Spooky things from space that will haunt your Halloween
Move aside, ghosts and goblins. All the fright and horror of Halloween can be found in space.
Hubble Space Telescope used to watch black hole eat a star
Astronomers used Hubble Space Telescope's ultraviolet capabilities to investigate the death of a recently devoured star nearly 300 million light-years away. These events are known as "tidal disruptions."
From the sound of a black hole to the disappearance of gravity, some things in the realm of science are enough to make your skin crawl.
Here are some frightful facts about space.
The sound of a black hole
NASA unveils sound waves from black hole
NASA releases audio of a black hole at the center of a Perseus galaxy cluster.
Is that the sound of howling ghouls trying to communicate from the afterlife? Nay. It’s the sound of something far more frightening, a black hole.
NASA produced what they call a remix sonification of a black hole at the center of the Perseus galaxy cluster, which is located about 240 million light-years away.
Astronomers detected pressure waves emitted by the black hole, which caused ripples in gas. These ripples were then translated into sound, as sound is produced by waves traveling through air particles or another medium.
NASA said the sound waves created by the black hole were made audible for the first time by amplifying and mixing it with other data. The sound was then amplified 144 quadrillion and 288 quadrillion times higher than their original frequency.
LISTEN TO THE HAUNTING SOUNDS OF A BLACK HOLE
Screams from zombie stars
NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has captured a new high-energy X-ray view (magenta) of the bustling center of our Milky Way galaxy. The smaller circle shows the center of our galaxy where the NuSTAR image was taken.
(JPL-Caltech / NASA)
When scientists were peering into the center of the Milky Way galaxy, they heard the "howls" of dead stars as they fed on fellow stars, according to NASA.
These howls are produced by high-energy X-rays that were being emitted around the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. NASA said that around this supermassive black hole are smaller black holes, along with young and old stars.
Scientists have a number of theories behind how X-rays are being emitted within this stellar neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy. One theory involves the death of a star that belongs to a stellar pair, or binary. As the star dies, it takes or "feeds" off matter from its partner star.
BABY STAR'S SUPERSONIC OUTFLOW CAPTURED IN STUNNING DETAIL BY WEBB TELESCOPE
The ‘spaghettification’ of humans
An artist's impression of how the strong gravity of the black hole, on the left, is pulling gas away from a companion star on the right.
(NASA / CXC / M.Weiss / NASA)
Such a whimsical name for such a horrific outcome.
"Spaghettification" is a hypothetical phenomenon that might happen to a person if they fell into a black hole.
According to NASA, if that were to happen, the part of their body that is closer to the black hole would feel a stronger gravitational pull than the part farther away from the black hole. This difference in gravitational pull increases as the object gets closer to the event horizon.
Essentially, NASA said, the immense gravity of the black hole would compress the person horizontally and stretch them vertically like a noodle. This process is known as spaghettification. Plus, the person’s perception of space and time would change completely.
Black holes with their immense gravitational pull are so powerful that they can tear apart entire stars and planets.
ARE BLACK HOLES A DANGER TO US?
When Jupiter looks back at you
Juno mission's view of Jupiter's swirling clouds during its 54th close flyby of the planet.
(Vladimir Tarasov / NASA)
From the cool gases of Neptune to the boiling conditions on Mercury, the surface of planetary objects often seems blank and impersonal. That is, unless it's Jupiter.
On Sept. 7, NASA’s Juno mission captured a haunting image of what appears to be a face partially lit by the last gasp of daylight soon to be obscured by night.
The facial features were produced by swirling gas clouds and storms on the surface of our solar system’s largest planet. According to NASA, this region of Jupiter includes complex topography, highlighted by the low angle of sunlight.
Jupiter is no stranger to storms. For example, its famed Great Red Spot is the size of two Earths and has been churning for at least 300 years. Some of its clouds are 300 miles deep, whereas some of the largest severe storms on Earth stretch about 11-13 miles.
JUPITER’S FORECAST: SWIRLING STORMS AS BIG AS EARTH THAT LAST FOR YEARS
Without gravity there would be no Earth
American astronaut Bruce McCandless II floats above Earth during the first untethered EVA, or extravehicular activity, in space. February 1984.
(NASA / Space Frontiers / Getty Images)
A little closer to home is a hypothetical that most would like to keep hypothetical – the disappearance of gravity on Earth.
"It would be something that would be far bizarrely beyond everything we've known about physics," said Philip Metzger, a planetary scientist at the University of Central Florida. "But for fun, you know, you could imagine these things".
HOW THE END OF GRAVITY WOULD MEAN THE END OF THE WORLD
If the gravity switch were turned off, Metzger said the first thing people would experience is the feeling of falling. This is because there is no more gravity to pull our blood and organs downward.
Ultimately, the environment would begin to rise from the ground. From objects to rivers to the atmosphere, everything would begin to lift into space. Eventually, the entire Earth would be ripped apart.