While we humans have been into space exploration for a while now, in hindsight, we do not know a lot about it. There are so many questions that plague the astronomers daily. Some got answers, some are still a mystery.
However, there are still some unsolved mysteries that astronomers cannot explain, even after centuries. Listed below are ten of the top unsolved mysteries of the outer space that no one can really give you an answer for.
The Big Bang
Everyone knows that the big bang is the theory behind the beginning of everything. The universe began as an extremely hot and dense point, approximately 13.7 billion years ago. While the big bang is said to be the start of the universe, if you think about it logically, if the big bang did happen, then, life, as we know, should not exist. Let’s elaborate. Some astronomers believe that we are living in a post-apocalyptic world, as the big bang must have produced enough anti-matter and homicidal matter for an apocalypse. According to science, there should have been a dark graveyard devoid of any particles. And this is the big mystery as to why we have planets, Moons, asteroids, comets, and so on.
The Great Eruption
In 1838, Eta Carinae’s glow increased so much that it became the 2nd brightest star in the Earth’s sky. It held the spot for roughly 10 years before fainting. This was known as ‘the Great Eruption’. During this, the star lost 14% of its mass, which is equal to 10 of our home-star. Astronomers believed that it happened due to mass being blown away by stellar winds. Since spectroscopy was not fully developed, the theory could not be confirmed. But now that the scientists have analyzed the light, they have found that its temperature was too cold for stellar winds. This makes its chart climb quite unique. While there are new theories, astronomers still have not been able to prove anything.
The Eclipse of the Star Epsilon Aurigae
The next cosmic mystery that is still unsolved 200 years later is the Epsilon Aurigae’s Disc. While scientists think that some questions may have being answered recently, the mystery is still not a 100% solved. To begin with, the mystery of the winter star is its dimming process. After every 27 years, the star would dim for about 18 months. Scientist projected the reasons to be loud of meteors, black holes, or other disks. The most recent eclipse began in 2009, which gave the astronomers to study it more. They believe that system is formed of 2 stars, which are surrounded of clouds of gas and dust. However, the nature of these stars is still very much a mystery.
The North Star – Polaris
The north star or Polaris might be one of the most famous stars and not just in the Northern Hemisphere. Its cultural significance has made it the most famous star on the planet. However, there is still a lot that we do not know about it. Astronomers believe that as the star ages, it is getting brighter and brighter. Its brightness may have increased about 4.6 times compared to the ancient observations. When it comes to the distance, it was roughly 434 light years away from us in the 90’s, which is not true today. Recent measurements suggest that the star is about 100 light years closer that we thought.
Are ‘Aliens’ real?
The million-dollar question – ‘do aliens exist?’ Human space exploration is not what it used to be a century ago. We have discovered so much more, like new galaxies, thousands of exoplanets that are terrestrial and potentially habitable just like the Earth. Even after all this discovery, why are there still no signs of extraterrestrial life? This issue is called Fermi Paradox. Scientists all over the world have their own explanations and theories. Some believe that aliens are super intelligent robots that live in the coldest and darkest parts of the universe, which we are yet to discover, while others believe that these extraterrestrials may be treating Earth as a zoo or a wilderness area. Crazy!
Source of the cosmic rays
To understand the importance of this unsolved mystery, first we have to understand what are cosmic rays. Charged subatomic particles that consist mostly of electrons, protons and charged nuclei that flow into the solar system from the outer space are cosmic rays. The strongest of these rays are extremely-extremely powerful. Their energy is 100 million times substantial than the particles from artificial colliders. This is the only information we have on the most energetic visitors from the outer space.
What is the universe made of?
The last four mysteries here cater to one mystery and that is what is our universe composed of. While you may think that it is a single mystery, it is not. Every element that scientists discover is a bigger mystery. Let’s break down the composition of our universe. Dark energy makes up for 73% of the universe while the dark matter makes up for only 23%. The universe that we know of today only takes up 5% of the entire universal system and even half of that is missing, which is called the baryonic matter. While unveiling the biggest mystery of all may take time, let’s understand its composition a little better and delve into their own mysteries.
Missing baryons
As you just read, the universe is a big mystery. To unfold it, let’s start with its smallest part. Baryonic matter that makes up for only 2.5 percent or more of the entire universe. This so-called matter is composed of particles like electrons and protons, which make up for all the visible mass in the cosmos. These baryons are decreasing mysteriously and will vanish from the cosmic history one day. Some astrophysicists believe that these particles may exist between galaxies as WHIM. Finding them may help astronomers understand how the universe has evolved over time.
Dark matter
The observable universe that is visible to us is just about 5% of the entire cosmos. Rest of it is invisible and roughly 23% of the is the dark matter. Astronomers started thinking about it in the 60’s and 70’s. They explain is as an invisible mass that has a gravitational pull on regular matter. Scientists do not know anything else about dark matter, but it could change anytime in the future as they might be able to discern particles of the dark matter. Information about its temperature and size of the particles is within reach in the near future, however, it is still one of the biggest mysteries for humankind.
Dark energy
The last unsolved mystery in our list is the mystery of the dark energy, which constitutes for 73% of the entire universe. It is the biggest unsolved mystery for about a century now. It was during the 20’s that Edwin Hubble made the discovery that the cosmos is expanding. In 1988, it was discovered that the rate of expansion of the universe is just increasing with time. This perplexed the astronomers as everyone believed that because of the gravity of the matter, the expansion rate would slow down and gradually, the universe would contract. This led to the birth of the concept of dark energy. It is thought to be a mysterious force that is pulling our universe apart at an accelerated speed. While astronomers think dark energy makes up for 73% of the universe, they are yet to detect its presence.
