SPACE ODDITIES

Which Are The 10 Strangest Objects Ever Found In Space?

Credit: Greg Rakozy

The cosmos is incomprehensibly vast and full of mysteries. Despite our growing knowledge of its furthest reaches and curious phenomena, there is still much to discover. Space offers a treasure trove of strange and fascinating occurrences, from diamond planets to rogue stars and unexplained radio signals. Come aboard our spaceship as we explore 10 of the weirdest things humanity has ever encountered in deep space.

Credit: Carlos Kenobi

Rogue planets are free-floating planetary-mass objects that don't orbit a star. These solitary wanderers drift through the galaxy, untethered and alone. Scientists believe they may have been ejected from their original star systems due to gravitational interactions or other dynamic processes.

Recent observations suggest that there might actually be a rogue planet lurking somewhere in the Oort Cloud, at the far reaches of our own solar system. If true, some argue it could be a Neptune-like planet from another solar system, captured a long time ago by the sun's gravity and that remained undetected until now.

Credit: Casey Horner

Hypervelocity stars are stars that travel through space at speeds exceeding a million miles per hour. These speed demons are thought to be ejected from the centers of galaxies by violent interactions with supermassive black holes. Their incredible velocities make them some of the fastest (and most fascinating) objects in the universe.

Some of these stars have been observed exceeding the escape velocity of their home galaxy. One of the fastest known stars in the Milky Way is the O-class sub-dwarf US 708, which is currently moving away from the galactic center at a staggering 1,200 km/s. For context, the escape velocity of our galaxy is around 537 km/s.

Credit: Guillermo Ferla

The Helix Nebula, often referred to as the "Eye of God," is a striking planetary nebula located about 650 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. This cosmic eye appears as a glowing, multi-colored ring with a blue-green center, resembling a giant eye staring back at us from the depths of space.

Actually, the Helix Nebula was formed from a dying star that has been shedding its outer layers into space for thousands of years. The intense ultraviolet radiation from the remnant core causes these gaseous layers to glow brightly, giving the nebula its distinctive appearance. Though beautiful, it is a relatively ephemeral phenomenon —on a cosmic timescale, of course. The central star will eventually cool and shrink into a white dwarf, while the nebula itself will gradually disperse over time.

Credit: NASA Hubble Space Telescope

If you're unfamiliar with the Boomerang Nebula, its intriguing bowtie shape (it is also known as the Bow Tie Nebula) will undoubtedly catch your eye. However, it is not just its shape that makes it remarkable, as it happens to be one of the most unique places in the universe due to its extremely low temperature.

The Boomerang Nebula is the coldest place in the universe, with temperatures dipping to just one degree above absolute zero, making it even colder than the surrounding space. Contrary to what one might imagine about a rapidly expanding ball of gas and plasma expelled from a star, the seemingly fiery spectacle is frigidly cold. Surprisingly, this is due to the expansion itself, which causes the ejected material to cool down intensely.

Credit: Graham Holtshausen

Dragonfly 44 is one of the most mysterious places we've ever discovered in known space. While its estimated mass is comparable to that of the Milky Way, it contains very few stars, making it almost invisible. This intriguing cosmic puzzle was solved when scientists realized that almost 99% of the galaxy must be composed of the elusive dark matter.

Although dark matter is still not entirely understood, the concept was devised to explain why galaxies that don’t seem to have enough observable mass to stay together don't come apart during rotation. However, the existence of this type of galaxy has caused a stir in the scientific community, as most predictions didn't account for this phenomenon.

Credit: Jorge Salvador

Not exactly an object, but nonetheless one of the most fascinating phenomena encountered while probing the depths of space with radio telescopes. The Wow! Signal, detected in 1977 by the Big Ear radio telescope, is a strong, narrowband radio signal.

Lasting just 72 seconds, its strange regularity and the fact that it has no known terrestrial or cosmic source make it one of the most intriguing potential signs of extraterrestrial intelligence ever recorded. The name originates from the astronomer who first discovered it, who famously scribbled "Wow!" next to the printout of the signal's intensity.

Credit: Samuel PASTEUR-FOSSE

Located in the vicinity of the constellation Cygnus, Tabby's Star is one of the most intriguing space phenomena out there. This distant star displays irregular and dramatic fluctuations in brightness that defy easy explanation based on its observable surroundings and orbit.

These anomalies have led some scientists to speculate about the presence of an alien megastructure—a hypothetical concept known as a Dyson sphere—encompassing a significant portion of the star and causing its intermittent dimming. Such a structure could theoretically harness the star's energy almost completely. However, most researchers consider a more mundane explanation (like planetary debris or dust clouds) to be far more probable.

Credit: NASA Hubble Space Telescope

The first interstellar object ever spotted passing through our solar system, Oumuamua was discovered in 2017 by the Pan-STARRS telescope at the Haleakalā Observatory in Hawaii (hence its name, which means "scout" in Hawaiian).

Its elongated shape and unusual trajectory sparked a heated debate about its origin, with some speculating it could be an alien probe. Complicating matters further, the object exhibited non-gravitational acceleration, implying it was accelerating on its own. While this could be attributed to solar pressure or outgassing, no conclusive evidence has been gathered to fully explain its peculiar behavior. Nevertheless, Oumuamua remains our most enigmatic visitor from another star system, alien or not.

Credit: NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Zombie stars, known scientifically as "recurrent novae," are white dwarfs that undergo repeated supernova-like explosions. These massive outbursts fail to completely destroy the star's core, allowing it to reignite and restart the explosive cycle, challenging our understanding of stellar evolution.

Typically found in binary star systems, zombie stars can draw hydrogen from a companion star, effectively resurrecting themselves. Over time, these undead stars accumulate enough material to trigger a nova explosion once again.

Credit: Daniele Levis Pelusi

Ever dreamed of a planet made almost entirely of diamonds? Well, you might be in luck. Diamond planets are theoretical exoplanets primarily composed of carbon, with significant portions of their mass being in the form of diamond.

These sparkling worlds are thought to form around carbon-rich stars. One potential candidate is 55 Cancri e, a super-Earth in a nearby star system. However, even the most die-hard of diamond fans might find this planet too extreme, as it orbits extremely close to its star, with surface temperatures reaching a scorching 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit.

EVEN THE MOST STRANGE NAMES MEAN SOMETHING

What Do The Names Of These 10 Martial Arts Mean?

Credit: Uriel Soberanes

The most famous martial arts often have mysterious, exotic names, reminding us of their remote origins. But these disciplines had to start somewhere and their names, while unusual to us, have meanings that are more straightforward than we might believe. Read on to find out what karate, kung fu, or jiu-jitsu means.

Credit: Jason Briscoe

One of the most famous martial arts in the whole world, karate’s physical aspects seek the development of defensive and counterattacking body movements. The themes of traditional karate training are fighting and self-defense, though their mental and moral aspects target the overall improvement of the individual.

The word karate is a combination of two Chinese characters (kanji): kara, meaning ‘empty,’ and te, meaning ‘hand;’ thus, karate means "empty hand."

Credit: Marc Chong Seng

Taekwondo is a traditional Korean martial art that has become a global sport, gaining an international reputation and standing among the official games in the Olympics.

The term "Taekwondo" is composed of three parts as shown in the English spelling, though it is one word in Korean. Tae means ‘foot,’ ‘leg,’ or ‘to step on;’ Kwon means ‘fist,’ or ‘fight;’ and Do means ‘the way’ or ‘discipline.’

Credit: Thao LEE

Kung Fu is a martial art practiced all over the world by people from many different cultures. The term Kung Fu is made up of two characters: the first, Kung, can mean ‘skillful work,’ ‘hard training,’ or ‘endeavor.’ The second, Fu means ‘time spent.’ Together they mean "time spent at skillful work, endeavor, or hard training."

Credit: Thao LEE

Sipalki is a Korean martial art with Mongolian roots. It is a fast street self-defense system that uses all body parts including pressure points, grabs, hands and legs counter-attacks, immobilizations, and angles of movement.

The name is the translated expression of the Korean word Sib Fal Gui, which means "the eighteen techniques", referring to the 18 techniques that make up the core of the martial art.

Credit: Nathan Dumlao

Krav-Maga is an Israeli self-defense systemknown for its focus on real-world situations. Developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it is derived from a combination of techniques from Aikido, Boxing, Judo, Karate, Wrestling, and other martial arts.

Krav-Maga is a term in Hebrew, composed of two words; Krav, which means 'combat', and Maga, which means 'contact.’ So, the literal translation of the term Krav-Maga is "contact-combat."

Credit: Hermes Rivera

Savate is a French kickboxing combat sport that uses the hands and feet as weapons, combining elements of English boxing with kicking techniques. Only foot kicks are allowed, unlike some systems such as Southeast Asian boxing or kickboxing, which allow the use of the knees or shins. However, strikes to any part of the body are permitted.

Savate is a French word for "old shoe or boot". Savate fighters wear specially designed boots. A male practitioner of savate is called a tireur while a female is called a tireuse.

Credit: Samuel Castro

A martial art with Soviet origins, Sambo is an internationally practiced combat sport developed and used by the Soviet Red Army in the early 1920s to improve their hand-to-hand combat abilities.

The word sambo is an acronym of samozashchita bez oruzhiya, which literally translates to "self-defense without weapons."

Credit: Richard Bustos

Judo is a modern Japanese martial art and combat sport, that first originated in Japan. Its main feature is its competitive aspect, where the objective is to either throw one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue with a grappling maneuver, or force an opponent to submit by joint locking the elbow or by applying a choke. The word judo means "gentle way".

Credit: Nando García

Aikido is a modern Japanese martial art now practiced in around 140 countries. It was originally developed to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attackers from injury.

Aikido is often translated as "the way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the way of harmonious spirit."

Credit: Nolan Kent

The word jiu-jitsu derives from the Japanese Jū meaning ‘gentle’ and Jutsu meaning ‘art.’ Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a predominantly ground-based martial art, using the principles of leverage, angles, pressure, and timing, as well as knowledge of the human anatomy to achieve a non-violent submission of one’s opponent.