The universe is infinite and holds millions of secrets. The study of near and far galaxies brings humanity closer to a solution and at the same time gives rise to a stream of new questions.
The universe is incomprehensible. But perhaps the interesting facts about space presented in today's article will help to better understand the boundless space surrounding us.
Solar system
The only star in the solar system, as well as the heat and light source for the planets, is the sun, which has existed for about 4.57 billion years. Its components are hydrogen and helium. The temperature of the inner core is 13 600 000 ° K (Kelvin), the surface is 6 000 ° K. The Earth is located at a distance of 149.6 million km from the Sun. If our planet approached the luminary by 5%, it would turn into a roasted beef steak, and if it is removed by 1%, it would completely freeze.
In the solar system, astrologers count 8 planets. Until 2006, Pluto was on this list, now it is declared a dwarf planet. The closest to the Sun (57.9 million km) is Mercury, devoid of atmosphere, where you can watch 2 sunrises and 2 sunsets. Following Mercury is Venus, whose orbit lies inside the orbit of our planet. One day on Venus equals 243 earth days.
The largest (after the Sun) celestial body is Jupiter. Its mass (1.9 × 10.07 kg) is 318 times greater than the earth. Despite its gigantic dimensions, the cosmic giant turns around its axis in 10 hours. Another giant - Saturn - has a radius of 60,268 km and differs from its "brothers" in the Universe by a system consisting of 7 rings.
The most studied planet is Mars, dotted with craters.It has no magnetic field and ozone layer, but there is water. The red planet, the color of which is due to the presence of rusty dust in the atmosphere, boasts the largest volcano in the solar system. The height of the giant, stretching for 600 km, is 27.4 km. By comparison, Everest, which rises on the earth's surface, seems like a small hill.
Comets, asteroids, meteorites
Comets are small celestial bodies orbiting the sun. For humanity, they always caused both delight and horror associated with the possibility of a collision of these objects with the Earth.
The most famous is the periodic comet, named after the scientist Edmund Halley, who in 1682 calculated the amplitude of its motion. Every 75 years and 6 months, a celestial body pays a visit to the solar system. It is perfectly visible even with the naked eye. The next appearance of Comet Halley is expected in 2061.
The comet with the longest tail and called the "Great" was discovered in 1843. The giant trail that the inhabitants of the globe observed during the month extended over 800 million km.
Back in the last century, asteroids were called minor planets. Today, astronomers tend to give this definition to irregularly shaped rocky or metallic cosmic bodies whose length exceeds 30 m. The largest of the known asteroids is the giant Vesta. Its diameter is 525.4 km.
Unlike asteroids, meteorites bursting into the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of 11–73 km / s have a modest size - from tens of grams to several tons.It is believed that they are fragments of much more voluminous celestial bodies. The largest space messenger, 80 thousand years ago, fell on a planet in the territory of modern Namibia, was the Goba meteorite. Scientists suggest that its initial weight was 90 tons.
Stars and exoplanets
30–40 new stars are born annually in the galaxy. The longevity of long-lived luminaries - red dwarfs - reaches 10 trillion years. The temperature of the coldest star is 27 ° C, and the emitted light of hot stars is 5–10 billion times more powerful than the sun.
The closest galaxy (nebula) of Andromeda to the Milky Way is located at a distance of 2.5 million light years from the globe. For comparison: the light coming from the sun reaches our planet in 8 minutes and 19 seconds. Large cosmic bodies located outside the solar system are called exoplanets. The first of them was opened in 1988. To date, 4 thousand registered outside the solar planets. Their detection is hampered by the complexity of recognition: visually, these objects are indistinguishable. The study is based on the method of observing the light of stars.
The closest exoplanet to Earth was calculated in 2016 by scientists from the British University of Queen Mary. The new celestial body, named Proxima B, is 40 trillion km (4.22 light years) from our planet, which exceeds the distance between the Sun and the globe by 266 thousand times. Astronomers admit that Proxima B has an atmosphere and is of the opinion that the surface temperature is 30–40 ° C.
Space exploration
The turning point in the understanding of the Universe was the 16th century.In 1523, an astronomer from Poland, Nikolai Copernicus, came to the conclusion that celestial bodies, including the Earth, revolve around the Sun. Until that time, it was believed that the center of the universe is the globe around which the luminary rotates. The doctrine of Copernicus was rejected by the Catholic Church as heresy. As of 2018, spacecraft launched from the Earth have already flown to all the large celestial bodies of the solar system. Voyager 1 station, which left the planet in 1977 and moves at a speed of 15 km / s, reached interstellar space 36 years later and is now at a distance of more than 18.5 billion km from us.
The only signal received from the depths of the Universe and lasting 72 seconds was recorded in 1977 by the Big Ear University of Ohio radio telescope. Hearing callsigns of obviously artificial origin with a frequency of 1.42 GHz, astronomer Jerry Eiman watched the operation of the devices cried out: “Wow, Signal!”. Under this name, a cosmic impulse was recorded.
In 2016, a group of researchers from the American Planetological Institute put forward a hypothesis: signals could come from comet 266 / P Christensen. However, despite the strong arguments of scientists, the mystery of the mysterious phenomenon has not yet been disclosed.
