You probably must’ve heard about the seven wonders of the world, but have you ever thought about the wonders of space? Probably not, for those of you interested in space and the universe, today we will look into some of the most jaw-dropping phenomena in the cosmos, such as time travel, fireworks in space, extreme temperatures and saviour planets!

Now before we even dip our toes in this pond, let me establish the fact that the universe is unbelievably huge, the observable universe (part of the universe that we know exists) spans across 46 billion light years, and it is predicted that the actual universe can be as big as 95 billion light years. To put that into perspective, if the entire earth was the size of an atom, the known universe would be as big as seven suns combined! And if you want to know how big the sun is, well, the fact that 1.3 million earths can fit inside the sun will paint a clearer picture of how big the universe is.

Black holes

All of us, at one point in time or another, have wanted to have the superpower of being able to time travel, what if I told you that it is absolutely possible? You can either slow down time or make it go faster. However, according to most scientists, it is not possible to travel back in time.

There are two known ways to time travel, either by travelling near the speed of light or being near a black hole. Now let’s talk about the first method, by travelling near the speed of light, which is approximately 300,000 km/second. Let’s say you were travelling in an extremely advanced spacecrafty, which allows you to travel near the speed of light, and you have a twin brother who is the same age as you back on earth, time will tick slower for you and you will age slower than your earthling. So if you left the earth when both of you were 10 years old and returned 50 years later from the superfast spacecraft back to earth, it is very much possible (depending on your speed) that you would be 10 years and 10 hours old while your twin brother back on earth will be 60! So while the rapid-speed spacecraft ride was 10 hours for you, 50 years would’ve passed for your brother back on earth — crazy, right?

Now the second method, being near a black hole. So, what is a black hole? Black holes are a mysterious phenomenon, but what we do know about them is that they have extremely strong gravity which even light cannot escape from! And they suck in everything that comes too close to them and we do not know what happens to an object after it goes inside a black hole (so don’t get too close to one). So if you were able to get near a black hole, time will tick slower for you, similar to the previous scenario.

I would hate to disappoint you, but I must mention one thing before you get excited, which is that our technology is not advanced enough to create a spacecraft that can travel near the speed of light and the nearest black hole to Earth is 1500 light years away, which will be impossible to reach in our lifetime.

But don’t be disappointed, there are a lot of other fascinating things in space so read on!

Supernova

So tell me, where have you seen the brightest and the most colourful fireworks? New Year? Independence Day? Or maybe a wedding ceremony?

Allow me to introduce you to the brightest and the most mesmerising fireworks you have ever seen — supernovas. What exactly are supernovas, you might be wondering. Well, essentially supernovas are an immensely powerful explosion of stars, or to put it in a more poetic way, it is “the death of a star”.

At the end of a star’s life, it bids farewell to the cosmos with a colossal explosion that can shine brighter than an entire galaxy! It will also emit more energy than our sun will do in its entire lifetime. And if you are wondering about the age of a star, let me make it clear to you, most stars are between 1 billion and 10 billion years old. Some stars may even be close to 13.8 billion years old — the observed age of the universe. The oldest star yet discovered, HD 140283, nicknamed Methuselah star, is an estimated 14.46 ± 0.8 billion years old.

So while supernovas are rarely visible to the naked eye, there are several images that can be found of supernovas that have occurred, one such celestial event is named the Crab Nebula.

Quasar 3C273

We sometimes experience extreme weather in certain areas of the globe, but these temperatures will seem laughable when compared to the extreme temperatures across the universe. The highest recorded temperature on earth is 58 degrees Celsius in the Libyan desert in Africa and the lowest temperature ever recorded on earth was -88 degrees Celsius in Antarctica, sounds bizarre right? Well, these temperatures are called extreme on Earth because our planet’s climate is very well-adjusted for life to exist on it, but the universe is a wild beast!

The coldest known place in the cosmos is the Boomerang Nebula, which is about -272 degrees Celsius! I bet it’s a cool place, but interestingly, scientists at Nasa were able to beat that record by producing a temperature of -273 degrees Celsius! The universe must not be that wild of a beast if humans can beat it, you might be thinking right?

Well, hold your horses before you jump to conclusions because the hottest recorded temperature in the universe will melt your mind. The highest temperature ever recorded in the universe is in a region called Quasar 3C273, a space near the edge of a supermassive black hole about 2.4 billion light years away.

Take a wild guess, how hot can it really be? About 100 degrees Celsius, 1000 degrees Celsius, maybe a million degrees Celsius? Not even close. Quasar 3C273 is measured to be more than 10 trillion degrees! Not possible for anyone to even imagine.

Jupiter

On March 18, 1993, a comet was discovered named Shoemaker-Levy 9 which was originally estimated to be around 1.5-2 km in diameter and heading towards the earth, however it was met by the tidal forces of Jupiter and collided with it, breaking into 20 pieces which were later discovered. This marvellous interception from Jupiter saved the earth from an absolute catastrophe.

Many scientists later discovered that Jupiter’s gravity had saved Earth from many other asteroid collisions, later found to have been devastating for Earth. It is nice to know that Earth has a guardian angel to protect it from pure cataclysm, which is why it deserves a spot in the wonders of space in my opinion, you know what they say, “God works in mysterious ways”.

This brings us to the end of our today’s space fun! Outer space is filled with mind-blowing phenomena and I strongly urge you to research it on your own too, I’m sure you will find it extremely fascinating and a great learning experience. After you are done reading this, the way you look at the night sky will definitely change forever!

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 28th, 2023