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PERPLEXING MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Added on: 30th Jul 2016

 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN BLACK HOLES

COLLIDE?

Black hole

Theory suggests that when two black holes come close enough

to where they cannot escape each other’s gravity they will

merge and become a bigger black hole. Such an event would

be extremely violent and truth be told even when

simulating this event on powerful computers, they still can’t

fully understand it. A black hole merger would produce

tremendous energy and send massive ripples through the

space-time fabric of the universe. However, nobody has

witnessed black hole collisions as of yet.

 

 

WHAT CREATED SATURN’S RINGS?

Saturn rings

The most accepted theory at this time is that Saturn’s rings

probably formed when objects like comets, asteroids, or

even moons broke up in orbit around the planet due to its

strong gravity. The pieces of these objects kept colliding

with each other and broke into even smaller pieces.

 

 

WHERE DID ALL THE LITHIUM GO?

Lithium

According to standard cosmology theory, Lithium, together with

hydrogen and helium, is one of three elements to have been

synthesized in the Big Bang. Therefore, we should see a 

uniform abundance of Lithium throughout the universe.

However, we don’t. By experimental observation, the older

stars seem to have less Lithium than they should, and some

younger stars have far more. Why? We don’t really know.

 

 

HOW DID THE MOON FORM?

Where did our quiet, beautiful satellite that makes our nights

more friendly and romantic come from? Scientists and

philosophers have been wondering about this for centuries.

The first modern idea about the formation of the moon

was the fission theory (by George Darwin, son of Charles).

However, the most widely accepted theory is that the

moon was formed when a large object (about the size of Mars)

slammed into the Earth billions of years ago. The collision

then turned the newly formed Earth into a molten ball

of rock and ejected material into orbit.

 

 

WHY DID MARS DRY OUT?

Mars

We already know from our landers and orbiters that water once

flowed in streams and great floods across the now barren

landscape of Mars. What we don’t know and are trying to

understand is why the Red Planet became so dry and

inhospitable. Theories range from an asteroid impact

blowing most of the atmosphere into space in a

catastrophic event or solar wind erosion.

 

 

WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF GAMMA-RAY BURSTS?

gamma-ray bursts

One of the greatest mysteries of observational astronomy

during the past three decades has been the nature of

gamma-ray bursts. We can recognize and observe them

but we still have no idea why they randomly appear

and why they happen.

 

 

WHAT IS DARK ENERGY?

dark energy

According to the most accepted theory at this point, dark

energy is supposed to act in opposition to gravity and

occupy the entire universe, accounting for most of the

energy in it (roughly 68%) and causing its expansion to

accelerate. Other than this, dark energy is a

complete mystery.

 

 

DID THE BIG BANG REALLY HAPPEN?

Big Bang

Our universe, according to Einstein’s theories, is around 13.8

billion years old and formed from an infinitely small point

during the Big Bang. While most scientists today seem to 

accept this model, the scientific community still can’t

explain what happened inside this tiny point – called a

singularity – or what came before it. In reality, we can

only speculate how the Big Bang happened.

 


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