Category: Uncategorized

On Tuesday, March 19th, NASA is going to be hosting a media teleconference regarding the mission of a spacecraft collecting samples of the asteroid Bennu. This is one of the first spacecraft to ever complete such a mission, and is a very big deal in the space science community.

An image taken by OSIRIS-REx of the asteroid Bennu when it arrived in December, 2018.

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft was launched by NASA on September 8th, 2016, and travelled billions of kilometers from Earth for two years before orbiting the asteroid Bennu on December 31st, 2018. Since it’s arrival, NASA’s probe has been investigating the asteroid and searching for the perfect place for sample collection.

But it does beg the question, why is this mission such a big deal? Why Bennu?

The trip Bennu is one of the most ambitious attempted by a probe, as it will end up being a years-long endeavor. December marked the beginning of the two years that OSIRIS-REx will be investigating Bennu’s surface. It will brieftly touch the surface of Bennu around July of 2020 to collect between 60 and 2,000 grams of dirt and rocks (the largest sample gathered from a space object since the Apollo moon landings). After packing the sample into a capsule, OSIRIS-REx will begin the journey back to Earth and land in a Utah desert in 2023. Due to this, the mission is very important as observations of Bennu indicate that it could provide information on the formation of the solar system and the universe.

But Bennu is not only chosen because it is a leftover fragment of the tumultuous formation of our solar system. Yes, it is very old. The mineral fragments within this asteroid could be even older than our solar system, comprised of the dust of dying stars flung across space 4.6 billion years ago that eventually coalesced into everything we know today. However, it is also much closer than most asteroids. Most are between Mars and Jupiter, in the solar system’s asteroid belt. Bennu orbits between Earth and Mars on the same orbital plane, and comes closest to Earth every 6 years. In addition, this asteroid is the perfect size. It’s diameter is a little larger than the Empire State Building, which makes the asteroid approachable by probes and rich in regolith (unconsolidated rocky material covering bedrock, aka what NASA wants to collect parts of).

Bennu is also incredibly well preserved due to the vacuum of space, and may contain explanations to the origin of life on Earth. Scientists have been studying Bennu since it was discovered in 1999, and know that it is primarily carbon-constructed, so it could contain some clues into the eternal question of how life began on Earth since it has easily been around since then. Astronomers classify asteroids into one of three categories, with the most primitive being the carbon-rich ones that have most likely not changed in 4 billion years (like Bennu). Scientists are also interested in Bennu because it has a shifting orbit, and it is likely that it will collide with Earth in the late 22nd century.

Overall, monitoring the mission of OSIRIS-REx will be interesting over the next few years. Already the probe found hydrated minerals on the asteroid’s surface, indicating the presence of ancient water on the rocky surface of this space traveler. While we will not find out everything OSIRIS-REx discovers until September of 2023, it is definitely something to look forward to.

Sources:

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-host-media-teleconference-on-asteroid-sample-return-mission

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/517/why-bennu-10-reasons/

https://www.asteroidmission.org/why-bennu/

Ancient water found on asteroid Bennu

In all honesty, thinking about my last post about dark flow, I started to think more about the inflation theory of our universe being a bubble. We already know so little about our own universe, and the idea of cosmos beyond ours that we are unable to see is absolutely mind-boggling. The topic of dark flow, however, has now turned me to other “dark” things in our universe.

Most people have at least heard of “dark matter” and/or “dark energy”. It is mentioned in science fiction with typically insidious connotations, and for good reason.

When the Hubble Space Telescope observed a distant supernova in 1998, scientists had to alter their idea of universal expansion. They assumed that as more matter came into the universe, the pull of gravity would increase and the expansion of the universe would slow. However, after observing this Type 1a supernova (no hydrogen emissions and the brightest of all types of supernovae), it was clear that the universe is expanding at a more accelerated rate than it did hundreds of years ago. Astronomers came up with three possible reasons for this: it could be a result of a long-discarded version of Einstein’s theory of gravity that contained a “cosmological constant”; there could be some kind of strange energy-fluid that filled space; there could be something wrong with Einstein’s theory of gravity. While they do not know what the correct explanation is, they named the solution “dark energy”, which is the topic of this post.

For something that makes up 68-72% of the total mass-energy density of the universe (everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter, only makes up about 5%), and is responsible for the increased acceleration of our known universe, we know insanely little.

Einstein was the first to recognize that empty space was not nothing, and so many believe that dark energy is just a property of space. However, all energy is supposed to come from somewhere. The source is typically either matter or radiation, and so the notion presented is that space, even when devoid of matter and radiation, the universe has residual energy. It could also be a result of the strange actions of particles smaller than atoms (quantum mechanics). Quantum mechanics allows energy and matter to appear out of nothingness for only an instant, but this constant appearance and disappearance could be providing empty space with energy. But dark energy could also just be creating a new, fundamental force in the universe, which only starts to become observational when the universe reaches a certain size.

While more is unknown than known with regards to dark energy, we do know that since space is everywhere, so is dark energy. Its effects increase as space expands, as they go hand in hand. Its existence is only inferred through observations of gravitational interactions between astronomical interactions, and yet it is the reason for most major phenomenon with regards to universal expansion.

Dark energy, and its vast lack of knowledge on it, calls scientists towards an unexplored realm of physics. Dark energy could be evidence that outer space and the universe as a whole are configured vastly differently than we previously thought, and signal that we are on the brink of a new leap into understanding the universe.

 

Sources:

https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy

http://hubblesite.org/hubble_discoveries/dark_energy/de-what_is_dark_energy.php

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/D/Dark+Energy

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/T/Type+Ia+Supernova

Movement. It’s what powers the universe, as every aspect is constantly moving. Not only are planets orbiting stars, but stars rotate around galaxies that spin across the universe.

I hope you’re not motion-sick.

These clusters of massive galaxies that we are but insignificant specks in are constantly moving away from each other as the universe expands, which we know is occurring (according to the Big Bang Theory). Our observable universe, theoretically, is only 13.7 billion light years, as that is when the universe formed. By the theory of Hubble Flow, as the universe continues to expand beyond its’ current 13.7 billion light years in size, the expansion should be equal in all directions.

However, astrophysicists studying a CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) Map – the remaining radiation from the Big Bang that invisibly coats the universe – discovered that patches of galaxies seem to be moving at high speeds towards a point beyond the perceivable universe. This has been referred to as “dark flow”.

Astronomers have been debating for years over whether or not dark flow is real, and if so, what the cause of it would be. Those that do not believe in it have solid reasoning. The distribution of matter in the universe does not account for it. But those who believe it is occurring are continuing to document and study this supposed phenomenon. There are multiple different theories about possible causes. One idea is that some mass that existed before cosmic inflation (when the universe expanded beyond its original compressed state) made such an immense impact on the matter of our universe that some galaxy clusters are still drawn to it.

Regardless of what causes it, many astronomers today do agree that studying CMB maps shows parts of giant clusters of galaxies moving approximately 2 million miles per hour towards a point between the constellations Centaurus and Hydra. While this would not be significant normally, they are moving in a direction that is separate and different from the direction of the expansion of the universe.

A separate theory of inflation of the universe posits that the universe we observe is only a small bubble of space-time that got rapidly expanded after the Big Bang, and that there could be other parts of outer space beyond our bubble that we are unable to see. In these regions beyond the bubble, space-time could be entirely different from how we experience it. In addition, it most likely would not have stars or galaxies, possibly containing supermassive structures that would be much larger than anything in our universe. Scientists who support this theory believe that these supermassive structures are the cause for dark flow, pulling galaxy clusters from outside our bubble.

A study on dark flow led by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Alexander Kashlinsky, which includes researchers and equipment from universities around the world, has been occurring for a little over a decade. Since 2008, Atrio-Barandela, an associate and research colleague of Kashlinsky, has stated that the study has provided significant evidence to the existence of dark flow. The researchers are currently working to expand their catalog of galaxy clusters in order to track the dark flow to about twice the current distance.

This could be an interesting study to continue watching, as continued proof of dark flow may encourage other researchers to look into not only dark flow, but how the universe existed before inflation (the Big Bang) and what may exist beyond our bubble.

 

Sources:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a27635/dark-flow-space-time/

https://www.space.com/5878-mysterious-dark-flow-discovered-space.html

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/releases/2010/10-023.html

We often hear about the International Space Station (ISS), but personally, I never knew any of the specifics of it. So I have made this post of what I have learned, and hopefully you will learn something as well.

The first piece of the International Space Station was launched into orbit in November of 1998. This was the Russian-built control module. Approximately two weeks later, the U.S.-launched Endeavour shuttle met the Russian control module in orbit, and the Endevour crew connected the control module to the U.S.-built Unity node. More pieces were attached to the station for two years until the station was livable, at which point, on November 2, 2000, the first crew to live aboard the station arrived.

Now would most likely be an appropriate time to explain what the International Space Station is. In short, it is a very large spacecraft in orbit around Earth. It averages at an altitude of about 250 miles above the Earth’s surface, and travels at 17,500 miles per hour, meaning that it orbits the entirety of Earth every 90 minutes. It serves as the home of many astronauts and cosmonauts (230 individuals from 18 countries have visited the ISS) and is a unique science laboratory. NASA is using the space station to learn more about living and working in space, and several nations work/worked together to use and build the space station. What NASA learns about living on the space station will allow us to send humans further into space than ever before.

The Space Station itself is about the size of two Boeing 747 jet airliners, covering the area of a football field including end zones when including the solar arrays at the ends of the station. The solar arrays collect energy from the sun to provide energy to the station, connected to the station by a long truss that regulates the temperature of the station. The ISS can support a crew of six people in addition to visitors. On Earth, it would weigh more than one million pounds. It has laboratory modules from the United States, Russia, Japan, and Europe.

The crew is delivered payloads of supplies to the ISS’s airdocks by four different cargo spacecraft: Orbital ATK’s Cyngus, SpaceX’s Dragon, JAXA’s HTV, and the Russian Progress. These cargo spacecraft contain life-sustaining supplies, cargo, and scientific materials to continue study aboard the station.

A fun aspect of the station is that it also has robotic arms connected to the outside of the station. These arms help to continue to build the station, and can move astronauts when they are moving around outside. Other arms can operate science experiments.

The importance of the station is reflected in the continuity of human presence that has been consistent since November 2, 2000. The International Space Station itself has made it possible for humans to have a continuous presence in space, and the work done on its laboratories cannot be done anywhere on Earth due to the necessity of the conditions of outer space.

The space station is one of the first steps in NASA’s plan to explore other worlds by studying the effect of different levels of gravity (such as microgravity) on the human body.

Sources:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/facts-and-figures

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-the-iss-58.html

Personally, I object to the title of this blog post because I believe Planet Nine will always be Pluto. However, because of Pluto’s downgrade in status from planet to dwarf planet in 2006, we must be scientifically accurate in our identification of phenomena. So here we are.

“But with Pluto downgraded to dwarf planet status, does that not mean there are only eight planets?”

Yes, there are only eight planets in our solar system. That we know of.

In 2015, Caltech astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown declared that they had mathematical and computer simulation evidence of a giant planet making an unusual and elongated orbit far beyond Pluto in the outer reaches of the solar system. The hypothetical planet would be approximately the size of Neptune (nearly four times larger than Earth), 10 times the mass of Earth, and could take between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years to make a full orbit around the sun.

It’s existence, while entirely theoretical, would explain the unique orbits of at least five discovered smaller objects in the Kuiper Belt (a distant region of icy debris that extends far beyond the orbit of Neptune). These KBO’s (Kuiper Belt Objects) orbit the sun on an elliptical path all facing the same direction, moving at different speeds. They all orbit on the same plane, however the plane is 30 degrees downward from the plane on which the rest of the planets and solar system objects orbit. The probability of these phenomena occurring on random chance alone is 0.007 percent, according to researchers.

While it could just be other small objects in the Belt affecting the orbits, this is unlikely. For that to happen, the Kuiper Belt would have to have approximately 100 times more mass than it is thought to possess, so Batygin and Brown turned to the idea of an undiscovered planet.

Their simulations show that the gravitational influence of a massive planet in an anti-aligned orbit (meaning a planet whose closest approach to the sun is 180 degrees across from that of all the other planets) would cause the unusual orbits of the objects in the Kuiper Belt. The simulation also predicted that some KBO’s would have orbits that are inclined perpendicular relative to the plane of the Solar System’s official planets, and according to scientists, four such bodies have been found recently.

Brown said, “We plotted up the positions of those objects and their orbits, and they matched the simulations exactly. When we found that, my jaw sort of hit the floor.”

The only downside of current studies of Planet Nine (also called Planet X) is that there are no direct observations of its existence.  This is also the reason it does not have a name like Jupiter or Saturn. Once it has been directly observed, the person to observe it receives the honor of naming it. When/if it is observed, it will most likely be named in the style of the other planets (after the gods of Roman mythology. Hopefully, we will be able to observe this planet in our lifetimes, so we can once again have the peace of living in a solar system with nine planets.

Sources:

https://www.space.com/31670-planet-nine-solar-system-discovery.html

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/hypothetical-planet-x/in-depth/

22 degrees south of Jupiter’s equator, and at least 340 years old, a persistent anticyclonic hurricane roars with winds peaking above 400 mph.

The Great Red Spot (GRS) was first spotted in 1830, but observations from the 1600’s (such as Cassini in 1665) describe a spot on Jupiter that may or may not be the same storm system. The storm has been able to last this long on Jupiter due to the massive gas planet’s tens of thousands of miles of atmosphere, the fact that it spins much faster than Earth, and Jupiter’s 300-400 mph jet streams that surround either side of the GRS.

It’s dimensions 24-40,000 km by 12-14,000 km. Recent discoveries in 2017 made by the Juno spacecraft show that the storm is approximately 200 miles deep, 50-100 times deeper than Earth’s deepest ocean. This storm could fit 2 Earth-sized planets, as Jupiter does not have solid ground that the storm could slow down over. Only a massive sea of liquid hydrogen.

But the storm has been shrinking for a long time. Glenn Orton, a lead Juno Mission team member and planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said that, “The GRS will in a decade or two become the GRC (Great Red Circle), maybe sometime after that the GRM (Great Red Memory).” However, this is not new news. When the storm was first assuredly observed in the 1800’s, it was about 4 times the diameter of Earth. In 1979, when the Voyager 2 aircraft flew by Jupiter, the storm had shrunk down to a bit more than twice the width of our planet.

Scientists are still trying to learn more about the GRS. It is difficult to discern much information based on the Juno Spacecraft’s drive-by’s of the planet, as Jupiter is covered in a thick layer of gas that makes it difficult to determine what is at it’s surface or the conditions of it’s lower atmosphere. But recent discoveries have shown scientists another reason why the storm may have been raging for so long.

The Spot is warmer at the base of the storm than at the top. From the top, at the edge of Jupiter’s atmosphere, the storm measures at around -279 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, at its base, it measures 440 degrees Fahrenheit. This is an indication of the functioning of the hurricane because Jupiter’s weather physics and dynamics are incredibly similar to that of Earth, just millions and millions of miles further from the sun. Meaning that the temperature difference greatly drives winds, and provides an explanation not only to the GRS, but to all of the storms tearing across the gas giant.

But why is this important?

While it may not seem like that big of a deal, the GRS is actually integral to helping us understand planetary weather, resulting in further understanding of extrasolar (found in or taking place outside of the solar system) planetary cases. Amy Simon, an expert in planetary atmospheres at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said that “If you just look at reflected light from an extrasolar planet, you’re not going to be able to tell what it’s made of. Looking at many possible different cases in our own solar system could enable us to then apply that knowledge to extrasolar planets.” Understanding the GRS and how Jupiter’s weather system works could ultimately help us better understand planets even further away, and help us in our search for another Earth.

Sources:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/jupiter-s-great-red-spot-a-swirling-mystery

https://www.space.com/39764-jupiter-great-red-spot-could-disappear.html

https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/great_red_spot.htm

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-lurks-below-jupiters-great-red-spot-180967524/

Beautiful and fleeting, if you miss her once, you won’t get another chance for a long time.

Comets have been observed for centuries, with some documentations going back to B.C.E. For this particular comet, the first recorded sighting was by Chinese astronomers in 240 B.C.E. However, it wasn’t until 1705 that it was identified by English astronomer Edmond Halley. He published the first catalog of the orbits of comets, providing information on 24 different comets. What is even more special about this catalog, however, is the claim that he made in it. Halley posited that comets that were observed in 1531, 1607, and 1682 were all the same comet, due to the fact that the three sightings all had incredibly similar orbits. He believed the comet would return to Earth every 76 years, predicting its return in 1758. While Halley did not live to see his prediction come to pass, the return of the comet in late 1758 resulted in it being named in his honor.

Halley’s has also provided valuable scientific knowledge to the astronomical community since its documentation. It’s nearly identical orbit and it’s ability to be predicted proved that it maintains an orbit around the sun, showing scientists that it is possible for some comets to be considered part of the solar system, as they maintain an orbit around the central point.

The comet was first imaged in 1982, 4 years before its next passage of Earth, when it was pictured near Saturn using the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory in California. In 1986, the comet came closest to Earth at 39 million miles. While this may seem close considering the vastness of space, in 1910 it’s passage was at 13.9 million miles, and the comet’s closest passage past Earth occurred on April 10, 837, with a distance of 3.7 million miles. This passage is actually depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry from that time period.

Halley made history as the first comet to be imaged by interplanetary space craft around its passage in 1986. Two Japanese spacecraft, two Soviet spacecraft, and one European Space Agency spacecraft were within imaging distance. The European Space Agency craft (named Giotto) passed only 370 miles from the comet’s nucleus, with images and measurements taken to show that the nucleus’s crust was so black (blacker than coal) that it only reflected 4% of the sunlight it received.

While many of us were not alive to see the last time Halley visited, there’s no need to worry. She’s coming back to the solar system in 2061! 42 years and counting!

Until then, every October, the Orionid Meteor Shower is spawned by Halley’s fragments. If October is too cold for you, Halley also spawns the May Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower. In addition, there is a collection of comet’s called “Halley family comets” (HFC) that have similar inclinations of orbit to Halley. However, the inclinations vary, resulting in some astronomers hypothesizing a separate origin from Halley. Some believe they could have come from just past Neptune, or that they evolved from members of the Oort Cloud.

Regardless of whether you’re tuning in for Halley’s next passing, or will catch one of the smaller showers or family comets, the study of these gas jets hurtling through space brings astronomers closer to understanding the great expanse of the universe with every observation.

Sources:

https://www.space.com/19878-halleys-comet.html

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Halleys-Comet

The most amount of matter you can possibly think of. Condense it in to the smallest space, and you have a black hole.

The destroyer of suns, the gravitational pull of the galaxies, the one place in the universe where no light can ever be.

Scientists theorize that the smallest black holes are the size of atoms, while they have the mass of a large mountain. But one of the most fascinating things about them, and what most people do not know, is that black holes are invisible. Only space telescopes with special tools can help to find them. However, the fact that they are invisible is not the topic of this blog post. Rather, I will be going into how awesomely destructive they are, and why you should care.

Scientists believe that the smallest black holes appeared when the universe began. However, the largest black holes are the result of dying stars.

When a star reaches the end of its life cycle, it has a few options depending on its size. Stellar black holes are created when the center of a very big star collapses on itself, causing a supernova (a massive explosion) that shoots part of the star into space. However, supermassive black holes (black holes that have masses equivalent to approximately 1 million suns together), the topic of this post, are at the centers of galaxies and are thought to be made at the same time as the galaxies they are in.

For many years, astronomers had no evidence for the existence of supermassive black holes, and even now there are only a few that are confirmed (with most being too far away to be observed). While they were trying to find evidence of their existence, the most compelling evidence were in the form of quasars (a massive and extremely remote celestial object, emitting exceptionally large amounts of energy, and typically having a starlike image in a telescope). The only mechanism capable of producing such enormous amounts of energy is the conversion of gravitational energy into light by a massive black hole. More recently, direct evidence has come from observations of materials orbiting the centers of galaxies. Their highly accelerated orbital velocities can only be easily explained by their acceleration through a massive object with huge gravitational energy within a small region of space. This most directly explains the composition of galaxies, as there have been evidence of large positive correlations of size of supermassive black hole to size of galaxy, indicating that some of the largest galaxies in the universe (the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies) are only able to be held together by supermassive black holes at their centers.

That being said, why should you care?

Not only are they super cool, but you should care for the same reason that you should care about the event discussed in my last post. The eventual collision of the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies is going to directly affect our descendants, the human race, and Earth as a whole. Because of the future of our planet, the presence of supermassive black holes in the universe is important, and further study of them is necessary to ensure complete predictions.

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/S/Supermassive+Black+Hole

https://www.cosmotography.com/images/supermassive_blackholes_drive_galaxy_evolution_2.html

The title of the this post is a fact. Our own mortality is, truly, inevitable. However, the “We’re” that I am referring to is our theoretical descendants, around 3.75 billion years from now. But many scientists believe that this event will not cause the end of Earth. In full disclosure, its much more likely that the death of our solar system’s sun will cause our planet’s death than what is discussed in this post.

Regardless, a possible cause of our descendants’ deaths is the collision of the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies. We will start by establishing some facts about Andromeda, as many do not know as much about one of the closest galaxies to our own.

The Andromeda Galaxy.

The Andromeda Galaxy

Andromeda, the Milky Way, and Triangulum are the three largest galaxies in our Local Group of Galaxies. Triangulum is much smaller, but Andromeda and the Milky Way are approximately equal in size (we used to believe that Andromeda was much larger than us, however new technology for measuring galaxy mass has determined that it is much smaller). Andromeda is also the most distant astrological object you can see unaided in the night sky (although you need a great spot away from light pollution to see it).

Because of its similar mass to the Milky Way, the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies are drawn towards each other through a mutual gravitational pull. This results in the Andromeda Galaxy hurtling towards us at at least 250,000 miles per hour.

I know, this sounds absolutely terrifying. Two galaxies colliding sounds like the end of all life on Earth. But many scientists believe that Earth will survive the collision, based on its position in the Milky Way, and the only major difference will be that our night sky will look entirely different. A video off of Business Insider is very interesting in showing the possible appearances of our sky.

But what will happen to the Milky Way?

Currently, our galaxy and Andromeda are spiral galaxies. This is a less common type of galaxy, and studying Andromeda has actually helped scientists greatly in determining the origin of the category. However, once the two galaxies collide, they will completely rip each other apart, parts of their galaxies shifting from their original positions as the supermassive black holes thought to be at the center of each galaxy meet for the first time. They will then throw each other away, and eventually come back together to form a massive elliptical galaxy (the most common shape of a galaxy in the known universe). (NASA Hyperwall released a great video on what this would look like.)

Ultimately, for our descendants, not much will change. They will probably be more focused on the imminent death of the sun (stay tuned for a post on that), as its predicted time of death is approximately 3.5-4 billion years from now.

However, personally, I am disappointed that I will not be able to see the night sky as it will look after the collision. I’m sure it will be stellar.

Sources:

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30955

https://www.businessinsider.com/milky-way-andromeda-galaxy-collision-space-nasa-hubble-2016-1

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillianscudder/2016/11/27/astroquizzical-milky-way-collide-andromeda/#16009db96574

https://space-facts.com/andromeda/

Discovered by Geoffrey Marcy and R. Paul Butler in 2004, this oxymoron of a title refers to the planet Gliese 436 b.

Gliese 436 b is known as one of the smallest exoplanets (planets that exist outside of the solar system), very close to the radius and mass of Neptune. But even more interesting than its size relative to other exoplanets, is its distance from its sun.

Gliese 436 is a red dwarf star less luminous than ours, and is close enough to our solar system that it can be viewed in the zodiac constellation Leo. Gliese 436 b is only 2.5 million miles away from Gliese 436. For comparison, Mercury (the closest planet to the sun in our solar system) is nearly 36 million miles from the sun. The planet completes a whole revolution in only 2 days and 15.5 hours, and its surface temperature is around 439 degrees Celsius (for reference, the boiling point of water is 100 degrees Celsius).

But if the surface temperature is so much higher than the boiling point of water, how is there ice? Let alone, how can ice burn?

Scientists and astronomers have concluded that the form of ice that exists on Gliese 436 b is held in solid state due to the incredible gravitational force pulling from the planet’s core. The gravitational force increases with depth, and prevents the water from evaporating the way it does on Earth. For reference, there are many different states of water that we have not seen on Earth, because only three forms can exist in our environment. The water on Gliese 436 b is subject to an environment that makes the ice much denser than what we see here, and it is hypothesized as Ice VII, a cubic, crystalline form that has been manufactured in labs.

Similar to how when carbon turns into diamonds when exposed to immense heat and pressure, when the water on Gliese 436 b was exposed to the same conditions, it turns into “burning ice”.

Gliese 436 b defies every norm we would assume about a planet from a scientific perspective. Not only does it contain the hottest ice in the known universe, but being composed primarily of hydrogen not just on the surface but in its atmosphere, our exofriend should have significant levels of methane. However, it has 7,000 times less than it should, and a significant amount of carbon monoxide instead. Which is especially weird because carbon monoxide molecules should not be present to this degree, as it becomes scarce when temperatures exceed a certain threshold.

Yay for flaming ice poison air planet!

Furthermore, the planet (or its atmosphere) is evaporating. In a strange way, however. Gliese 436 b has a massive hydrogen cloud surrounding the planet that is suspected to be the result of immense pressure exerted by its proximity to Gliese 436. Scientists suspect that the planet has lost up to 10% of its atmosphere already, which they have analyzed through the ultraviolet eye of the Hubble telescope, as the cloud cannot be seen in visible wavelengths of light. The cloud itself is about 50 times the size of the parent star, and it does not get swept away by solar winds from Gliese 436 or is burned up because Gliese 436 is much cooler than normal stars. Similar to the tail of a comet, the hydrogen cloud follows Gliese 436 b along its orbit, and actually obscures the view of the planet from scientists, making it ever more difficult to learn more about this supposed scientific impossibility.