Have you met someone who would be completely sure that humanity has conquered space? If so, then you should know that this person is a rare optimist. Space has not revealed all its secrets to us. And even what we already know is sometimes more frightening than pleasing.
What is the only assumption about the existence of planets unknown to us, which can suddenly crash into the Earth, leading to a new end of the world? NASA is seriously considering this possibility. But apart from the frightening and absolute darkness and obscurity, space is fraught with real miracles … really, will we be able to observe them with our own eyes?
We present to you 11 incredible facts about our universe that can surprise, amaze and even scare you.
Black holes
This phrase sounds pretty scary, and for good reason. Black holes, as you know, are formed as a result of the destruction of stars, forming a real "whirlpool" sucking in everything that comes in its way. Moreover, the word "path" is extremely appropriate here. Black holes do indeed move through the Universe, and their trajectory is impossible to predict. Sometimes they crash into massive objects that they cannot absorb, causing black holes to change their direction of motion. All this is accompanied by the lowest sound that has been recorded so far. For distrustful musicians, let's explain: this sound is B flat, which is 57 octaves below the note to the first octave.
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Planet with diamond icebergs floating in an ocean of carbon
No, this is not a line from a poem by some poet obsessed with space. This is how scientists imagine the surface of Neptune and Uranus. Due to special conditions, it can even rain brilliantly there.
Dark matter and dark energy
More than 90% of the entire Universe consists of this combination, and we can neither see nor explore it. Both energy and matter are absolutely invisible to humans and cannot be measured in any way. And at the same time, our entire world (including ourselves) is almost entirely composed of dark energy and matter. Not that we are claiming that there are some creatures from other dimensions that we also cannot notice … … we are simply not sure that they are not.
Hot planet
Another incredible planet could well surprise us with a rain of molten glass, because due to its close position in relation to its "sun", the temperature on its surface reaches more than 4000 ° C. Yes, if we are there, we will die immediately. Apparently, everything that is beautiful in space is fatal to humans.
Sometimes the satellites of the planets are much more interesting than the planets themselves
So, for example, on Titan, the moon of Saturn, the gravity is so low that we could fly there like birds, tying our wings. And we would hover over an amazingly beautiful green and yellow surface … … until the gasoline rain killed us. Sad, isn't it?
Phantom menace
In addition to giant asteroids, unknown planets and wandering black holes, our planet is also threatened by a huge cloud of gas. It weighs like one million stars and is slowly moving straight towards us. True, until it reaches our planet, millions of years will pass. But when this happens, it will definitely be the end of the world and the beginning of a new life cycle.
Stars have their own quirks
The stars are one of the few cosmic wonders that we can regularly observe with the naked eye. Everyone knows about their beauty, but how many have heard about their sound. Yes, stars can sing. True, unfortunately, we cannot hear their singing, because the height of this singing is about a trillion hertz. (18) However, these heavenly fireflies are not as cute as they seem at first glance. Among them are real vampires and zombies. So, technically, a dead star can pull matter away from its “living” neighbors. These stars are usually called supernovae, and they are a subspecies of white dwarfs. As a result, these cuties suck out all the energy of their neighbors, and what is left of these neighbors later floats around the universe in the form of space debris.
Earthly not from Earth
Have you ever assumed that many of the things we are used to in fact have an unearthly origin. For example, gold. All the gold on our planet got here as a result of numerous collisions with asteroids. What else? Yes, even life! Yes, you heard right: there is an assumption, the essence of which boils down to the fact that life in the form of microorganisms came to our planet from Mars. Why isn't she there now? Who knows … You never know what a terrible secret of the death of all living things hides the "red planet".
People as a phenomenon
That's right - we are one of the wonders of our universe. And not only our existence in itself (which, of course, is amazing), but also our behavior. Here's what really strikes: we do not get tired of polluting our planet and are ready to kill each other for a ghostly idea. We have some amazing craving for self-destruction in all possible ways. I don't know how other intelligent representatives of this Universe are there (if they, of course, exist), but I would not want to come into contact with us. Except to observe: so, for the sake of laughter.
Contact with extraterrestrial intelligence … … or not?
There are at least two cases recorded in history that describe possible contact with extraterrestrial life forms. So, in August 1977, the Big ear radio telescope (translated as "Big Ear"), located at the Ohio State University Observatory, caught a radio signal that later became known as "WOW!" The fact is that the telescope showed exactly the frequency and periodicity of waves, which, as expected, would be characteristic of extraterrestrial sources. The scientist who recorded this and signed the printed data - "Wow!" - hence the name.
The last interesting phenomenon was noticed in October 2016. It was a mysterious blinking of stars. It would seem that strange? However, such a bright pulsation is extremely atypical for stars. So, it is likely that these are some kind of alien life forms that sent us signals … or maybe not.
New house
Humanity has long been considering the need to search for a new planet, because, as we have already found out, sooner or later a new end of the world awaits us. So, the closest planet in terms of conditions is Gliese 581g, to which we will have to fly about 20 light years. True, there is one “but”: the peculiarities of the location of this planet are such that if a person who is on its surface comes out into the “sunlight”, his skin will melt, and upon entering the shadow, he will immediately freeze. Here's an alternative … … questionable.
Anna Kiseleva