Despite the fact that mankind, thanks to the most powerful telescopes and numerous space missions, has learned a lot of interesting things about our solar system, there are still many questions and mysteries that baffle even the most outstanding scientists of our time. And the more we study space, the more riddles it presents to us. We offer you to familiarize yourself with ten most interesting mysteries of our solar system, which even the best minds of our planet have not yet been able to solve.
Invisible shield surrounding the Earth
In 1958, James Van Allen of the University of Iowa discovered a pair of radiation rings encircling our planet at an altitude of 40,000 kilometers and consisting of high-energy electrons and protons. The magnetic field of the Earth keeps these rings around our planet. Observation of the rings has shown that they are either contracting or expanding under the influence of the energy emitted by flares on the Sun.
In 2013, Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado discovered a third structure between Van Allen's inner and outer radiation rings. Baker referred to this structure as a "storage ring" that acts as an expanding and contracting invisible shield that blocks the effects of "deadly electrons". These electrons, located at an altitude of 16,000 kilometers, can be fatal not only for people in space, but also for various equipment of space satellites.
At an altitude of just over 11,000 kilometers above the surface of the planet, the boundary of the inner ring is formed, whose outer contour blocks electrons and prevents them from penetrating deeper into our atmosphere.
“These electrons seem to collide with a glass wall. Something creates a kind of force field around our planet, which we could see in various science fiction films. It's an incredibly mysterious phenomenon,”says Baker.
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Scientists have developed several theories that in one way or another could partially explain the essence of this invisible shield. However, none of these theories are final and confirmed.
Acceleration anomalies
To send spacecraft to the far corners of our solar system, scientists use special gravitational maneuvers, using the gravitational energy of our planet or the moon to accelerate. However, scientists, as it turns out, are not always able to accurately calculate the speed of acceleration of spacecraft during such maneuvers. Sometimes it happens that the calculated speed does not match the previously announced one. Such inconsistencies are called "abnormal acceleration".
Now scientists have the ability to calculate only the exact difference in speed when accelerating due to the Earth's gravitational energy. However, even in this case, unforeseen events occur, as, for example, happened with the NASA probe "Cassini" in 1999, whose flight speed due to unknown circumstances was slowed down by 2 millimeters per second. Another case occurred in 1998, when the NEAR spacecraft of the same NASA received an inexplicable acceleration of 13 millimeters per second higher than previously announced calculations.
“These unexplained differences in calculated and real speeds do not play a significant role in changing the flight path of spacecraft,” says Louis Acedo Rodriguez, a physicist at the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
"While these anomalous differences are less common, given all the risks, it is very important to know what causes them."
Scientists at one time offered various theories about what could cause these anomalies. Both solar radiation and dark matter captured by the gravity of our planet were put in the culprits, but no one knows the exact cause of this phenomenon. Still.
Jupiter's great red spot
The big red spot on Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, has two unresolved mysteries. The first mystery has to do with why this giant hurricane never stops? It is so huge that at least two planets the size of our Earth could fit inside it.
“According to current theories, the great red spot on Jupiter should have disappeared after a few decades. However, this hurricane has been going on for several centuries,”says Pedram Hasanzade of Harvard University.
There are several theories trying to explain its so long duration. According to one of these theories, a long-lived giant hurricane absorbs smaller nearby tornadoes, absorbing their energy. Hasanzade himself proposed another theory in 2013. According to her, the movement of vortex flows of cold gases from bottom to top and hot gases from top to bottom inside this giant hurricane allows to restore some of the energy in its center. And yet none of the proposed theories conclusively solves the question of this riddle.
The second mystery of the large red spot is related to the source of its color. One theory suggests that the red color is caused by chemical elements hidden by the visible clouds of the gas giant. However, some scientists argue that the upward movement of chemical elements would be the result of a more saturated red tint of the vortex at all heights.
One of the latest hypotheses is that Jupiter's great red spot is a kind of "sunburn" of the upper cloud layer, while the lower layers are white or rather grayish. Scientists supporting this theory believe that the red color of the vortex is due to the influence of ultraviolet light from the Sun, breaking through the ammonia composition of the gas in the upper layers of the atmosphere of Jupiter.
Titan weather
Like Earth, Titan has its own seasons. Titan is the only satellite in our solar system with a dense atmosphere. Each season on Titan is equal to about seven years on Earth (Titan, recall, is a satellite of Saturn, which takes 29 Earth years to orbit the Sun).
The last season change on Titan happened in 2009. In its northern hemisphere, winter gave way to spring, while in the southern part of the satellite, summer gave way to autumn. However, in May 2012, during the fall season in the southern hemisphere, the Cassini spacecraft captured photographs of a giant polar vortex forming at the satellite's south pole. After seeing these photographs, scientists were perplexed by the fact that the vortex was formed 300 kilometers above the surface of Titan. The reason for the confusion was the height and temperature of the area where this vortex formed - they were too high.
By analyzing the spectral data of the colors of sunlight reflected by Titan's atmosphere, scientists were able to detect signs of hydrogen cyanide particles. And its presence, in turn, could mean that our whole idea of Titan is fundamentally wrong. The presence of hydrogen cyanide should indicate that the satellite's upper atmosphere should be 100 degrees Celsius colder than previously thought. As the season changed, the atmosphere in Titan's southern hemisphere began to cool faster than expected.
As the circulation of the atmosphere during the change of season drives a huge volume of gas southward, the concentration of hydrogen cyanide increases and cools the surrounding air. Reducing exposure to sunlight during the winter season also cools the southern hemisphere more. Scientists are going to test this assumption, as well as many other mysteries of Titan on the day of the summer solstice, which will occur on Saturn in 2017.
Ultra Energy Cosmic Radiation Source
Cosmic radiation is a high-energy radiation that has not been fully studied by science. One of the main mysteries of astrophysics is where ultra-energetic cosmic radiation comes from and how it can contain such an incredible amount of energy. These are the most highly charged particles known in our universe. Scientists can only observe their movement when they hit the upper layers of our planet, bursting into even smaller particles and causing a sharp pulse of radio waves lasting no more than a few nanoseconds.
However, on Earth, it is impossible to trace where these particles come from. The area of the largest detector for detecting these particles on Earth is only about 3,000 square kilometers, which is approximately equal to the area of the dwarf state of Luxembourg. Scientists plan to solve this problem by building the "Square kilometer grid" (SKA) - a supersensitive radio interferometer, thanks to which the Moon (yes, our natural satellite) will turn into a real giant cosmic radiation detector.
The square kilometer grid will use the entire visible portion of the moon's surface to detect radio signals from these ultra-high-energy particles. Thanks to SKA, scientists plan to record up to 165 events associated with ultra-high-energy particles, which, of course, is many times more than they are able to do now.
“Cosmic radiation of this type of energy is so rare that you need to have an incredibly large detector with you that can collect the necessary amount of information that you can actually work with,” explains Dr. Justin Bray of the University of Southampton.
“But the size of the moon dwarfs any other particle detector ever built. If we succeed, then there will be a better opportunity to find out where these particles come from."
Venus radio silence
Venus has a hot, dense, cloudy atmosphere that hides its surface from line of sight. Until now, the only way to map the surface of this planet is by radar. When the Magellan spacecraft visited Venus 20 years ago, scientists became interested in two mysteries of the planet that have remained unsolved until now.
The first mystery is that the higher the terrain of the planet's surface, the better (“brighter”) the radio waves directed at the surface are reflected. Something similar is happening here on Earth, but taking into account visible light. The higher we go, the lower the temperature gets. The higher in the mountains, the larger and thicker the snow caps. A similar effect occurs on Venus, whose surface we cannot observe in visible light. Scientists believe this effect is caused by a process of chemical weathering, which is dependent on temperature or the type of heavy metal precipitation, which act as metal caps that reflect radio signals.
The second mystery of Venus lies in the presence of radar gaps in the elevations of the planet's surface. Scientists see faint reflections at an altitude of 2,400 meters, then a sharp jump in signal reflections as they rise to 4,500 meters. However, starting from 4700 meters, there is a sharp increase in gaps in signal reflection. Sometimes there are hundreds of these gaps. The signals seem to go to emptiness.
Blobs of light on Saturn's F-ring
Comparing data recently obtained by the Cassini spacecraft with information obtained by Voyager 30 years ago, scientists have found a decrease in the manifestations of bright clumps on Saturn's F ring (although the total number of clumps remains unchanged). Scientists have found that the F-ring is capable of changing. At the same time, do it very quickly. Actual for several days.
“This observation opens up another mystery to our solar system that is definitely worth solving,” says Robert French of the SETI Institute in California.
Some of Saturn's rings are made of chunks of ice that are similar in size to large boulders. However, the planet's F-ring is made up of ice particles no larger than dust grains. For this reason, scientists often refer to the F-ring as a "dust ring". When looking at this ring, you will see a dim glow.
Occasionally, ice particles close to the ring will combine to form large ice balls - Saturn's tiny moons. When these tiny satellites collide with the bulk of the F-ring, they push out the particles that make it up. As a result, bright flares occur. The number of these flares is directly related to the number of these tiny satellites. At least that's what one of the theories says.
According to another theory, the F-ring of Saturn was formed relatively recently. And it was formed as a result of the destruction of the planet's larger ice satellites. In this case, changes in the F-ring are due to its development. Scientists have not yet decided which of the theories looks more like the truth. More observations of the planet's F-ring are required.
Imaginary geysers of Europe
At the end of 2013, scientists announced that the Hubble Space Telescope had discovered geysers bursting out to a height of 200 kilometers on the surface of the south pole of Europa, the icy moon of Jupiter. Unexpectedly for science, the search for extraterrestrial life is potentially easier. After all, an orbital probe could fly through these geysers and collect samples of Europa's oceanic composition to look for signs of life, without having to land on an icy surface.
However, further observations of Europe showed no evidence of water vapor. Reanalysis of previously collected data generally questioned whether there were any geysers at all. Some scientists also point out that Hubble did not find any geysers while exploring Europe in October 1999 and November 2012.
The "discovery" of geysers in Europa turned out to be a real mystery. The NASA aerospace agency plans to send a robotic probe to Jupiter's satellite, whose task will be to understand the reality or unreality of observation.
Methane on Mars
Since its stay on the Red Planet, the Curiosity rover has not noticed signs of methane on Mars, but 8 months after it landed, scientists were surprised by what the rover recorded with its sensitive sensors. On Earth, more than 90 percent of the methane in the atmosphere is produced by living things. It is for this reason that scientists, by all means, decided to find out where methane could have come from on Mars and what could cause its unexpected release into the atmosphere of the Red Planet.
According to all the same researchers, there are several possible reasons for this. One of them, for example, could be the presence of methane-producing bacteria or methanogens on the planet. Another likely cause is hydrogen-rich meteorites, which occasionally penetrate the atmosphere of Mars and are, in fact, a kind of organic bombs that release methane when heated to extreme temperatures by ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. There are many theories in this matter, and one is more beautiful than the other.
The second mystery of Mars is that methane not only appears, but also disappears. When the Martian space probe failed to detect signs of methane after it was initially found there, scientists were bewildered. According to science, methane cannot disappear from the planet in just a few years. The decomposition of this chemical from the atmosphere would take about 300 years. Therefore, the question arose before scientists: was methane actually discovered on Mars?
However, some of the methane emissions have indeed been confirmed. As for where he went next: maybe the Martian winds are constantly driving methane molecules away from the sensitive sensors of the Curiosity? And yet this does not explain in any way certain observations of a space probe in orbit.
Life on Ceres
NASA's Dawn space exploration vehicle is in a hurry to meet Ceres, a dwarf planet located in our solar system. The space probe is due to arrive in March 2015. Almost everything we know about Ceres remains a mystery to scientists. Unlike the protoplanet Vesta, which Dawn visited on its way to Ceres, there are no stories of meteorites or comets associated with Ceres that could shape its structure.
And while Vesta remains a very dry asteroid, Ceres is believed to be composed of rocks and ice and may contain a liquid ocean of water under its ice cap. Scientists suggest that water in one form or another makes up 40 percent of its composition. Ceres, according to science, is the second planet (after Earth) or any other cosmic body that contains such huge reserves of water in our solar system. True, scientists have not yet been able to find out the exact volume of water. Perhaps the Dawn spacecraft will help solve this question, as well as answer the question of why Ceres is so different from Vesta.
Both dwarf planets may contain vital information about life on Earth. And Ceres in this regard is the most mysterious. Could this protoplanet support life? As far as scientists know, there are three components necessary for life: an energy source, liquid water, and chemical building blocks such as carbon. In addition to the fact that water can be present in a large volume on Ceres, including in liquid form, Ceres itself is close enough to the Sun to receive a sufficient amount of solar heat. It is not yet known to science whether the dwarf planet has its own internal heat source. Also, nothing is known about the necessary building blocks of life. Let's hope the Dawn space mission can answer all of these questions.
NIKOLAY KHIZHNYAK