The 10 Strangest Phenomena That Scientists Can Not Explain!

The universe holds an infinite number of secrets and mysteries. What was there before the big bang? What is dark matter? Where does dark energy come from? What happens in a black hole? Is our universe the only one? But also, planets and stars raise questions again and again and let even scientists marvel and await to discover new things. No wonder, because up until today, we know probably not even 10% of all existing galaxies. Today we present 10 Unexplained Phenomena Around Planets and Stars. If you like our videos, feel free to support us with a thumbs up, subscribe to Simply Space, and look forward to the videos that will be waiting for you in the future. The Loner Planet The substellar object CFBDSIR 2149-0403 was classified as a brown dwarf. Thus it occupies a special position between star and planet. While some identify it as an AB Doradus star, others describe it as a gas planet, which would make it a planet without a parent star. This has been theorized, but rarely observed. So far, only four candidates that may be solitary planets are known, and it's the closest one to Earth at about 130 light-years away. Since it does not orbit another planet, its motion is influenced by the stars of the AB Doradus star system. How it's possible for a planet to become a loner is still unexplained. The Disco Star In 2002, a strange observation was made in connection with the star V838 Monocerotis in the constellation of the Unicorn. This star, which is about 20,000 light-years away from Earth, suddenly increased in brightness. Scientists suspected that it was simply a nova. This is when the remaining core of a dead star accumulates too much hydrogen from a As usual, the light faded after a few weeks, and the report noted the event as a nova. A short time later, however, something unusual happened and the star brightened again. The time interval was too short for a second nova, and closer investigations were initiated. It was realized that the star was not old enough to be a white dwarf. Its age was not even 25 million years. The star had erupted by itself and repeated this process several times over the following months. At its brightest eruption, the star became 1 million times brighter than the sun, and thus one of the brightest lights in the sky. Images taken by the Hubble telescope after the eruption showed a large cloud of gas and debris moving away from the star. One theory is that the star collided with an unseen object, but a solid explanation has yet to be found. The Eternally Young Star The globular cluster Messier 4, located about 7,200 light-years away, presents an unsolved mystery. With an age of 12.2 billion years, it's already quite old. It is believed that all galaxies eventually become globular clusters when all the gas and dust for star formation is used up. Therefore, stars in these formations should thus be very old and in their last stages of life. However, in September of 2012, a Chilean team found a star rich in lithium in the middle of the Messier 4 cluster. This compound normally burns off in the first billion years of a star's life. This star just doesn't fit the bill. Researchers believe that the star has found a way to replenish its lithium supply. How this is possible, however, is still unknown. The Siamese Star The neutron star SWIFT J1822.3-1606 is located about 20,000 light-years away from us, in the constellation of the Serpent Bearer. Stars can die not only as white dwarfs, but also as black holes or neutron stars. The latter two are always preceded by a supernova. The two types of neutron stars are called magnetars and pulsars. The latter shoots beams of electromagnetic radiation from its poles, while magnetars are characterized by an extremely strong magnetic field. For a long time, all indications were that stars could become one of the two, but never both. However, in 2011, it was discovered that SWIFT exhibits the properties of both types, and so far, another such star has been discovered. A mystery still remains, however, as to how this is even possible. The star SAO-206-462, surrounded by spirals, attracted the attention of some astronomers in 2011 when it was revealed that the star, 400 light-years away, is orbited by spiral arms. This spiral shape is not uncommon in the universe, but never before had it been observed as a star rotated. The cause of the spiral arms is still uncertain. A widely accepted theory suggests that the gravity of planets forming in the dust of the star is responsible for the phenomenon. Until these planets are identified, however, even this remains nothing more than a hypothesis. The Returned Stardust The pulsar PSR B1257-12, also called LICH in the constellation of Virgo, is the remnant of a supernova and is orbited by altogether three planets, which were actually the first planets ever discovered outside the solar system. They were given the names Drager, Poltergeist, and Phobetor. During an investigation, researchers found only one other pulsar orbited by a single planet. To date, it's not clear how many planets can form, since any planet-forming material should have been ejected billions of kilometers into space by the supernova explosion. So how enough gas and dust for four planets should have returned to the pulsar is a mystery to researchers. Nevertheless, it's assumed that the three exoplanets, similar to our Earth, must have formed from a planetary disk that surrounded the star before the explosion. The Disappeared Stardust 450 light-years away from us is the trinary star system in the constellation of Centaur. It is believed to be about the size of our sun, but unlike this 4.5 billion-year-old star, it's only 10 million years old. Between 1983 and 2008, researchers examined a bright ring of dust around the star for possible planets, as they wanted to gain insight into the formation of our own solar system. In early 2009, the surprise came. Nothing was seen in the telescopes except the star. The dust ring had disappeared without leaving any planets or other traces. According to the astronomer Karl Mellis, so far there is no explanation for this event. The Stars That Escaped the Black Hole At 2.5 million light-years, the Andromeda galaxy is our nearest neighboring spiral galaxy. At its center is a supermassive black hole from which not even light can escape. In 2005, the Hubble telescope detected a blue disk rotating dangerously close around the black hole. Closer inspection revealed that it was millions of young stars moving around the black hole at a speed of 3.7 million kilometers per hour. At such a speed, one could circle the Earth at the equator in just 40 seconds. However, everything known about the tidal forces around black holes tells us that the existence of these stars should not even be possible. The enormous gravity of the black hole should have actually torn the stars apart at such a close orbit. The Star That Shouldn't Exist The star with the long name SDSS J102915 plus 172927, also called Cafao Star after its discoverer Elisabetta Cafao, was found in 2011 in the constellation of Leo. At that time, it had the lowest metallicity of all known stars. It is very old, about 13 billion years old, but a comparatively small star, having less than 80% of the mass of our sun. The star consists of 99.99993% hydrogen and helium. However, these elements are actually too light to condense into a star. Computers which are specialized in the star formation indicate again and again that such a star cannot exist. The Planet That Should Have Been Swallowed At a distance of 330 light-years, the star WASP-18 is located in the Phoenix constellation. It's about 25% more massive than our sun. Since 2009, it has been known that it's orbited by a planet called WASP-18b. The planet is a gas giant. It has about the same size of Jupiter, but about 10 times more mass, and orbits the star at a distance of about 1 million kilometers. Thus, it needs less than 23 hours for an orbit and its surface temperature is over 2,000 degrees Celsius. In such a proximity, the trebence should have actually fallen into its central star a long time ago. Nevertheless, it has now survived already 680 million years. How it survives the proximity to WASP-18 is a real mystery, one which astonishes many scientists to date. It's assumed, however, that it will collide with the star in about 1 million years. Our solar system can feel quite small, considering its dimensions alone. While some would like to venture out into the unknown, others prefer to stay on the ground. Which group do you belong to, and which space puzzle would you like to see solved first? Feel free to post your answer in the comments below.