The Cosmic Talk #1

Hey, I’m a nerd, you’re a nerd, otherwise you wouldn’t have clicked on this. Don’t take any offense from that though, being a nerd is cool. But do you know what’s even cooler? Space. Welcome to The Cosmic Talk. Here, every month, I will address recent activity taking place in the universe, and touch on new studies done to explain these events. Here’s what’s been happening lately:

On July 27th, scientists discovered a strange occurrence happening within the black hole Swift J1357.2-0933. Normally, black holes are very hard to spot, obviously. We use the Hawking Radiation produced by black holes to detect and locate where they are, unless we have the case of an X Ray Binary. An X Ray Binary is when a black hole interacts with another celestial object, allowing us to see it.

In 2017, scientists noticed a weird phenomenon happening with this black hole. It would occasionally brighten. Scientists thought this was merely an explosion because of too much material within the accretion disk creating an eruption or a nuclear reaction, like a novae. But this theory was proven false after we realised that it would dim every two to ten minutes as well. 

Using the South African telescope, SALT, scientists were able to identify what was going on. Inside or very close to the black hole, along the event horizon, a large amount of gas was shot out in every direction including towards Earth. The hot streams of helium were being emitted 600 kilometers per second.

A warp was found in the accretion disk, allowing us to see further inside. We were able to determine that this was the first black hole with extremely fast gas emissions, a mystery that we will continue to investigate. Is this really a new type of black hole, or an unusual occurrence within them all we’ve never seen before until now? None know… yet…

OMG! There’s a new study investigating the Oh-My-God Particles origin and other ultra high energy cosmic rays! In 1999 a facility in Utah detected a new type of particle. This particle wasn’t like any other we’d seen before, creating tremendous amounts of energy for its size, in fact, it was given its name solely based on the amount of energy it produced. To help you visualize this, imagine shrinking a baseball down to the size of an atom, keeping the baseballs mass. Now, send that baseball flying at 60 mph. The density of the baseball traveling at such speeds gives the particle its energy. Only 72 of these particles have been detected as of 2019.

This particle, as rare as it may seem, is still very similar to other cosmic rays, just 20 to 50 million times more powerful that is. It does have something else that gives it such mysticality besides it’s extreme energy: its original whereabouts of the universe. Ever since the OMG particle was discovered, scientists have been baffled by the places they’ve been found. Expecting to find them in the more extreme environments of the universe, such as the ultra massive black hole M87, or even a radio galaxy producing astrophysical jets, it seemed a bit strange when they continued to find them amongst various quiet parts of the universe. Ursa Major, better known as the “Big Dipper,” is an example of one of these regions of space where there really just isn’t anything, not anything with the potential to create such a particle at least.

Scientists were almost absolutely sure something was up, and decided to dig deeper into finding the origins of this mind boggling particle. Within the Virgo Supercluster, in fact all of the universe, galaxies are connected by things called galactic filaments. They’re invisible webs of the universe, made of gas and dark matter.

These particles, as odd as they are, are still just particles, so it is possible that highly magnetic things and the filaments that bind our universe can cause them to change direction as they travel, diverting their path towards Earth. Scientists now believe that these particles are traveling through these galactic filaments, and various events can cause them to scatter. Though, this theory could very well change as more information is uncovered. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time the particle has blown our minds.

Humankind together strives to find life outside of the world of our own, and it might be that we’ve found a new perfect place search. Orbiting the 20th closest star to us, Gliese 1061, a typical red dwarf about 12 light years away, are three planets. These planets were discovered using a different method than usual. Normally, scientists observed the planets passing in front of their sun, but this time scientists were able to study the planets pull on the star. This star isn’t as active as most red dwarfs, meaning it doesn’t produce enough flares, giving the chance for these exoplanets to have an atmosphere and water. The third planet of this star system, otherwise known as planet D, is the one we’re most excited about. It’s location is almost the same as Earths within the habitable zone, meaning it receives almost the same amount of radiation as Earth as well. These factors are a great sign that life could potentially exist on this planet, and if not it still creates an amazing opportunity for us to discover if we ever master the art of interstellar space travel. Could this be our new future home?

New black holes, super powerful particles, and near Goldilocks planets, all great ways to start off this adventure of discovery. Space is an endless expanse of wonder and mystery, waiting to be looked upon by you. So, get out, and explore the cosmos. This has been the Cosmic Talk, until next time!