Space has been an integral part of our life for a long time. Since we began to understand our surroundings, we often gaze at the stars for answers, inspiration and reassurance. Watching them gave rise to many ideas for the creation of hundreds of films and the writing of thousands of different books. Based on our knowledge of space, calendars and horoscopes have been created, which describe how the location of astronomical objects can determine the individual traits of our character and predict important events in our life.
Space has inspired and continues to inspire many future visionaries. We are trying to develop methods and paths for interstellar travel, space communication networks, and even consider the probabilities of time travel through wormholes. The objects on today's list look like they come from some old science fiction book. However, many scientists believe that they could exist somewhere in the vast expanses of space, and we can only find them to be convinced of this. Therefore, today we will talk about the ten most interesting hypothetical astronomical objects that may actually exist.
Zombie stars
As the name implies, these are stars that have somehow literally come back to life. We have all heard about supernovae, which are often called the death agony of a star. So, in most cases, supernovae actually represent the final phase of a star's life, when they literally explode and are completely destroyed. However, scientists at NASA believe that supernovae may leave behind part of a dying dwarf star.
Astronomers first started talking about the possibility of zombie stars when they observed a dim blue star feeding its energy to a larger companion star. This process ultimately led to the emergence of a relatively small supernova, classified "Type Iax". It is not very bright and does not exude as much stellar mass as Type Ia supernovae do. At the moment, this is the only known process leading to the explosion of white dwarfs. As a rule, stars that explode at the end of their life cycle are massive and have relatively short transient cycles. White dwarfs, on the other hand, are colder, live longer and usually do not explode. Instead, they scatter their mass, creating a planetary nebula. NASA experts saywhich have already discovered about 30 supernovae of the Type Iax subclass, leaving behind the surviving white dwarfs. However, more research and observation is required to confirm their existence.
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White holes
White holes are theorized by black hole scientists. Working with sophisticated mathematical models describing black holes, astronomers have found that if there is a singularity at the center of a massless black hole, or if there is no mass inside the event horizon, a white hole can be created.
Models say that if white holes did exist, then their behavior would be the exact opposite of black holes. That is, instead of absorbing absolutely all the matter surrounding them, they would “spit out” it into the Universe. However, the same models say that white holes can only exist if there is no matter inside their event horizon. Otherwise, even one atom of matter entering the white hole's event horizon will be able to cause its collapse and complete disappearance. That is, if white holes once existed at the beginning of our Universe, their life cycle would be very short, since the Universe is filled with matter.
Dyson sphere
The Dyson sphere concept was first introduced by Freeman Dyson, an American physicist and astronomer who explored the idea through a thought experiment. He envisioned a sphere of enormous radius surrounding the star and acting as a collector of solar energy. In his opinion, a civilization sufficiently developed in technological terms will be able to use a kind of "shell", or "ring of matter" (literally), with which it will be possible to collect up to 100 percent of the energy emitted by a star and transfer it to the planet. Dyson presented this "sphere" as an attempt to explain the possibility of extraterrestrial life in the universe. The discovery of such an object anywhere in the Universe will be direct evidence of the presence of a highly developed alien civilization.
The fact is in pursuit. If we can one day acquire the technology that will allow us to create a Dyson sphere around the Sun, then we can generate 384 yotawatts of energy, which is essentially all the generated power of the Sun's core.
Black dwarfs
Perhaps the term "black dwarf" does not evoke the same fantastic analogies as the term "zombie star" does, but the very concept of this hypothetical stellar object is no less interesting. Astronomers are aware of the existence of white, brown and red dwarf stars. Nobody has seen black dwarfs yet, so they are still closer to theory. Nevertheless, scientists believe that these objects can form from very long-cooling white dwarfs, when their temperature reaches the temperature of the background radiation - the cosmic microwave background radiation left after the Big Bang. Its figure is now about 2.7 Kelvin.
It is assumed that these black dwarfs may be virtually invisible, since they have no internal energy source and, therefore, have a very low temperature. In theory, if a white dwarf with a temperature of 5 Kelvin could turn into a black dwarf, it would take about 1015 years. However, the life cycle of white dwarfs is very long, so it will take a very, very long time for their temperature to drop to this level.
Quark stars
Quark, or, as they are also called, "strange" stars, are stars consisting of so-called "quark matter", elementary particles of ordinary matter. Astronomers believe that such stars can be created after medium-sized stars (about 1.44 times smaller than our Sun) run out of fuel to maintain a thermonuclear reaction and they enter the collapsing stage of their life cycle. When they collapse, protons and electrons are squeezed together so much that they eventually form neutrons. However, scientists speculate that if a star has a sufficiently large mass and continues to collapse after this stage, then the created neutrons under colossal pressure can break into quarks, creating a surprisingly dense form of matter.
A scientific article published in 2012 describes the hypothetical nature and nature of these strange stars. The authors of the work explain that these stars can be enveloped in a thin nuclear "crust" of heavy ions immersed in electron gas. But not always. Sometimes this crust may be missing. In this case, quark stars begin to produce very powerful electric fields of up to 1019 V / cm (volts per centimeter).
Ocean planets
As the name suggests, the surface of oceanic planets, or water worlds, can be completely covered by endless oceans. The idea of water worlds became popular when NASA's aerospace agency announced the existence of two planets outside our solar system: Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f. Scientists suspect that these planets may be ocean worlds and contain a rich variety of oceanic life.
A paper published in June 2004 explains how this type of planet can form. It is believed that such planets can appear only at a relatively large distance from their native stars and only then slowly begin to approach them (approximately over a period of about 1 million years). Over time, the planet becomes 5-10 times closer to the star than it was originally formed. The article also discusses the internal structure of such planets, as well as how deep their oceans can be and what kind of atmosphere can cover these water worlds.
Chthonic planets
The idea of chthonic planets became popular thanks to the planet Osiris, located about 153 years from the solar system. NASA aerospace scientists were surprised when they found carbon and oxygen in the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar system. However, another interesting detail later became clear - the atmosphere of Osiris evaporates very quickly.
On the basis of this, the researchers deduced a new class of planets called chthonic. They become them when gas giants, similar to our Jupiter, reach a critical level of convergence with their native stars. In this case, the outer layers of their atmosphere begin to rapidly evaporate. In essence, the Chthonic planets are the remains of the once large gas giants that have lost their gas shell and have exposed their dense central core.
Preon stars
Hypothetical preonic stars can be an extension of quark stars. When the star contracts so much that it turns into a quark star, but still retains enough mass to continue the collapse process, then the quarks, according to scientists, will begin to split into preons.
To date, science has not found a way to divide quarks into preons. Nevertheless, if quarks are actually made of them, then theoretically the star will be able to reach an even denser state.
Ghost galaxies
The so-called ghost galaxies are dark galaxies with very few stars. They are so ineffective in creating new luminaries that they are mostly composed of gas and dust, making them virtually invisible. They are still considered hypothetical objects, but astronomers tend to believe that ghost galaxies may actually exist. In 2012, an international team of scientists announced that they had discovered the first such dark galaxy. More data analysis is required to confirm the results.
Another type of galaxies is also attributed to ghost galaxies. Their peculiarity lies in the fact that they consist of up to 99 percent of dark matter. One of these galaxies, dubbed Dragonfly 44, was found in 2014. In terms of mass, it is not inferior to the Milky Way, but at the same time it has 100 times less number of stars compared to our galaxy. If we ever manage to observe and study it in more detail, then this information will seriously increase our knowledge base about the formation process of both galaxies themselves and dark matter.
Cosmic strings
Cosmic strings are a crazy idea in themselves, but the craziest thing about it is that they can actually exist. These strings are some kind of defects in the fabric of space and time and appeared shortly after the birth of the universe. If it were possible to interact with one of these strings, then, according to theories, it would be possible to create a "closed time curve", allowing you to travel back in time.
Scientists were so interested in space strings that they began to think about how a time machine could be created on their basis. In their opinion, if you place two strings close enough to each other or connect a string to a black hole, then you can create a whole array of such closed time curves, moving in space and time.
Despite the fact that no convincing evidence of their existence has yet been found, there are indirect signs of their presence in the tissue of the Universe. This, in particular, shows the observation of quasars, as well as some galaxies. As scientists say, it is impossible to see the cosmic string itself, but it, like any very massive object, creates the effect of gravitational lensing - it forces light from sources behind it to bend around it.
Nikolay Khizhnyak