Buzz
Despite humanity's remarkable achievements, we're still dwarfed by the vastness of the cosmos. Space’s entries in the contest for the most extreme phenomena take home all the awards, only to shatter them in the most awe-inspiring ways.
10. Most Powerful Telescope
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity introduces several mind-boggling concepts. One such idea is that light doesn't always travel in a straight line. The fabric of space, through which light moves, bends around massive objects. The more massive the object, the more space is distorted. This bending causes light passing a star, for example, to curve toward it, changing its path. This phenomenon leads to what is known as Einstein rings. When a light-emitting body shines in all directions behind a massive object, the light bends toward the object, creating the illusion of a ring visible from our vantage point.
The largest known cosmic lens is called J0717.5+3745, a massive galactic cluster located 5.4 billion light years away from Earth. Often described as a “cosmic free-for-all,” this lensing effect helps scientists study objects in the universe that have mass but do not emit radiation. By observing the lensing effect in regions void of regular matter, researchers were able to map the dark matter of J0717.5+3745. The result was a stunning image showing the added mass in false color.
9. Most Intense X-Ray Explosion
NASA's Swift telescope detected the most powerful X-ray burst ever observed in June 2010. This explosion, originating from five billion light years away, was so bright that it overwhelmed the satellite's systems, causing its data processing software to simply shut down. One scientist described the situation as “trying to use a rain gauge and a bucket to measure the flow rate of a tsunami.”
The X-ray burst was 14 times brighter than the most intense continuous X-ray source in the sky, a neutron star 500,000 times closer to Earth. The burst was caused by a star transforming into a black hole, yet its brightness was beyond anything scientists had anticipated. Interestingly, while the X-ray emissions were unprecedented, emissions in other wavelengths remained normal.
8. The Most Powerful Magnet in the Universe
The title of the most powerful cosmic magnet goes to neutron star SGR 0418+5729, discovered by the European Space Agency in 2009. By using an innovative method to analyze X-ray emissions, scientists were able to observe the magnetic field beneath the star’s surface. The ESA even referred to it as a “magnetic monster.”
Magnetars are surprisingly compact, measuring about 20 kilometers (12 miles) across. You could easily fit one on the Moon. However, it’s best not to try: Even from that distance, its magnetic field could stop a locomotive on Earth. Thankfully, this particular magnetar is located 6,500 light years away.
7. Megamasers
Lasers have certainly earned their place in the spotlight over the past few decades, but their distant relatives—masers—also deserve some attention. A maser is essentially a laser, but instead of light, it operates using microwaves. For comparison, the most powerful manmade laser has a peak power of 500 trillion watts. In contrast, the universe dwarfs this figure, producing masers with a mind-blowing power of one nonillion watts, or a million trillion trillion—about 10,000 times the power output of the Sun.
Poets will be delighted to know that masers are generated by quasars, enormous discs of material spiraling into the supermassive black holes at the centers of distant galaxies. What’s truly fascinating is that the source of these powerful masers is water. When water molecules in the quasar collide, they emit microwaves, triggering a chain reaction that amplifies the signal into a full-fledged maser. In 2008, masers from the quasar MG J0414+0534 were detected, providing evidence of water 11.1 billion light-years away.
6. The Oldest Objects Ever Discovered
The age of the universe is roughly 6,000 years, give or take 13.7 billion. The oldest object whose age we can directly measure is HE 1523-0901, a star in our own galaxy. To determine the age of a star, scientists use radioactive clocks in a similar way to how we use carbon dating for human artifacts. Only elements with extremely long half-lives, like uranium or thorium, can be used for such a task. Measurements by the European Southern Observatory in Chile identified six different methods to determine the star’s age, confirming it to be 13.2 billion years old.
There are other objects whose ages we can't measure directly but can estimate. Some of these may even be older than HE 1523-0901. For example, HD 140283, also known as the “Methuselah star,” has perplexed scientists for years. Initial age estimates suggested it was older than the universe itself. However, more precise measurements from Hubble reduced the estimate from 16 billion years to around 14.5 billion, with margins of error placing it within the universe’s age.
5. Fastest Rotating Objects
In a recent breakthrough, scientists created the fastest manmade spinning object, reaching an incredible 600 million rotations per second. While this is truly remarkable, the object was only 4 millionths of a meter in size, meaning its surface was traveling at around 7,500 meters per second. Although impressive, this speed is still nothing compared to the velocities seen in space.
VFTS 102 holds the title of the fastest spinning star ever discovered, with its surface speed reaching over 440,000 meters per second (about 1 million miles per hour). Located 160,000 light years away in the spectacular Tarantula Nebula of a neighboring galaxy, this star is thought to have once had a companion that exploded in a supernova, sending the surviving star into its rapid spin.
4. Galaxies That Break Records
Unless your knowledge of physics is mainly based on Will Smith movies, you’ll know that galaxies are generally huge. Our Milky Way spans 100,000 light years across. But you could fit 50 Milky Ways inside IC 1101, the largest galaxy ever discovered. First spotted in 1790 by William Herschel, we now know it’s located over a billion light years away. While that’s incredibly far, it still doesn’t hold the record for the furthest galaxy.
The most distant galaxy ever detected is z8_GND_5296, roughly 30 billion light years away from Earth. This galaxy dates back to about 700 million years after the Big Bang. (Because of the vast distance, the light we’re seeing is actually from the past.) What’s fascinating about this galaxy is its star formation rate, which is hundreds of times higher than the Milky Way’s. The next generation of space telescopes will enable us to peer even further back in time, uncovering some of the earliest stars formed in the universe.
3. Most Rapid Orbits
Binary star systems, where two stars revolve around a common center of mass, are quite frequent. Some even feature planets, and there’s a system where six stars orbit each other. But some of these stars are in orbit at incredibly high speeds.
The fastest orbit between two normal stars occurs in the HM Cancri system. This pair of white dwarfs—the remnants of stars similar to our Sun—are separated by a distance only three times greater than the width of Earth. They move through space at a staggering speed of 1.8 million kilometers per hour (1.1 million mph), exchanging hot gas and emitting vast amounts of energy. Their orbit takes less than six minutes to complete.
Even more unusual binary pairs have been discovered, moving at even higher speeds. One such system involves a black hole named MAXI J1659-152, which forms a binary system with a red dwarf just 20 percent the size of the Sun. The black hole orbits at a slower speed of 150,000 kilometers per hour (93,000 mph), while its companion red dwarf races around at a blazing 2 million kilometers per hour (1.2 million mph). The red dwarf is positioned farther from the center of gravity to avoid collision, but it is constantly losing material to the black hole and will eventually be consumed.
The fastest binary orbit currently on record involves a dying star orbiting a super dense neutron star. While the neutron star, which goes by the less flashy name of PSR J1311-3430, has an orbital speed of just 13,000 kilometers per hour (8,100 mph), the pulsar’s companion more than makes up for it by traveling at an incredible 2.8 million kilometers per hour (1.7 million mph).
The pulsar's companion earned the nickname 'black widow' because, like the female black widow spider that devours its mate after mating, this pulsar is radiating so intensely that it’s vaporizing the star. Eventually, this will lead to the star’s complete destruction. Despite this, compared to the binary pair of HM Cancri, these stars have the most unbalanced yet dramatic relationship in space.
2. The Speediest Meteorite
If you were in California on April 22, 2012, you might have witnessed the incredible Sutter’s Mill meteorite streaking across the sky. This meteorite wasn’t just any meteor—it holds the record for the fastest we’ve ever recorded. Traveling at a speed of 103,000 kilometers per hour (64,000 mph), it was nearly double the speed of the fastest rocket ever launched.
Scientists combined data from multiple sources, including weather radar, photos, and videos of the meteor, to triangulate its path. This allowed them to determine not just its speed, but also its origin. They even managed to create a visualization of its orbit. Before it collided with Earth, it traveled as far out as Jupiter, with the gas giant possibly sending it on its way toward us.
The meteorite was intriguing for more than just its speed. It was made of carbonaceous chondrite, a rare material. Often referred to as 'time capsules,' these meteorites have remained nearly unchanged since the early solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists usually analyze objects in the sky without knowing their composition, or they study meteorites without knowing where they came from. Being able to connect both the material and its origin is of immense value, according to a geologist at Australia’s Curtin University.
1. The Coldest Star
When describing a star, we typically think of words like hot, large, bright, or scorching. But some stars defy expectations. The coldest stars, known as brown dwarfs, are actually quite cool. WISE 1828+2650 is a brown dwarf located in the Lyra constellation with a surface temperature of 25°C (80°F), which is 10°C cooler than a person suffering from hypothermia. Often labeled a 'failed star,' it lacked the mass needed to ignite during its collapse.
Stars with such faint luminosity can't be observed in the visible light spectrum. The 'WISE' in its name refers to the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. NASA uses WISE to detect brown dwarfs and understand their formation, but this can only be done through infrared observation. Since its launch in December 2009, WISE has discovered over 100 brown dwarfs.
