A Look at Space: Part 1: The Weirdest and The Mysterious

A Look at Space: Part 1: The Weirdest and The Mysterious

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Source: library01.gsfc.nasa.gov...

The Universe is a very weird and a strange place. Its full of surprises.
Here is one look at some of the weirdest things in space...

What is the weirdest thing in space?
I am sure black holes and the mysterious dark matter would top the list. I'm trying to make a list of some of them. Please feel free to add more to the list.

Apart from those...
What about some pictures of the weirdest/mysterious things in the universe?
I am posting a few soon. I would like to add more to my collection. So, please share pictures from your collection or links to the pictures. Thanks!

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Also check out:
> A Look at Space: Part 2: Galaxies
> A Look at Space: Part 3: Nebulae

[edit on 8/7/2004 by jp1111]

Starting from brown dwarfs...
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Brown Dwarfs:
A Brown Dwarf is an object that is in the size range of 13 to 75 Jupiter masses and is not able to fuse hydrogen into helium. Also known as a "failed star."
Click here for more explanation.
Click here for a list of some of the observed brown dwarfs.
Click here for a list of some of the confirmed brown dwarfs. (Pictures)

Hypernovae
A hypernova is also known as a full-blown or a supercharged supernova
Read here for a possible hypernova: Eta Carinae
Hypernovae are also linked to gamma-ray bursts : Read more here

[edit on 8/7/2004 by jp1111]

More weird things...
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Sources:
Picture1: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov...
Picture2: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov...

The "face" on Mars!
Although it has been proved that it was just an optical illusion, i think its still weird!

What about an asteroid with a moon? Does anybody find that weird?
Asteroids are irregular (non-spherical) shaped and thus with uneven gravity. I find it amazing how they are able to keep a moon!
One example: Ida and Dactyl

[edit on 8/7/2004 by jp1111]

Although not *quite* on topic, I have always found weird beliefs about astronomical events to be quite fascinating.
I dont subscribe to these beliefs, but I find these beliefs fascinating anyway.
Of course the Moon Landing is already adequately covered here on ATS.

But such things as "planetary alignments" and their supposed detrimental effects have always given me a laugh.
www.mangobay.cc...

And this one was supposed to be HUGE (by those that subscribe to such theories anyway)

Corvus Corax
PS- will post something more on topic later on



Corvus Corax

My favorite till now its the asteroid with the moon))



my 2 Cents goes for:

The Anomalie...lol

edition.cnn.com...

it have so weird caracteristics that they do not know for sure even what it must be called...well it will be a comet untill they decide

How can two moons of Saturn share the same orbit?

zebu.uoregon.edu...

Black hole

Originally posted by jp1111

The Universe is a very weird and a strange place. Its full of surprises.

[edit on 8/7/2004 by jp1111]

I see the pictures and see living creatures. All the suns winds bodies of mass working together to give live to this bigger body. Like us, all the cell, organs, veins working together to give us life.
It just goes to show that chaos is working everywhere.

Thanks to all for replying

So far we've got,

1. Black holes (Animation from pushkin)
2. Dark matter
3. Brown Dwarfs
4. Hypernovae
4. The "Face" on Mars
5. An Asteroid with a Moon
6. Misconceptions of disasters during a planetary alignment (From corvus_corax)
7. Wild 2, A unique comet (From Kangaxx)
8. Janus and Epimetheus, two moons of Saturn sharing the same orbit (From E_T)

Great job!
Galaxies and Nebulae are covered in parts 2 and 3 of this topic respectively.

[edit on 8/7/2004 by jp1111]

Originally posted by SpittinCobra
I see the pictures and see living creatures. All the suns winds bodies of mass working together to give live to this bigger body. Like us, all the cell, organs, veins working together to give us life.
It just goes to show that chaos is working everywhere.

You are right!
My thought...
The Universe is truly alive! Look at stars, they take "birth," and they "die" too. Black Holes "eat" matter. Hypothetical White Holes "excrete" matter. Galaxies "fight" and distort each other. They are all alive!

I as a buddhist have learn a similar theory too, it is the theory of chaos/ macro/ micro cosmos, where all the galactic bodies must been seen like atomic particles, and folowing that we (our solar sistem)are a atomic part of something gigantic, huge. the same theory says too that all that particles must be seen as living beings. exemple:

a solar sistem it is a atom with electrons, a galaxie is a molecule, a cluster of galaxies will be part of something bigger, a cluster of galaxie clusters will be a organ, ect.
it is a interesting theory.

[edit on 7-8-2004 by kangaxx]Typos

[edit on 7-8-2004 by kangaxx]

More on Black Holes:

Zooming into a galactic center : Does anybody see a black hole in there?
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Source & Description: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov...
"Do all galaxies have black holes at their centers? Although not even a single galaxy has yet been proven to have a central black hole, the list of candidates continues to increase."

Some good links about black holes:
Black Holes and Quasars
space.about.com : Links

Originally posted by kangaxx
it is the theory of chaos/ macro/ micro cosmos, where all the galactic bodies must been seen like atomic particles, and folowing that we (our solar sistem)are a atomic part of something gigantic, huge.

That's very interesting, kangaxx! Do you have any links/more explanation on that theory? I would love to read more on that!

i will goggle on that friend, if i see anything good to read i will post here
BTW, good findings, that ones on the Bholes

ok, i have found something in english:

www.geocities.com...

www.archetype.org...

www.fact-index.com...

and the weirdest i have found:

www.mu6.com...

i hope you enjoy it.

Chandra/HST X-Ray/Optical Composite






[edit on 8-8-2004 by pushkin]

JESUS!!!!! ...pushkin:...that it's "the queen" for sure!!....just amazing

Interesting picture from pushkin!
I found some links/description for pushkin's last picture: Post Number: 713985

A Composite of Crab Nebula : showing a pulsar : A pulsar is a rotating neutron star.
Description can be found here:
Link 1: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov...
Link 2: hubblesite.org...
"The Crab Pulsar, a city-sized, magnetized neutron star spinning 30 times a second, lies at the center of this composite image of the inner region of the well-known Crab Nebula...With more mass than the Sun and the density of an atomic nucleus, the spinning pulsar is the collapsed core of a massive star that exploded, while the nebula is the expanding remnant of the star's outer layers. The supernova explosion was witnessed in the year 1054."

Neutron stars are weird! Look at some of its facts:
"Neutron stars are about 10 km in diameter and have the mass of about 1.4 times that of our Sun. This means that a neutron star is so dense that on Earth, one teaspoonful would weigh a billion tons! Because of its small size and high density, a neutron star possesses a surface gravitational field about 300,000 times that of Earth."
Source of this quote: imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov...

The intro picture in part 3 of this topic (Nebulae) is also that of the crab nebula!


[edit on 8/8/2004 by jp1111]

Saturn's Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system and is the only moon known to have a real atmosphere.

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Source & Description: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov...
"Most moons have no haze layer at all - why does Titan have two?...As energetic sunlight strikes high level atmospheric nitrogen and methane, trace amounts of organic compounds such as ethane and carbon dioxide appear to form. These and other complex organic molecules likely populate the detached haze layer."
More explained here: www.universetoday.com...

Titan Images Renew Excitement for Mysterious Moon
Link: www.space.com...

[edit on 10-8-2004 by pushkin]

The Galactic plane in Cygnus

Nothing New, but very, very beautiful.