The top ten coolest things in space

This is a list of what I consider to be the top ten coolest things in space!

1. Thorne-Zytkow object

First is a Thorne-Zytkow object. These objects form when a pulsar worms its way into the body of a different star. Although these objects would appear to be almost normal, they would house all sorts of strange elements that would never appear in a regular star. The only one that we know of in the entire universe is called HV 2112.

2. The Fermi Bubbles

Second, the Fermi Bubbles. In November 2010, the Fermi Gamma-ray telescope discovered these strange bubbles. As you can see from the picture below, these bubbles emanate above and below the galaxy. If they were centered in the galaxy, then we could explain them, but these bubbles are tangent to the galaxy in an hourglass shape. These bubbles are enormous, taking up half the sky, and are almost 7 million degrees Fahrenheit! Scientists have reached a common expression on what has caused this: “We have no idea”.

3. The pulsar planet

Third is the pulsar planet. This planet, PSR B1257+12, is the only known planet to be orbiting a pulsar. Why is that so cool? When a pulsar forms, it explodes so powerfully that anything around it is turned to dust and blasted into deep space. We really have no clue how that planet got there. From the planet, looking at the star, the star would be no bigger than a speck of dust, but would be 10 times brighter than our sun!

4. Eta Carinae

Number four is Eta Carinae and the Homunculus Nebula. Some things look weird, other things have not so visually obvious strange traits, others just have bad behavior. Eta Carinae has all three. This star has been dimming for decades, but then suddenly became bright again. In fact, it became so bright that it was also emitting as much light as a supernova! But instead of burning out, it kept on going. It used to be thought that it was the most massive star in the universe, but we now know that it is a pair of orbiting stars, both almost a hundred times as big as the sun! Apparently, this did not even form a regular shape, but instead a nebula that looks like a peanut.

5. The antennae galaxies

Number five is the antennae galaxies. These galaxies are a living preview of our destruction. In five billion years, the andromeda galaxy will collide with our own galaxy. These antenna galaxies show exactly what will happen when our galaxies will collide.

6. Io

Number six is a little closer to home, the jupiterian moon Io. This moon is so close to Jupiter that it is constantly crushed and reformed by Jupiter’s enormous gravity. Although it is our moon’s twin in size, it could not be more different. Volcanic eruptions constantly destroy the crust, while sulfur plumes turn the entire surface yellow!

7. Hoag’s Object

Number seven is Hoag’s Object. This strange galaxy has almost all of its blue stars in a ring, while the older, redder stars lie in the center. In fact, this gap is so large, you can see another galaxy behind it! We have no clue how this galaxy has evolved.

8. Fast Radio Bursts

Number eight is fast radio bursts. These high energy signals are the equivalent to our thump in the night: we have no clue what made them, we just know that they are there. Scientists think that this could be neutron stars, but we have no solid evidence.

Primordial Black holes

Number nine is primordial black holes. These monstrous black holes formed when the universe was just tenths of a second old. These strange objects were formed not when a star collapses, but just from different distributions of matter during the big bang.

UY Scuti

Finally, number ten is UY Scuti. This star is the largest star in our galaxy. You could fit five billion suns inside this monster star, and still have room for more left over!

Do you have any cool astronomy objects that you know about? Let me know in the comments below!