Water in Space and Other Cosmic Facts You Won't Believe

Although it could appear as though the sun is burning at first, this is untrue. Our star is burning due to nuclear fusion, not chemical combustion. Since the sun doesn't require oxygen to burn, it can never run out of fuel or cease to burn. Oxygen is needed for regular carbon combustion; burning ceases when oxygen is unavailable.

Consider a candle now. When you cover it, the oxygen supply is cut off, causing the burning process to cease. However, atoms fuse together to form larger new nuclei during nuclear fusion. Atoms undergo such transformations to become new elements. Oxygen or any other substance is not needed for nuclear fusion; all that is needed is sufficient heat or pressure to bring atoms' nuclei together to the point where they overcome electrostatic repulsion and fuse into a single nucleus.

Two astronomy teams found a cloud of water floating in free space in 2027. It was the biggest and most distant water reservoir ever found in the universe. This is a water vapor cloud encircling a massive black hole, known as a quasar, located 12 billion light years from Earth. Such enormous amounts of water could only be produced by a certain kind of environment surrounding the quasar. It was created when hydrogen and oxygen atoms collided due to energy waves. 140 trillion times the amount of water on Earth is contained in the cloud. It could supply all of the water needed for a planet twenty thousand times over to every individual on it. Whoa!

Even more amazing, scientists think that this water cloud formed only 1.6 billion years after the cosmos did. It's seen by scientists as more proof that water existed in the early universe and continues to do so. In addition, water vapor had never been discovered by scientists to exist thus far back in the early cosmos before. Our own Milky Way galaxy contains water, but the majority of it is frozen in ice.

Not only can alcohol float in space, but so does water. 2009 saw the discovery of a surprise by scientists studying a large cloud of gas and dust at the center of our galaxy. The molecule that gives raspberries their sweet taste, ethyl formate, was present in the cloud. They also discovered another cool area that was teeming with ethyl alcohol, the same kind that is present in many drinks.

A mystery storm is raging at Saturn's North Pole. It is enormous, covering a surface area greater than that of our globe and exhibiting a stunning yet perplexing hexagonal design. Why the storm is shaped the way it is is still a mystery. The hexagon was first found in 1987, but it was obscured by darkness until sunshine revealed it once more. Shortly later, the hexagonal storm was captured in a number of fascinating photos and even a movie by the Cassini mission, which was built to study the Saturn system. It proved to be enormous in size, with an estimated 180 miles of depth and a storm eye 50 times larger than the average storm on Earth. In addition, the storm's color is shifting from blue to gold. The storm is surrounded by ammonia and hydrogen winds that travel at speeds of over 300 mph. There are multiple centers within the storm; some rotate in a clockwise way, while others rotate counterclockwise. The greatest vortex is twice as large as a typical hurricane on Earth and has a white appearance. The hexagon itself is a jet stream composed of gasses found in the atmosphere. Though experts describe it as simply a current of air and weather elements, there's one striking detail: a vortex that sits higher than Saturn's clouds has the appearance of a massive, towering edifice. The top of the hexagon has auroras from Saturn, which are caused by the planet's magnetic field and give the appearance of a mystical aura.

Researchers have discovered a massive, probably active volcano close to Mars' equator. It was hiding right there in the open. Despite being old and severely worn, it appears to be still in working order. Perhaps even traces of glacier ice remain close to its base. This finding may therefore point to a viable new site for the hunt for life as well as a possible place for upcoming robotic and human exploration. The building is now known as the Noctus volcano while it awaits an official designation. At 29,600 feet high, it stretches an astounding 280 miles in diameter. Given its enormous magnitude, the volcano has likely been active for a very long time. There's a thin, recent volcanic deposit in the southeast, and there may yet be glacial ice underneath.

There's a huge void 700 million light years from Earth that has no planets, stars, galaxies, or asteroids in it. Absolutely nothing. The void is a region that is around 330 million light years across and spherical. There is enough space for our own Milky Way galaxy to occupy billions of times. That is the enigmatic Boötes emptiness. It is located in the constellation Boötes, which represents the herder round the North Pole with a plow. Originally known as the Great Nothing, this emptiness subsequently acquired its present name. We now know that galaxies resemble enormous webs. The majority of them are found in places with a high concentration of galaxies where they converge as part of long structures called filaments that wind throughout the universe. We refer to these areas as galaxy clusters. However, there are huge voids devoid of galaxies that lie between these clusters and threads. Actually, these gaps comprise almost 80% of the observable cosmos, with the majority being enormous voids spanning from 30 to 300 million light years in width. Among the largest voids is the Boötes void. It's even been given the moniker "supervoid." Its possible origin is the merger of several smaller voids, according to astronomers.
A diamond planet exists that revolves around a star in the Cancer constellation, taking only eighteen Earth hours to complete one full rotation. 55 Cancri e is the planet's scientific name. This distant world has a radius twice as big as Earth's and a mass eight times larger. On the day side of the planet, temperatures can approach 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, making it extremely hot. The most fascinating thing about 55 Cancri e, though, is that some experts estimate that diamond may make up at least one-third of the planet's mass. That is around three times the mass of our planet Earth. It sounds like a lot of money floating around in space!

What if we did a value calculation for this planet? Whoa, it's already been done, and the quantity is insane (my pun intended). There are 26.9 nonillion. It's 26.9 followed by 30 zeros, if this figure confuses you as much as it does. In contrast, the Cullinan is among the most costly diamonds ever discovered on Earth. The price tag is an incredible $2 billion, and its initial weight was an astounding 31,675 carats. It was and is the biggest uncut gem diamond ever discovered. Subsequently, it was cut into numerous little diamonds, the largest of which is Cullinan I, also known as Star of Africa. It weighs roughly 530 carats total. However, consider how much larger and more expansive the globe of diamonds is!

Massive clouds of gas and dust known as nebulas can have incredibly strange formations, as though their formation was deliberate. Gradually, the force of gravity begins to compress these clusters of gas and dust. Their gravitational pull increases as they get bigger and bigger. This mass eventually grows to such a size that it collapses under the force of gravity, creating new stars. We have to include the Butterfly Nebula among the most exquisite nebulas in existence. With a wingspan of almost three light years, the nebula's interior structure is among the most intricately designed objects ever discovered. The temperature of the white dwarf central star is an astounding 450,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It indicates that it originated from a massive star that was probably more than five times the size of our sun. At the equator, a dense disc of gas and dust envelops the white dwarf, giving the structure a resemblance to an hourglass or butterfly.

The Ring Nebulas resemble enormous gas and dust clouds encircling an ancient, nearly dead star. Although the nebula appears to be a ring at first glance, astronomers claim that it is actually a jelly-filled donut rather than a bagel. They have to be starving. The bright object in outer space is situated over 2,000 light years from Earth and resembles a ring encircling a structure with a blue ball-like appearance. The structure protrudes from the opposing sides of the ring at either end.

The Pillars of Creation resemble extraterrestrial structures. Check it out for yourself. They are found in the Eagle Nebula, a young star cluster that is only 5.5 million years old, 7,000 light years from Earth. From a spatial perspective, they are infants. You can now see three black silhouettes that are close to the nebula center that were captured on camera by the Hubble Space Telescope. Those are the active star-forming regions known as the Pillars of Creation. Examine this well-known picture: the blue hues stand for oxygen, the red ones for sulfur, and the green ones for the existence of both nitrogen and hydrogen. The ultraviolet light from a neighboring cluster of young stars also covers the pillars. Sadly, the amazing towers of gas and dust are being gradually destroyed by the winds from those stars.