Objects That Reveal Creepy Side of the Cosmos

Now, are there real-life space monsters?

Well, of course, there are no huge beasts made of stars that are flying through the universe.

However, there are some things in space that truly remind us of things from our nightmares.

The first one is the Eagle Nebula, also known as Messier XVI or Star Queen Nebula,

a wonder located in the constellation Serpents.

This dazzling nebula was discovered in the 17th century,

and earned its nickname from the visual impression it creates.

If you look at it, it resembles a giant eagle flying through the universe.

It's a young star cluster, located super far away about 5,700 light years away from Earth.

The Eagle Nebula spans a region of about 70 by 50 light years in size.

For comparison, our entire solar system is only two light years long,

with the distance between the sun and Pluto being only around five light hours.

This enormous nebula is home to more than 8,000 stars.

One of them is especially bright.

It's a duo of massive stars, one about 80 times heavier than our sun,

and the nebula is actively creating new ones.

Every day, the gas and dust in there are being compressed by the intense radiation and stellar winds,

from hot, massive stars within the cluster.

This triggers the birth of new stars.

And finally, in the heart of this nebula, lie the iconic pillars of creation.

These are vast columns of dust and gas seen in blue, red, and green hues.

They serve as active stellar nurseries.

The dark clouds slowly draw together to birth the stars of the future,

shaping the rich and complicated materials found in the universe.

Pillars of creation stretch about four to five light years.

So, about twice as big as our entire solar system.

The Eagle Nebula is remarkably interesting to astronomers.

It's a wonderful place for us to study the star's birth and evolution.

The grandeur of this place is amazing.

However, it's more fascinating than frightening,

unlike the following monsters.

Quasars, captivating powerhouses,

fueled by supermassive black holes at the heart of galaxies.

These black holes are millions to billions of times the sun's mass.

Matter spirals into them, forming a luminous accretion disk.

Gravity within generates intense energy across the spectrum,

making quasars shine brilliantly.

Sometimes they can even outshine entire galaxies.

These cosmic monsters have been intriguing astronomers for years.

Quasars have the appearance of regular stars,

but have incomparable levels of energy.

Their name comes from quasi-stellar radio sources.

They're radiating across the spectrum.

Radio waves, visible light, ultraviolet light,

X-rays, and gamma rays.

We've been catching their signals for many years,

but first glimpse them only in the 1960s.

Quasars are one of the most ancient objects in our universe.

Their light, traveling billions of light years,

helps us to learn more about the universe's early days

when these monsters were a plenty.

They gradually dimmed over time,

so we can only imagine how brightly they look back then.

One of the most iconic of them is quasar colossus.

It's not one monster.

It's a giant group of 73 quasars.

Together, they're spanning four billion light years

and outshine 100 million Milky Way.

Something like that is impossible for us to even imagine.

Our next monster is called a pulsar.

When a big star goes out of its fuel, it goes boom.

What's left behind that is a neutron star,

which has amassed several times that of our sun,

but crammed into a sphere as small as a city.

They're super dense.

Sometimes it teams up with some friend like a companion star.

If the companion shares its stuff with a neutron star,

things can go wild.

The extra material might make the neutron star collapse,

becoming even denser.

In that case, it would turn into a so-called quark star.

But if it doesn't happen, the neutron star goes a different route.

This immense density means that the protons and electrons in the star

collapse into each other, forming a sea of neutrons,

particles without an electric charge.

This is when the so-called pulsars are born.

Now pulsars come with an incredible magnetic flare.

These stars boast magnetic fields trillions of times more powerful than Earth's.

The fun begins when this super-magnetized pulsar starts to spin.

It's not a leisurely twirl.

Pulsars can rotate hundreds of times per second.

They're the fastest objects in the entire universe.

As the pulsar whirls around, it shoots out beams of electromagnetic radiation.

These beams act like lighthouses, sweeping across the universe with each rotation.

If the Earth happens to be in the path of one of those beams,

astronomers detect pulses of radiation.

That's where the name pulsar comes from.

There's someone closely related to pulsars, the zombie stars.

Sometimes, even after the star reaches the end of its life and goes supernova,

it doesn't fade away entirely.

Some matter might remain.

In that case, it transforms into a celestial zombie.

These zombie stars often appear in pairs, with one star giving into its smaller companion.

It acts like a vampire, feeding on other nearby stars.

It drinks up hydrogen to come back to life.

When it grows to the size of a planet, it bursts into a brilliant supernova again,

destroying the star it fed on.

Zombie stars aren't fussy eaters.

They go beyond devouring stars.

One of them is in the Virgo constellation.

And it doesn't just munch on stars, it gobbles up the energy and stuff from its planets.

And just like actual zombies are always on the go to find more food,

these stars travel through galaxies.

Recently, we found another one of them in a faraway galaxy.

It's been traveling and evolving over the years, getting brighter.

And this show started millions of years ago, back in the age of dinosaurs.

Studying them can help us better understand how space objects work in wild conditions.

It also helps us reveal secrets about fundamental particles

and explore the physics of super dense stellar leftovers.

Now that we've met zombies, there are also cosmic vampires.

Blue straggler stars defy aging by sucking life from their neighbors.

They appear younger and bluer than their ancient companions, because of that.

Confusing poristronomers about their true age.

Scientists studied 21 blue stragglers in a faraway 7 billion year old star cluster.

That's when they made a breakthrough.

They assumed that it was because of mergers or collisions.

But then scientists revealed these sneaky stars as thieves,

feasting on nearby stars to stay forever young.

While this discovery explains most blue stragglers,

a few remain mysterious, which means they probably have varied origins.

Researchers plan to use the Hubble Space Telescope to detect their hidden companions

and learn more about them in the future.

Our final monster is an electric Leviathan.

In 2011, astronomers stumbled upon a colossal jet

spewing out of a galaxy with a funny name, 3C-303.

It's two billion light years away.

What made this discovery truly electrifying was the electric current it carried,

an insane one thousand eighteen amps.

For comparison, a regular light bulb can barely reach one amp.

This is equivalent to a trillion lightning bolts.

This jet, powered by a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's core,

extended over 150,000 light years,

surpassing the Milky Way span.

This fake galaxy, first observed in the 80s, was hidden from us for a long time.

We only discovered it, thanks to catching different wavelengths.

Typically, jets emerge from galaxies with active supermassive black holes.

Only around 10% exhibit matter-speeling jets.

The secret to the record-breaking current of this little galaxy

lies in the hyperactivity of its black hole.

This black hole creates a super robust magnetic field,

and this magnetic field creates this electrical Leviathan.

So, not only do we find the universe's highest electrical current,

but it also marked a rare opportunity to study one of these large jets.

Scientists keep making their equipment better to study in more detail,

so we can learn more about them in the future.