Astronomer Vladimir Surdin: 6 space miracles that amaze the imagination

Billions of neutrino particles fly through us every second, astronomers place their sensors deep underground or under water, and the nearest black hole is literally next door - in the center of our Galaxies. Astronomer Vladimir Surdin spoke about these and other interesting facts, and Lifehacker made a summary of the lecture.

1. The birth of a star

Space is never empty. And if we have a good telescope, we will definitely see the matter that fills this space in the optical or radio range. For example, distant stars or gas clouds.

But sometimes it happens that some part of space closes a dark spot - as if there is a void there, which cannot be. And we realized that these are cold gas clouds, inside of which a new star is ready to be born.

At first, she doesn't show herself. But when the time comes to be born, the star releases a stream of hot gas, which looks like a thin beam or stream against the background of a dark cloud.

And sometimes - announces his birth with a powerful salute. In place of the dark spot, a huge cloud of hot gas appears - the star seems to clear the space around itself in which it will live.

This process looks spectacular when viewed from afar. But if a star about 10–15 times heavier than the Sun is born next to us, our solar system will cease to exist. Therefore, let such miracles happen far away.

2. The emergence of a new planet

Previously, astronomers only fantasized about what the process of planetary birth might look like. But modern telescopes that combine optics and radio antennas have helped us capture this phenomenon as well. The most powerful devices of this kind are located in Chile - it is there that astronomers are making many discoveries today.

Planets can be born around a star that has not yet formed to the end. Scientists have recorded how a gas cloud forms around it. It flattens and becomes like a huge pancake with a star in the center.

Then dark paths-orbits appear on this pancake. Future planets collect matter from them, form themselves and give birth to satellites, which immediately begin to revolve around them. Well, new objects continue to appear in the gas cloud.

3. Processes taking place on the Sun

From Earth, the Sun looks like a smooth ping-pong ball. But if you look at it from orbits, we will see a very interesting and sometimes dangerous object.

The fact is that one ten-billionth of the solar radiation hits the Earth. This is enough for all the needs of our planet. But if a star ejects a “piece” of its matter in our direction, serious accidents can occur.

In the era of modern electronics, this was not yet the case. However, a similar outburst happened in the 19th century. Then everything was arranged quite primitively: signals were transmitted over wires using Morse code. And when the Sun threw a strong stream of gas towards the Earth, the telegraph went out of order.

Today's technology is much more vulnerable than wired communications.

Another miracle is the ways that allow us to look into the core of our star and study the processes going on there. Neutrino flows help with this.

Through the tip of the nose, as well as through every square centimeter of our body, 10 billion of these particles fly every second. We do not feel it, but the devices record such streams.

In the same way, neutrinos permeate our planet. And in order to study the state of the Sun, scientists use giant underground and underwater detectors-laboratories that catch streams of these particles.

Such centers exist, for example, in Japan. These are huge rooms located at a depth of about one and a half kilometers. We have underground detectors installed in Arkhyz. Besides, scientists use underwater neutrino telescopes - for example, at Baikal.

The main element of such devices is a photomultiplier. It is interesting that it is directed not up, towards the Sun, but down, towards the center of the Earth. The fact is that the detectors work late at night, when our star illuminates the opposite part of the planet - that is, they look at the Sun through the body of the Earth.

Our planet serves as an excellent particle filter. Neutrino enter it in the southern hemisphere, pierce it entirely, and then they are caught at the bottom of Baikal.

American researchers have installed similar devices at their scientific base in Antarctica.

Thus, we get a portrait of the Sun, made from different points, and find out what processes are taking place inside our luminary.

4. death of a star

Stars are not only born, live and emit neutrinos. Sometimes they die.

First, the departing star envelops itself in a planetary nebula. Weak devices can distinguish a small ball, and it can be confused with a nearby planet. But space telescopes have allowed us to see these objects in detail.

We saw expanding shells - the upper layers of the star. She sheds them before she stops shining. But the most interesting thing is not that. If each star is a ball, then it must eject matter equally in all directions. However, foggy shells have very different form.

Observers give them poetic names. This is how nebulae appear in the Universe, which are called the Eskimo, the Ant, the Hourglass, the Cat's Eye, the Butterfly, and even, for some reason, the Rotten Egg.

Such processes occur with stars about the size of our Sun. However, relatively close, in the constellation Orion, there is Betelgeuse. It is a small reddish star.

For a long time, astronomers have been observing how it envelops itself in streams of gas. Apparently, Betelgeuse is finishing its evolution. But, unlike more modest luminaries, it will not fade away. Scientists believe that its existence will end with a powerful explosion. Perhaps this will happen very soon.

Astrophysicists say the explosion will most likely happen in the next 10,000 years. But exactly when, no one knows. Maybe tomorrow too.

This phenomenon is called a "supernova explosion". This is how massive stars end their lives. People have not observed such effects in the sky for a long time. The last time a supernova exploded was nearly 1,000 years ago, in 1054. And it was so strong that it could be observed without any telescopes. All this time, the stellar matter was flying apart, burning space.

When Betelgeuse explodes, we will be flooded with stellar radiation. Scientists reassure: for the Earth it will not catastrophe The atmosphere will protect us. But the satellites in orbit will burn out, and the astronauts will have to be urgently evacuated.

If an explosion occurs today, then modern technology will warn about it in about 10 hours: from stars, a powerful stream of neutrinos will go off, which will definitely be recorded by sensors on Baikal and in Antarctica. There will be enough time to pick up astronauts from orbit.

And from Betelgeuse there will be a small core, which will turn into a neutron star.

5. Search for black holes

Einstein said that you can't see a black hole. This space object looks like an empty place, because due to the strongest gravity it absorbs everything and does not release anything - even light waves remain inside.

The nearest black hole is at the very center of our galaxies. It is difficult to observe it, because the center is closed from us by a huge number of opaque clouds. But scientists have managed to fix our "home" black hole.

To determine where this object is located, you need to pay attention to whether there are stars nearby that behave strangely. Astronomers have noticed that in our Galaxy they seem to be moving around an invisible center. This means that some huge object does not allow them to leave.

Scientists have been observing the movement of stars since 1995 and have calculated that at the center of their rotation is a black hole four million times more massive than our Sun. This discovery was so convincing that its authors received the Nobel Prize, although no one had seen this black hole and could not confirm that it would be there.

But in the spring of 2022, we finally saw this object through a radio telescope. It looks like a bagel or donut: in the center there is a hole - the same black hole, and hot gas flies around it. Exactly as predicted.

6. The existence of dark matter

Recently, scientists have learned that our Galaxy is immersed in a huge tangle of unknown matter and occupies only 1% of its volume. What it is, neither physicists nor astronomers know.

Scientists call this substance dark matter, or "dark matter". It cannot yet be seen, measured, or explored. And it can only be detected by the force of attraction.

Researchers have figured out how to use dark matter to see the light of stars from very distant galaxies. So far away that astronomers never thought they would ever be seen.

It turns out that massive space objects slightly change the direction of light rays due to their attraction so that they deviate from a straight line. And if the light passes through clusters of galaxies filled with dark matter, its path is slightly distorted. So much so that distant stars can be observed through telescopes from Earth. And astronomers were able to fix them.