Buzz
The cosmos is like a box of chocolates, but without the lemon-filled ones. Each new discovery pushes the boundaries of science and fuels our imagination, with the most intriguing being the anomalies. Every star, planet, or meteor that initially seems puzzling unveils another layer of the universal code.
10. A Brand New Storm Phenomenon... On A Star
NASA’s Spitzer and Kepler Space Telescopes form a powerful duo, recently capturing an unexpected event on a small star: a storm.
Located just 53 light-years away in the Lyra constellation, a Jupiter-sized L-dwarf known as W1906+40 features a peculiar mole-like growth similar to Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Unlike its brown dwarf counterparts, W1906+40 is a true star, able to squish atoms together to generate its own light. However, it is only barely a star—this tiny object has a relatively cool temperature of 2,000 degrees Celsius (3,500 °F).
W1906+40 is so cool that clouds form and swirl in its atmosphere. These clouds are stirred by the star’s internal turmoil, creating a dark spot near its north pole, which astronomers initially mistook for a sunspot. While it isn't directly visible, scientists detected its presence through a dip in light every nine hours as the star spins.
Clouds are common on brown dwarfs, but these substellar objects lack the power to sustain fusion. Even their storms are short-lived, typically lasting no more than a day. In contrast, the storm on W1906+40 has persisted for over two years.
9. Enigmatic New Class of Globular Cluster
Globular clusters resemble spherical popcorn balls, containing thousands of stars. Some are nearly as ancient as the universe itself, having wandered across space for billions of years before finally settling on the fringes of established galaxies.
Our Milky Way isn't bad, but it only boasts about 150 clusters. In contrast, more massive galaxies flaunt many clusters, with the closest galactic giant being Centaurus A (NGC 5128), an elliptical galaxy 12 million light-years away, home to 2,000 globular companions.
However, not all of Centaurus A’s clusters follow the rules. Typically, a cluster’s mass corresponds with its brightness, with the brightest clusters being the heaviest. But when astronomers examined 125 globulars from Centaurus A, they found some containing far more mass than their visible light suggests, even with the most advanced imaging techniques.
Researchers propose two equally compelling explanations: dark matter or black holes. While globular clusters don't typically contain dark matter like galaxies do, it's possible that some have acquired this elusive substance through an unknown process. Black holes are also sufficiently massive to produce the observed effects, painting a chilling picture of Centaurus A as a cosmic minefield surrounded by ravenous black holes.
8. A New Ultra-Bright Supernova
Ohio State University’s impressively named observatory, the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN), recently detected the brightest star explosion ever witnessed.
In 2015, the twin telescopes Brutus and Cassius captured an unremarkable speck of light. Further observations revealed an unusual light spectrum emanating from this speck, and ultimately, the Southern African Large Telescope confirmed an ultra-bright gas cloud with a mysterious 15-kilometer (10 mi) object at its core. Researchers attribute this to a past supernova, far more powerful than any previously recorded—so intense that it released nearly 600 billion Suns’ worth of energy into the cosmos; a release that would take our sun a staggering 10 billion years to replicate.
Known as ASASSN-15lh, this supernova is so extraordinary that it challenges the limits of our current understanding. While astronomers struggle to explain its immense power, they have a few hypotheses. It might be the catastrophic demise of one of the universe’s most massive stars, a rare occurrence that could explain why we've never witnessed such a powerful explosion before.
Alternatively, a millisecond magnetar could be the culprit. These objects spin at an astonishing rate of once per millisecond. If they can convert nearly all of this immense rotational energy into light, they could produce the kind of cataclysmic outbursts observed by astronomers.
7. A New Type of Star Disturbance That Resonates Like Stellar Music
Astronomers are on a quest to uncover the galaxy’s oldest stars, and a newly developed technique has enabled them to pinpoint an ancient stellar group dating back to the Milky Way’s early days.
A study from the University of Birmingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy delved into the cores of eight ancient stars in the Messier 4 (M4) globular cluster, located just 7,200 light-years away, to capture the ‘music’ within. These stars are significantly older, larger, and redder than our Sun, and—most surprisingly—they resonate with sound. These 'resonant acoustic oscillations' disturb the star's internal structure and cause subtle yet detectable fluctuations in brightness.
This newfound ability to measure stellar oscillations has given rise to the field of asteroseismology, a precise technique for studying stars from within. Much like carnival weight-guessers, astronomers can now use this method to estimate a star's age and mass. The oscillations align with theoretical models, confirming that M4's stars are 13 billion years old, making them some of the galaxy’s earliest builders.
6. New Type of Star with an Oxygen-Rich Atmosphere
Star SDSSJ124043.01+671034.68, affectionately called ‘Dox’, may seem like any other star at first glance. But, try saying its name without taking a few breaths, and don’t forget its outer layer is made up of 99.9 percent oxygen. This extraordinary white dwarf stands apart in a stellar catalog of 4.5 million observations, even among its 32,000 confirmed white dwarf companions.
What’s equally remarkable is how it was discovered. To find exceptional stars, researchers study spectral graphs that reveal a star’s chemical makeup. However, this task is too nuanced for machines and requires a human touch. In this case, the discerning eye belonged to undergraduate student Gustavo Ourique, who painstakingly examined about 300,000 spectral charts at a rate of up to a few thousand per day, eventually uncovering Dox, the oxygen-laden star.
Typically, white dwarfs are shrouded in the lighter elements produced throughout their life cycle. However, Dox defied expectations by shedding its lighter covering and acquiring an almost pure oxygen atmosphere, with a subtle sprinkling of other elements like neon and magnesium.
Scientists aren’t quite sure how it happened, but they suspect that Dox once shared its space with a red giant. Over time, Dox siphoned off hot gas from its stellar partner, eventually overindulging to the point where the star exploded, ejecting the lighter materials into the vast reaches of space.
5. A New Kind of Space Mountain
Jupiter’s moon Io, with its ceaseless volcanic activity, holds the title of the most volcanic body in our solar system. Orbiting just 400,000 kilometers (260,000 miles) from its gaseous parent planet, Jupiter's intense gravitational pull subjects the tiny moon to extreme forces, relentlessly pulling and stretching it like a gumball in the jaws of a cosmic giant.
After enduring countless cycles of gravitational pressure, Io is now a world covered in sulfurous geysers, rivers of molten lava, and wildly jagged mountains. These towering peaks, numbering around one hundred, are completely unique in the solar system. They rise in solitary defiance from Io’s flexible surface, unlike the grouped, sloping ranges found on other planetary bodies.
Simulations suggest that immense compressive forces, coupled with relentless lava eruptions, contribute to the formation of these strange, vertical mountains. Io’s surface is constantly replenished with fresh lava from its 400 active volcanoes (a remarkable feat for a body the size of our Moon), coating the plains with five new inches of molten rock every decade.
The thick layers of ash and lava create crushing pressures that intensify as you go deeper, due to the spherical shape of most moons. When the strain reaches a breaking point, the surface cracks, releasing a colossal escarpment.
4. A New Kind of Surprisingly Young Hot Jupiter
Hot Jupiters are gas giants that have somehow ended up dangerously close to their stars. Some of these planets are caught in such tight orbits that the gravity of their star slowly strips them of their outer layers. PTFO8–8695 b is one such planet, orbiting so closely that it completes a full revolution in just 11 hours.
PTFO8–8695 b also stands out as one of the youngest planets ever discovered, with its star, PTFO8–8695, being only two million years old. This is surprisingly young—most hot Jupiters orbit stars that are billions of years old or, at the very least, middle-aged in stellar terms.
Astronomers believe that all hot Jupiters are migratory, as gas giants cannot form so near to their stars due to the intense heat. Instead, these planets tend to form farther away, where conditions are cooler and more conducive to their development—similar to the location of our own gas giants beyond the asteroid belt.
The future of PTFO8–8695 b remains uncertain, though there’s some hope that it might not face an inevitable demise. While many hot Jupiters seem doomed to spiraling into their stars, some manage to stabilize into scorching orbits. There’s a chance that PTFO8–8695 b could retain enough of its mass to avoid complete destruction.
3. A New Type of Rocky Planet
Rocky planets, like our Earth, have a mass limit. If a planet becomes too large, its gravity starts attracting vast amounts of hydrogen gas, eventually transforming it into a gas giant. But planet Kepler-10c, with 17 times the mass of Earth and no gas, refuses to conform to the rule, offering astronomers a challenge.
Kepler-10c was discovered 560 million light-years away in the constellation Draco by the Kepler Space Observatory, along with the Canary Islands’ cutting-edge Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. With a diameter of 30,000 kilometers (18,000 miles), it was initially mistaken for a mini-Neptune, a type of small gas giant with a dense core and thick gaseous layers.
The mini-Neptune theory was quickly discarded when mass measurements showed that Kepler-10c somehow managed to pack 17 Earth-masses into its structure. This hefty composition is far too massive for a mini-Neptune, pointing instead to a planet made of rocky materials.
At 11 billion years old, Kepler-10c is a true cosmic veteran. Its ancient age hints that the early universe may have had a significant amount of heavy elements, suggesting the existence of many more rocky planets across the cosmos than we once thought.
2. A New Type of Extrasolar System
When astronomers first identified 2MASS J2126-8140, it seemed to be one of the most solitary planets ever observed. A rogue gas giant, weighing 12 to 14 times more than Jupiter, it was doomed to wander the cosmic wilderness for eternity, seeking a star to call its own.
But the tale takes a more optimistic turn. Astronomers discovered a companion trailing the isolated planet—a red dwarf star, TYC 9486-927-1. Both objects lie about 100 light-years away from Earth, and it appears they’re moving together, meaning 2MASS J2126-8140 isn’t alone in the vast universe after all!
By calculating the distances, researchers realized they had stumbled upon the largest solar system ever known. The parent star is located an astonishing 621 billion miles away, appearing just like any other flickering star in the night sky. What's even more remarkable—the planet is so distant from its star that, if any hypothetical life forms were to observe the sky, they would struggle to identify their sun amid the vast sea of nearly identical points of light.
In the context of solar systems, 2MASS J2126-8140 follows an orbit that is 140 times larger than Pluto’s, which is only 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) away from the Sun. Such an orbit couldn’t have formed through the traditional method of disk collapse, leading scientists to propose that the two bodies came from a colossal cloud of intergalactic gas.
1. A New Type of Possibly Extinct Space Rock
Oest 65, an ancient extraterrestrial rock rich in iridium and neon, stands apart from the 50,000 other cosmic specimens we've cataloged. In fact, it may belong to a class of objects we'll never encounter again, as astronomers theorize that devastating impacts pulverized its parent body into oblivion.
This meteorite arrived on Earth around 470 million years ago, landing on the seafloor of a long-lost ocean, now the location of a Swedish quarry. Its parent body was likely a large space rock, 20 to 30 kilometers (12 to 19 miles) in diameter, capable of causing significant damage to Earth, in contrast to the relatively modest 10-kilometer-wide (6 miles) Chicxulub asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.
The orbiting 'space potato' collided with an even larger space mountain, 100 to 150 kilometers (60 to 90 miles) wide, creating a shower of smaller debris that bombarded Earth with fiery devastation. These chondrites continue to be scattered throughout our solar system, though another specimen like Oest 65 is unlikely to be found, offering a rare glimpse into the building blocks of the early solar system.
