Space's 10 Most Mysterious Stars

[Atlas]

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Space's 10 Most Mysterious Stars

1. HD 140283 (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/hd140283_prt.htm), informally nicknamed Methuselah star, lies 190.1 light-years away and is one of the closest Population II stars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity#Population_II_stars) to us. The star could be as old as 14.5 billion years (plus or minus 0.8 billion years), which at first glance would make it older than the universe's calculated age of about 13.8 billion years.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/732615main1_p1308ay-670.jpg
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2. What sets SGR 0418+5729 (http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2010/sgr0418/) apart from other magnetars is that careful monitoring over a span of 490 days has revealed no detectable decrease in its rotation rate. Researchers were able to make an accurate estimate of the strength of the external magnetic field. “The spectral data [...] allowed us to finally make the first detailed measurements of the magnetic field of a magnetar, confirming it as one of the largest values ever measured in the Universe” (Norbert Schartel (http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mysterious_magnetar_boasts_one_of_strongest_magnetic_fields_in_Universe), ESA’s XMM-Newton Project Scientist).

http://www.phys.columbia.edu/~amb/magnetar.png
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3. In January 2002, V838 Monocerotis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V838_Monocerotis) suddenly became 600,000 times more luminous than our Sun, temporarily making it the brightest star in our Milky Way galaxy. The reason for the outburst is still uncertain, but several conjectures have been put forward, including an eruption related to stellar death processes and a merger of a binary star or planets. By 2009 its temperature had increased to 3,270 K and its luminosity was 15,000 times solar, but its radius had decreased to 380 times that of the Sun although the ejecta continues to expand.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/V838_Mon_HST.jpg/640px-V838_Mon_HST.jpg
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4. LRLL 54361 (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5543-ssc2013-04a-Protostar-LRLL-54361) is thought to be a binary protostar producing strobe-like flashes, located in the constellation Perseus in the star-forming region IC 348 and 950 light-years away. The object emits a burst of light every 25.34 days. The flashes may be the result of large amounts of matter falling into the growing protostars.

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/uploaded_files/graphics/fullscreen_graphics/0009/4961/ssc2013-04a_Sm.jpg

[Atlas]

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5. V886 Centauri (http://www.spacetoday.org/DeepSpace/Stars/WhiteDwarfs/LucyDiamondStarWhiteDwarf.html) is the most massive pulsating white dwarf currently known. Located 50 light-years away from Earth, the star is a chunk of crystallized carbon that weighs 5 million trillion trillion pounds. That would equal a diamond of 10 billion trillion trillion carats.

http://melbourneer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/zk3Uxmi.jpg
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6. SAO 206462 (http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/31oct_spiralarms/) attracted attention because it has a circumstellar disk--that is, a broad disk of dust and gas surrounding the star. Theoretical models show that a single embedded planet may produce a spiral arm on each side of a disk. The structures around SAO 206462, however, do not form a matched pair, suggesting the presence of two unseen worlds, one for each arm.

http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/1026subaru.jpg
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7. Cygnus X-3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_X-3) is a microquasar and a very bright radio source that undergoes massive flares from time to time. These flares are of unknown origin, but they are exceedingly violent events. Naval Research Laboratory observations in October 1982 using the Very Large Array detected the shock wave from a flare; it was expanding at roughly one-third the speed of light.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nXD650E0duo/maxresdefault.jpg
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8. Though Jabbah (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/multimedia/gallery/pia14881_prt.htm) (Nu Scorpii (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu_Scorpii)) appears to be a single star, it is actually a whole system of stars (possibly as many as seven), each of which is many times more massive, larger, hotter and more luminous than the sun. The Jabbah system is located about 440 light-years away from us.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/606215main_pia14881-43_946-710.jpg
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9. 90377 Sedna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/90377_Sedna) is one of the most distant known objects in the Solar System other than long-period comets. Sedna's exceptionally long and elongated orbit, taking approximately 11,400 years to complete, and distant point of closest approach to the Sun, at 76 AU, have led to much speculation about its origin.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/EightTNOs.png/800px-EightTNOs.png
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10. AE Aquarii (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AE_Aquarii) is a cataclysmic variable binary star consisting of an ordinary star in a close orbit around a magnetic white dwarf. The white dwarf has the shortest known spin period of any white dwarf, completing a full revolution every 33.08 seconds. Mass is being lost from the secondary star, most of which is being flung out of the system by the rapidly spinning magnetic primary. The X-ray luminosity is likely being caused by the accretion of mass onto the white dwarf, which is occurring at an estimated rate of about 7.3×10^10 kg per second.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/White_dwarf_in_AE_Aquarii.jpg/800px-White_dwarf_in_AE_Aquarii.jpg

[Cidersomerset]

Thanks buares a beautiful post......I have been following all these exo planet and
other cosmic objects caught on hubble over the last decade or so...

I saw an interesting article yesterday and was wondering where to put so I'll
post it here if you don't mind......

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http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.83.4/desktop/3.5/img/blq-blocks_grey_alpha.png

12 March 2015 Last updated at 17:49

Hubble finds 'best evidence' for Ganymede subsurface ocean By Jonathan Amos

BBC Science Correspondent

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/81605000/jpg/_81605911_81602979.jpg
An artist's impression showing Jupiter, and the moon Ganymede with its auroral lights


There is further, compelling evidence that Ganymede - the largest moon in the
Solar System - has an ocean of water beneath its icy crust.The new data comes
from the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been studying how auroral lights
dance around the satellite of Jupiter.The presence of a sub-surface ocean would
heighten interest in Ganymede as a potentially habitable world.

Europe's robotic Juice probe is being sent to orbit the moon in the 2030s.

Nasa's Galileo mission returned information in the early 2000s that suggested the
5,300km-wide moon had a hidden sea. The new insights from Hubble deepen that
impression.

Damping effect

Ganymede's great distinction among moons - apart from its size - is that it has its
own magnetic field. Hubble has managed to track that field's behaviour by watching
how it draws in and excites space particles, generating a glow of ultraviolet light
around the satellite's north and south poles. But this intrinsic magnetic field also
Interweaves with Jupiter's, and the aurora "rock" back and forth as a result of the
interplay.It is by modelling the expected rocking against what is observed by
Hubble that scientists can infer something about the internal structure of the moon.
And they now say a salty ocean at depth is the best explanation for what they see.
That is because Jupiter's field induces a secondary field in the salt water, and this
tries to counterbalance the big planet's influence.The end result is that the aurora
rock only by two degrees over time when without the presence of the ocean, they
should be rocking by six degrees.

Magnetic interplay

Continue reading the main story
The JUpiter ICy moon Explorer
Juice concept

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59977000/gif/_59977995_juice_sat_304.gif

Would launch on Ariane rocket in 2022
Journey to Jupiter system takes eight years
Will study gas giant as well as moons
Fly-bys planned for moons Callisto and Europa
First mission to orbit an icy moon - Ganymede
Would end mission by crashing into surface

"The ocean cannot be deeper than 330km; anything deeper would not explain the
data," said lead scientist Joachim Saur of the University of Cologne in Germany.

"The data are consistent with an ocean of a 100km thickness with a certain salt
content of about 5g per one litre of water. But it could equally well be an ocean of
only 10km but with 10 times more salt."

The idea that a sub-surface ocean exists on Ganymede is exciting because
wherever you have liquid water, you have one of the main ingredients for life.
You need much more, of course - not least a source of energy and some complex
carbon chemistry. But understanding the ocean will be one of the primary
objectives of the European Space Agency's billion-pound Juice robot when it arrives
at Ganymede in 2030.

The orbiter will have a very sensitive magnetometer instrument to study
Ganymede's magnetic field in more detail, as well as a radar instrument to look
beneath the icy crust. But other types of observations, like gravity measurements,
should also elicit additional insights.

'Soggy' Solar System
Heidi Hammel, from the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy,
Washington DC, said the Hubble information represented the "best evidence yet"
for Ganymede's hidden ocean. Although the Galileo orbiter had strongly suggested
the water volume was present, it was possible still to interpret its magnetometer
information in different ways, she explained.

"There was some ambiguity, which is why the word 'putative' was still used [in
relation to the ocean]. But this result takes us out of the realm of ambiguity," she
told reporters.

Ganymede is just one of a large list of objects in the Solar System now thought to
hide an ocean deep below the surface. These include the dwarf planets Pluto and
Ceres; other Jupiter moons - Europa and Calisto; Saturn's moons Enceladus, Titan
and Mimas; and possibly Neptune's moon, Triton.

"The Solar System is now looking like a pretty soggy place," joked Jim Green, the
US space agency's director of planetary science.Interior of Ganymede With a
diameter of 5,268km, Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59977000/gif/_59977996_ganymede_comp_624.gif


One of four big Jovian moons seen by Galileo
Takes roughly seven days to orbit Jupiter
Only moon known to possess a magnetosphere
Darker regions are more ancient than lighter ones
Previously visited by Voyager and Galileo probes
Destination for Esa's Juice probe in 2030s
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31855395

[Hod8]

1. HD 140283 (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/hd140283_prt.htm), informally nicknamed Methuselah star, lies 190.1 light-years away and is one of the closest Population II stars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity#Population_II_stars) to us. The star could be as old as 14.5 billion years (plus or minus 0.8 billion years), which at first glance would make it older than the universe's calculated age of about 13.8 billion years.


I have another theory, And it goes like this...
There are parallel universes. And when two universe collide the big bang happens, Usually this destructive event regenerates 99.999 or better percentage of both universe but due to the great explosion and sudden cool down some debris remains in the universe which is older then the birth of new universe. We may be witnessing some of this as our knowledge horizons expand over time and space.