When NASA was founded more than 60 years ago, we had questions about the universe that we
had been asking since the first time we looked up into the night sky.
In the six decades since, NASA, along with international partners and thousands of researchers,
has used a full fleet of telescopes and satellites to expand our understanding of the Universe.
NASA scientists have been studying the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to the present,
from the early probes of the 1950s and 1960s to the great telescopes of the 1990s and 21st
century.
However, NASA scientists recently discovered something massive lurking in the vastness
of the cosmos, something even bigger than our own Milky Way.
So, join us in today's video as we discuss this massive structure and some other recent
NASA discoveries.
Structure Bigger Than the Entire Milky Way The Milky Way is a large galaxy that houses
our solar system, the sun, the Earth, and the planets that orbit it.
In a first-of-its-kind discovery, astronomers at The University of Alabama in Huntsville
(UAH) discovered a scientifically mysterious, isolated cloud larger than the Milky Way in
a “no-man’s land” for galaxies.
The orphan or lonely cloud is made up of hot gas with temperatures ranging from 10,000
to 10 million degrees Kelvin and a total mass ten billion times that of the sun.
This makes it more massive than the mass of small galaxies.
While its exact origins are unknown, astronomers believe the lonely cloud is held together
by gravitational forces and formed from one of the nearby galaxy clusters before being
torn apart from within.
The mystery surrounding this theory is that astronomers are unable to explain how it is
still in existence if this is the story behind its formation, as the massive cloud would
have dissipated by now.
They currently believe the cloud could be hundreds of millions of years old, and that
its survival since being separated from its host galaxy could be due to surrounding magnetic
fields.
Even more enigmatic is the fact that the cloud is not associated with any galaxy and is located
in a 'no-land.
galaxy's When the host galaxy is soaring in the hot gas at 1,000-2,000 kilometers per
second, the gas in the cloud is removed by ram pressure from the hot gas in the cluster.
That's roughly 50 times faster than Earth's orbital speed around the sun.
That level of force can rip the interstellar medium from a galaxy, and in this case, the
researchers discovered that the cloud's temperature is consistent with its origin in a galaxy.
The cloud was discovered using the European Space Agency's flagship X-ray Multi-Mirror
Mission (XMM-Newton).
The cloud was also seen by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope/Multi Unit
Spectroscopic Explorer (VLT/MUSE) and Subaru, Japan's flagship optical telescope.
The record-breaking cloud was discovered near the Abell 1367 galaxy cluster, also known
as the Leo cluster, which is 330 million light years away from Earth and contains more than
70 known galaxies.
If you thought the temperature of the cloud at 10 million degrees was hot, the Leo galaxy
cluster can reach 100 million degrees kelvin, which is insane to say the least.
Despite its proximity to the colossal cluster, the orphan cloud is so named because it is
not formally associated with any of the galaxies in the Leo cluster, but rather exists in some
form of no galaxy's land.
The lonely cloud and others yet to be discovered, according to researchers, could help scientists
better understand stripped interstellar mediums at great distances from their galaxies, as
well as the effects of turbulence and heat conduction.
Astronomers just proved the incredible origin of nearly all gold, platinum, and silver in
the universe.
Platinum and gold are two of the most valuable elements on the planet, with prices per ounce
that are close to one thousand dollars.
On the other hand, a ground-breaking new discovery about their violent, radioactive, and cosmic
origins may cause their allure to grow stronger while simultaneously making them seem more
bizarre.
Scientists who were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery of gravitational waves,
also known as ripples in the fabric of space, have just recently announced that they have
made the first detection of the collision of two neutron stars.
The group helped astronomers all over the world point their telescopes directly at the
scene of the crash and record unprecedented observations of the aftermath in visible light,
radio waves, X-rays, and gamma rays after they were informed about the event immediately
after it took place.
It is believed that these two neutron stars merged together to form a black hole.
From this black hole, a fragment of one of the neutron stars managed to escape and form
new elements.
These elements would later be discovered on planets like earth.
According to astronomer Duncan Brown, a member of the research team, the merger that was
detected by astronomers from 130 million light years away will quite possibly have a bigger
impact on science and human understanding in many ways than the first gravitational
waves.
This was made possible by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory and the Virgo
interferometer, which is a gravitational wave detector located in Europe.
This gravitational wave event, which has been given the name GW170817, is considered to
be revolutionary because it sheds light on the process by which many heavy elements were
formed in space.
For one thing, supernovas, which refers to the explosion of a giant star, are believed
to create lighter elements; however, scientists have been wondering for years what explains
the abundance of heavy elements.
After a great deal of investigation, scientists developed the theory that the collision of
two neutron stars would result in the creation of elements with a heavier periodic sequence
than nickel and iron, as well as the emission of gravitational waves.
It became clear that they had predicted everything correctly.
They witnessed this process in action, when certain heavy elements were created through
a process known as the rapid process, also known as the r process.
During this process, two neutrons collide with each other, which results in the release
of neutrons with a high amount of energy.
These neutrons then collide with one another, which results in the formation of massive
atomic cores.
On the other hand, these atomic cores split apart into smaller atoms virtually instantaneously.
They believe that the Kilonova that they observed with GW170817 produced an amount of silver,
gold, and platinum equal to approximately one hundred octillion dollars' worth.
With the success of LIGO, efforts are currently being made to improve the technology in order
to help reveal more secrets about gravitational waves.
According to Brown, we are only at the beginning of gravitational wave astronomy, and we have
been rewarded with these incredible discoveries.
Gliese 1132 b Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, scientists
discovered evidence that a planet orbiting a distant star may have lost its atmosphere
but gained another through volcanic activity.
GJ 1132 b is thought to have started out as a gaseous world with a thick hydrogen blanket
of atmosphere.
This so-called "sub-Neptune" which began several times the diameter of Earth, is thought to
have quickly lost its primordial hydrogen and helium atmosphere due to the intense radiation
of the hot, young star it orbits.
Such a planet would be reduced to a bare core the size of Earth in a short period of time.
That's when things started to get interesting.
The discoveries may have implications for other exoplanets, or planets outside our solar
system.
"How many terrestrial planets don't begin as terrestrials?
Some may start as sub-Neptunes, and they become terrestrials through a mechanism that photo-evaporates
the primordial atmosphere.
This process works early in a planet's life, when the star is hotter," said lead author
Mark Swain of JPL.
"Then the star cools down and the planet's just sitting there.
So, you've got this mechanism where you can cook off the atmosphere in the first 100 million
years, and then things settle down.
And if you can regenerate the atmosphere, maybe you can keep it."
In some ways GJ 1132 b, located about 41 light-years from Earth, has tantalizing parallels to Earth,
but in some ways, it is very different.
Both are about 4.5 billion years old and have similar densities, sizes, and ages.
Both began with a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere and were hot before cooling.
The team's findings even suggest that GJ 1132 b and Earth have similar surface atmospheric
pressures.
However, the planets' formation histories are vastly different.
It is not thought that Earth is the surviving core of a sub-Neptune.
And Earth keeps a safe distance from our Sun.
GJ 1132 b is so close to its red dwarf star that it completes an orbit around it once
every day and a half.
This extreme closeness keeps GJ 1132 b tidally locked, always showing the same face to its
star—just as our Moon always keeps one hemisphere permanently facing Earth.
"The question is, what is keeping the mantle hot enough to remain liquid and power volcanism?"
Swain wondered.
"This system is special because it has the opportunity for quite a lot of tidal heating."
Tidal heating is a frictional phenomenon that occurs when energy from a planet's orbit and
rotation is dispersed as heat within the planet.
GJ 1132 b has an elliptical orbit, which means that the tidal forces acting on it are greatest
when it is closest to or farthest from its host star.
The planet is gravitationally influenced by at least one other planet in the host star's
system.
As a result of this gravitational "pumping."
the planet is squeezed or stretched.
Tidal heating keeps the mantle liquid for an extended period of time.
In our own solar system, a nearby example is Jupiter's moon Io, which has continuous
volcanic activity due to a tidal tug-of-war between Jupiter and the neighboring Jovian
moons.
Given the hot interior of GJ 1132 b, the team believes the planet's cooler, overlying crust
is extremely thin, possibly only hundreds of feet thick.
That's far too weak to support anything remotely resembling volcanic mountains.
Tidal flexing can cause its flat terrain to crack like an eggshell.
Such cracks could allow hydrogen and other gases to escape.
This exoplanet can be observed by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.
Scientists will be able to see down to the planet's surface thanks to Webb's infrared
vision.
"If there are magma pools or volcanism going on, those areas will be hotter," Swain explained.
"That will generate more emission, and so they'll be looking potentially at the actual
geologic activity—which is exciting!"
Let’s hear your thoughts about these discoveries in the comments down below.