, it has some kind of foundation …
The asteroid Hector also struck everyone. It changes its brilliance with a period of seven hours. The change in gloss itself is not surprising. It only means that the asteroid has an irregular shape and rotates around its axis. But when, on the basis of this assumption, the possible shape of the asteroid was selected, astronomers were quite surprised: Hector, it turns out, should have the shape of a cylinder about 30 km long and about six in diameter! Moreover, judging by the spectrum it emitted, this cylinder is made of stainless steel!..
Are we protecting a controlled black hole?
The collision of large asteroids with the Earth, as we know, leads to truly apocalyptic consequences: volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, fires, the effect of "nuclear winter" and, as a result, to the destruction of a huge number of animals and plant species. However, according to available data, over the past 500 million years, the Earth has been subjected to such cataclysms only 2-3 times. Moreover, these catastrophes happened very opportunely for the people who appeared later, as if "straightening" the evolution of animal species and moving it towards the appearance of man. Why is our planet and especially us, humans, so lucky?
It is believed that the Earth is protected from collisions with comets and asteroids by the gravitational fields of the giant planets Saturn and Jupiter. They act as powerful shields, preventing dangerous space objects from reaching our planet. most of which come to us from the distant outskirts of the solar system - the Oort Cloud. Ufologists, however, have a different opinion on this matter.
They believe that in such an abnormally small number of collisions of the Earth with large asteroids, not giant planets are to blame, but … a black hole.
It has long been noticed that some asteroids suddenly and inexplicably disappear from the field of view and never appear again. Since a lot of such strange disappearances have already been recorded, it has been suggested that a small black hole "walks" around the solar system, which devours all oncoming objects. Its power, by the way, should be quite enough to smash the Earth to pieces (as it may have happened once with Phaethon).
So, ufologists believe that a wandering black hole is the real shield of the Earth. According to their version, some intelligent space race, interested in the emergence and development of human civilization, specially keeps this "fighter" in the remote environs of our planet. destroying all celestial bodies potentially dangerous to us.
Igor Voloznev. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century"
