- In a universe that's constantly expanding into infinity,
unexplained and strange things present themselves
all the time but of those things that we can observe,
there are 10 that are particularly fascinating
and mysterious that nobody can explain to this day.
(dramatic music)
Here are 10 mysterious space anomalies
that we can't explain.
Number 10 are black holes.
Though scientist have been studying black holes
for a long time, there are still more questions
than answers when it comes to what we know
about these intense and sometimes scary space anomalies.
A black hole is an invisible space
with so much pull that even light can't escape
being drawn in.
The only reason that we know that they're there
is because of the reaction
that they have to other things in space.
Because we can't see them,
it's difficult to determine what exactly they are
or for that matter, what happens to everything
that gets sucked into them.
One of the most popular current standing theories
is that everything inside a black hole gets compressed
with mind-boggling force.
In fact, it's believed that a black hole the size of an atom
can actually have the mass of a mountain,
just one of many unsolved questions of the universe.
Number nine are Saturn's rings.
When you picture the gas giant that is Saturn,
there's really no way to not visualize
the mammoth colorful rings surrounding it
and while science has determined
that the rings that you're picturing
are made up almost entirely of ice
with trace elements of rocky material,
what hasn't been determined yet
is how they formed or why they're made of ice
and for that matter, how they manage to remain
so incredibly flat.
There are also some gaps between the rings
that have no reason to be there.
While some features of the rings
suggest that they were formed when the plant formed
an estimated 4.4 billion years ago,
other properties suggest
that they're actually more of a modern development.
It's very possible that Saturn might just be
the most mysterious planet in our solar system.
Number eight is Tabby's Star.
Situated nearly 1,500 light years from us
is a star called Tabby's Star.
It's a bit larger and definitely hotter
than our sun which is admittedly not an anomaly.
However, what is is that for some reason
its light has been spotty,
dimming as much as 22% since its discovery.
The phenomenon has brought forth a number of theories.
Some believe that there are a number of large comets
or dust orbiting the star
while some actually think
that there could be an alien race
using advanced technology to siphon energy from it.
Whatever the reason, the truth continues
to elude humanity
which means anything could be out there.
Number seven is Jupiter's red spot.
The most iconic symbol that tells you
that you're looking at Jupiter,
the fifth planet from our sun
is the giant red spot whirling about on it.
Any person with the love of space can tell you
that you're actually seeing a colossal hurricane-like storm
that's the size of three Earths
but if you ask an astronomer why the spot is red at all
they can only speculate as nobody actually knows.
The red spot storm has been raging
for at least 400 years.
It's higher up than any of the clouds surrounding it
and is actually cooler in temperature, not warmer
yet still, the only variation in color
is a change in hue that occurs on occasion
from the recognizable bright red to a rosy pink.
On top of all of this, we still don't know
even why this storm is happening at all.
Number six are cataclysmic variables.
Cataclysmic variables or CVs
are binary star systems
meaning that there are two suns instead of one.
Having two is actually not that rare
as over 50% of the system's discovery
have more than one star
but for CVs, while one sun has become a white dwarf
which our own sun will do
in about four and a half billion years,
exhausting its nuclear fuel
and becoming extremely dense,
its companion sits in such close proximity to it
that the white dwarf literally drains all of its gas.
Now, what doesn't make sense here
is that if the primary star has become a white dwarf,
it must have been a red giant previously,
meaning the partner star being as close as it is
must have been somehow inside of it.
This is absolutely unexplainable
and to this day boggles many scientists' minds.
Number five is dark matter.
According to the Standard Model of Cosmology,
the universe is made up of only 4.9% matter,
68.3% is made up of dark energy
which we'll get to in a moment
but what about the remaining almost 27%?
That is where the dark matter theory comes in.
As the name suggests, dark matter is dark
as in it cannot be seen.
Shockingly, scientists actually know more
about what it is not than what it is.
It doesn't interact with or omit electromagnet radiation
and we know that it can't be matter
as if it was it would contain particles called baryons
which we'd be able to detect it through reflected light.
Still, it exists and it's out there affecting
every galaxy's mass and rotation rate.
We simply have no idea what it is.
Number four is the great attractor.
Our galaxy shouldn't actually be moving as fast as it is
unless of course it's being drawn to something.
Scientists believe that that something
is the great attractor,
a gravitational anomaly located at the center
of the Laniakea Supercluster
that could be thousands of times more massive
than our own galaxy.
Numerous tests trying to determine
both if the great attractor exists
and if so, what it is have been conducted
and though we still have no answers either for
or against its existence,
a large number of new galaxies we weren't able to see before
have now been discovered.
The odds are extremely good.
It won't be something that we
or our near future ancestors will have to worry about
but just think about this for a second.
We have no idea what we're headed for
but whatever it is, it is most likely not good.
Number three is the cosmic void.
One of the the most bizarre things
out there in space is actually a severe lack of things.
The great void is a colossal area of space
with very few galaxies.
Located within the constellation Canes Venatici
this black spot in the sky
is roughly between one billion and 1.3 billion light years
in diameter and yet it's only
the second biggest void out there.
A 1.8 billion light year-wide super void exists
in a place that is for a reason
that scientists cannot determine colder than it should be.
The voids have around 20% less matter than they should
based on the galaxies that surround them.
There's one theory that suggests
that shortly after the Big Bang,
quantum fluctuations helped redirect matter
as the universe expanded so the voids could be getting
even bigger as time goes on.
Whatever theory you choose for this mystery,
it still remains completely unknown.
Number two is Planet X.
While it hasn't been discovered yet,
many experts claim the only explanation
for the odd orbital behaviors
of objects spotted far beyond Neptune,
the farthest planet from our sun in the solar system
is the existence of a plant that for one reason or another
we've never seen before.
Also known as Planet Nine, Planet X
won't have an official name
until someone can prove without a shadow of a doubt
that it's actually there.
Researchers studying the Kuiper Belt,
a ring-shaped group of dwarf planets,
frozen gases and other space debris
reported that items had a peculiar orbit
which could be explained by the existence
of a planet roughly the size or Uranus
but so far from us that it would take
between 10,000 and 20,000 years for it to orbit our sun.
NASA's hopeful that we'll be able
to prove its existence in our lifetime.
And number one is dark energy.
Though in a humorous way it kind sounds
like a power that a super villain
would want to harness,
dark energy is actually the stuff
that makes up nearly 68% of the universe.
The top scientists at NASA cannot tell you
exactly what dark energy even is.
Theoretically speaking, it's a repulsive force
that is accelerating the expansion of the universe
by counteracting the gravity
that would otherwise be slowing it down
or even reversing it.
There is a theory that there may be a type
of energy fluid out there somewhere filling space
or perhaps Einstein's Theory of Gravity
should include a cosmological constant
or maybe it's wrong altogether.
Whatever the real answer is for now,
it's been given the label of dark energy
until we know something for sure.
We also don't know how it would affect us directly
if we ever came into contact with it.
Let's hope it doesn't harm us.
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