Boötes Void

23rd February 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

On this very own rocky planet Earth, we humans have made many discoveries and have uncovered places in the universe that are billions of light-years away from us. Though there are many secrets yet to uncover, there are some mysteries that we still can’t solve. In this vast vacuum of space, exist billions of objects that may be very creepy and nerve-racking due to their strange features. However, among all these strange objects, the greatest mystery is the literal nothingness. 

 

Image Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/331999803762953131/

It is the Boötes void. This is not just a small place; it is 350 million light-years in diameter. This makes it one of the biggest places in the universe. This creepy place has confused scientists from about 40 years but still, the scientists can’t find out how such a vast place of nothingness could even exist. In 1981, Robert Kirshner and his team were gazing at the universe for huge objects that were moving away from us due to the expansion of the universe but luckily, they found an empty place in the Boötes constellation approximately 700 million light-years away from us. Naturally, this place should contain approximately 10,000 galaxies and trillions of stars but it is just an empty place with nothing. After 40 years of research, they could only find 60 galaxies in this place. 
 

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo%C3%B6tes_void

We have found many voids and understood how they can exist but the problem with Boötes void is that how can avoid such big be situation such perfectly centered between a huge array of stars and galaxies. A scientist named Greg stated that if Earth would’ve been in the center of the void, we wouldn’t have found out that there were more galaxies until the 1960s. The main question is that how did this void form. Now, we know that voids are formed all the time which doesn’t defy any law of science. However. for a void of the size of Boötes void, the universe should be a lot older than we know for such a phenomenon to happen naturally. This even caused doubts against the big bang theory. 

There are some theories about this void with one being that some strange object in the void is pushing out dark energy throughout millions of light-years but as we don’t know much about dark energy, this theory is one that we are not much sure about yet. Some say that the galaxies all got into one point of singularity which may be a supermassive black hole but, this also remains a mystery because we don’t know much about the activity near black holes. Moreover, this theory also challenges the big bang as for the vast number of galaxies, moving into one spot would again suggest that the universe is older than we know. 

Furthermore, one likely theory that maybe they are coming together due to attraction at their boundaries and merging; moreover, the 60 galaxies in the void seem to have weird, tube-like shapes which may be the biggest clue to this mystery. Due to attraction at their boundaries, the small voids are emerging into each other in a soap bubble kind of phenomenon. The tube-like shapes of the galaxies may be caused by the remains of boundaries between two bodies. 

This void may remain a great mystery for the coming decades but soon, we will find out what is this and how it formed.  

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.

Creepiest celestial objects in the Universe

February 16, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

The Universe is a ginormous place beyond our imagination. This vastness means that a variety of celestial bodies can exist in this large vacuum of space out of which, many can be strange and creepy. In this blog, I will highlight some of the creepiest places in the universe. These objects are very appealing and attract our attention easily. That is why this blog might seem very interesting to you. 

The first object I’m going to highlight about is PSO J38.5338-22.8603. This planet is strangely different from many planets in the universe because unlike the others, this planet doesn’t orbit any star. Therefore, it is a rogue planet. Even though the planet is lurking in the darkness and coldness of space, it still burns on. This planet still burns to a temperature of 800 degrees Celsius. Not just this but, it also rains rocks on this planet. It has a diameter of 21,3927 km and has 5 natural satellites/moons. 

Image Source: http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/science-free-floating-exoplanet-01450.html

Scientists say that this object was a part of a group of stars that formed 12 million years ago. The terrifying thing about this planet which even we don’t understand is that how do these planets end up in space like this and how can this rogue planet be so hot even in the cold vacuum in its surroundings where there isn’t even any star to light up its skies or give it heat. 

The second object I'll explain is the Boomerang nebula which is also known as Centaurus Bipolar nebula. This nebula has a diameter of 4.11 light-years. This number is overwhelmingly large and surprising this object exists in our very own Milky way galaxy. This planetary nebula has been formed by a dying red giant star that exists 5000 light-years from Earth. 

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomerang_Nebula

This object is the coldest in the known universe having an average temperature of -272 degrees Celsius. Some say that this low temperature may be the result of the main star colliding with a smaller companion star. 

The last object I will talk about is RX J1347. This object is a gas cloud that surrounds a galaxy cluster in the Virgo constellation. It is the hottest place in the known universe reaching a temperature of 300 million degrees Celsius. 

Image Source: https://arxiver.wordpress.com/2016/07/19/merger-hydrodynamics-of-the-luminous-cluster-rxj1347-5-1145-cea/

Scientists say that this gas cloud was formed due to the collision of two massive galaxy clusters that may have been one of the most violent events in the universe’s existence. This gas cloud covers 450,000 light-year area. This number is too big for us humans to imagine.  

We, humans, are just small creatures in this massive place. The universe is just too large for us to imagine or even reach out to. We have found many strange places in this vast vacuum of space and will continue to find more. We are making discoveries at ever-increasing speeds but still, we haven’t seen anything at all compared to the size of this huge universe. I will write another blog on this topic soon and will uncover many more creepy places in the universe. 

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.

Leave Earth? Why?

Sunday, 2nd February 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

Life has evolved on the Earth in billions of years. Many living things have lived and then died, some species survived the harsh conditions they faced from disasters and some were bemused on what to do and became extinct. Just like the dinosaurs met their fate by facing extinction to a huge asteroid named ‘Chicxulub’. 

Image Source: https://www.newsweek.com/extinction-asteroid-wiped-out-dinosaurs-catastrophic-global-winter-699009

We, humans, have lived for almost 200,000 years on this planet and have prospered because of the resources that this planet offered. However, we can meet the fate of the dinosaurs anytime. Not only an asteroid but many other natural as well as man-made disasters can wipe us all out. Though asteroids that can wipe all life on Earth only hit the Earth about every 500,000 years, we still never know what can hit us anytime. As I have explained in my previous blogs, there are many threats to humans that can lead them to extinction. Any major escalation of a war between nuclear-possessing countries can lead to the use of nuclear weapons which are capable of wiping out humanity but how? Some of you may be thinking that the bombs will only affect a small area. Well, whoever thinks that is wrong. The strongest bomb today is the Tsar bomb which is 1500 times more dangerous than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combined. Just think of what these bombs can do. 

Image Source: https://www.quora.com/Are-there-currently-any-unexploded-nukes-that-are-as-powerful-or-more-powerful-than-the-Tsar-Bomba

Firstly, after the explosion, there won’t be a rise in temperatures. In fact, it will result in global cooling and cause a nuclear winter. Consequently, it would damage the ozone layer and later it will cause droughts which will be decades-long. These types of conditions would kill nearly all life on Earth just in a few months. 

Moreover, a supervolcano eruption can also destroy everything in its range and later form ash clouds that would stop the process of photosynthesis as the sunlight won’t be able to reach us. Furthermore, humans are capable of making genetically engineered viruses that can kill a lot of humans.

Humans are capable of achieving the impossible. It is their curiosity that helps them travel in this vast universe. It is our curiosity that will lead us to inventions that will help us travel the deep space. I hope we will be able to invent something like that in time. 

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.

Misconceptions about the Universe

February 2^nd, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

The universe is a vast place, which is constantly expanding. It is immeasurable heaven that we have studied a bit. Many people have a lot of misconceptions about the universe, which literally makes no sense. In this blog, I will highlight some of the main misconceptions about the universe and give counter-arguments in defense.

The first misconception is that there is a dark side of the moon. The word ‘dark’ basically means the absence of light, as darkness is not a thing itself. The moon is tidally locked while orbiting the Earth. Hence, we can only see one side of it but wait. This doesn’t mean that the other side of the Moon is dark. It’s just that the other side of the Moon is not observable from the Earth. Each side of the Moon has two weeks of day and two weeks of night. Therefore, there is no such thing as the dark side of the Moon. The following image of the moon, taken by Luna 3, launched by the Soviet Union in 1959 proved the fact that that Moon has no dark side.

Image Source: https://www.wired.com/2011/10/1007luna-3-photos-dark-side-moon/

The second misconception about the universe is that black holes act like funnels. This misconception basically rose after the images of how a black hole bends space-time. A Blackhole is not a funnel. A Black Hole is a spherical hole, which due to its immense gravitational force; will pull anything near it towards itself. The gravitational pull of these objects is so immense that not even light can escape from it.

Another misconception about the universe, which is very common, is that Mercury is the hottest planet in the Solar System due to the fact that it is the closest planet to the Sun. This is totally wrong because the hotness of a celestial body does not only depend on its distance from its star. 

Even though Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun orbiting at a distance of 57 million km, and has the highest surface temperature of 427 degrees Celsius, it is still not the hottest because it has no atmosphere. This planet has no atmosphere, due to which heat cannot be trapped inside the planet. On the other hand, Venus is almost twice the distance from the Sun than of Mercury. However, Venus is the hottest planet in the Solar System reaching a temperature of 462 degrees Celsius. The reason for its hotness is its thick atmosphere, which traps the heat from the Sun inside the planet.

Lastly, another misconception is that space probes cannot travel through the asteroid belt because due to the vast number of asteroids, it will collide with one and will get destroyed. Well, this is also greatly wrong, as, even though the asteroid belt has millions of asteroids packed in it, the asteroids are very distant from each other. Therefore, the chances of colliding with one are one in a billion. For example, NASA has sent 11 probes through this belt and not even one has ever got close to an asteroid.

Remember, we need to verify the information before we spread it among others because if that information is wrong, the other people that you have spread it to, will also spread it among others which will affect many points of view, wrongly. 

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.