Like: Brown and the Science Behind It

Space is not only the light of billions of stars and galaxies, but also huge blind spots behind which still unexplored objects are hidden. Only now are scientists beginning to discover these invisible giants, which are tens or even thousands of times larger than our galaxy. And some of them are so close that they literally pull the Milky Way towards them. But what happens when we find ourselves on the other side of the blind spots of space? Scientists are making more and more intriguing discoveries in the so-called avoidance zone.

This galactic-scale blind spot was discovered by accident. In 1786, the English astronomer William Herschel published his famous catalog of tomans and star clusters. But other scientists later noticed that the so-called spiral nebulae, scattered across most of the sky, were for some reason not found in its very center, that is, in the rich nebula of the Milky Way and along its disk. English astronomer Richard Proctor called this anomalous region of the sky the zone of few nebulae. However, this term did not catch on, giving way to the more evocative avoidance zone. That is, the scientific world decided that all spiral

nebulae, for some unknown reason, are avoiding one part of the sky and are being destroyed by something unknown. But the truth turned out to be much more intriguing. In 1925, legendary astronomer Edwin Hubble proved that one of the most famous spiral nebulae, the Andromeda Galaxy, was actually the same galaxy as the Milky Way. So the avoidance zone was actually a zone of galactic eclipse. There is simply so much interstellar gas and dust from the disk of the Milky Way in front of our telescopes that it is almost impossible to see the galactic inhabitants of deep space behind them They carefully avoid our telescopes. And although this blind spot doesn't seem that big, it actually hides

up to 20% of the observable universe from us. And by an unexpected coincidence, precisely that part of it where the Milky Way itself is moving. It's like across the windshield of a car. Someone would have rolled a paint roller and made it drive through such busy streets. But while on Earth you could easily eliminate this blind spot at the nearest car wash, astronomers couldn't do anything about the galactic avoidance zone until they made an unexpected discovery. In the late 1950s, Italian astrophysicist Paolo Maffei attempted to make standard photographic plates more sensitive. He succeeded so well that he was able to photograph two massive

galaxies in the zone of collapse. They are part of the closest cluster to us, about 10 million light-years away. And they were even named after Mafia, which is extremely rare. But how was the astrophysicist able to break through the eternal blind spot? Thanks to infrared waves, they are able to penetrate the gas and dust clouds of the Milky Way, albeit not very far away. Over time, astronomers began using other types of invisible light to penetrate the Milky Way's gas and dust veil. And this finally opened up a whole lost world of galaxies to us. If this stunning hidden galaxy were not in our avoidance zone, it would rival Andromeda itself in brightness and beauty in the sky. I'm so sorry.

This small spiral galaxy was first discovered using radio waves. And only later was it recorded by ultra-sensitive infrared telescopes. And this exclusive Stellar Fireworks display, over 20 million light years away, can only be enjoyed by X-ray observatories like Chandra. In turn, with the help of radio telescopes like Parkeski in Australia, we have managed to detect about 900 previously invisible galaxies in the avoidance zone millions of light years from Earth. But all these are just scattered pieces of the mosaic, because even revolutionary observation methods have not allowed scientists to accurately calculate the parameters of hidden galaxies and put together from them at least some kind of

coherent picture of the mysterious region of the universe behind the main blind spot of the night sky. But in 2022, a team of scientists led by Argentine astronomer Daniela Geldeano was finally able to peer into the depths of the avoidance zone. Using a huge array of data from various observatories, researchers were able to detect a colossal extragalactic structure, previously completely hidden. There have been no discoveries of this scale for many decades. In essence, it is a gravitationally bound cluster of 9 to 58 galaxies at a distance of 2.7 billion light years from Earth. That is, 10 times further than all previous objects in the avoidance zone. And it is among them that astronomers believe is what is

sucking up the Milky Way right now. But to have a chance of seeing this beast properly, scientists had to hone their observation techniques on smaller-scale blind spots. How did we manage to find thousands of planets where telescopes are literally blind? Back in the 15th century, Sir Isaac Newton confidently stated that other stars must have planets, just like the Sun. However, even the best telescopes of the time could not see them, because each star, with its bright light, creates a blind zone around itself, in which celestial bodies the size of either the Earth or Jupiter can hide from us. And even when NASA launched the

Hubble Space Telescope into orbit in 1990, it proved to be as powerless against the Polygonal Nebula as all its predecessors. The search for exoplanets already seemed hopeless to scientists when suddenly in 1992 two astronomers, Alexander Volschen and Dalefrail, announced the discovery of two worlds outside the solar system. But how did they do it? It's just that scientists didn't look at a bright, living star, but instead listened to a dead one. This pulsar 2,300 light-years from Earth was calmly called a lich or undead. In essence, you are looking at a highly radioactive

starburst, emitting powerful beams of radio waves with a frequency of about 6 milliseconds. And listening to them with the Arecibo radio observatory, Wolszczan and Freil noticed glitches in the pulses of the undead. As it soon turned out, they were summoned by a Poltergeist. No, seriously, that's what the largest exoplanet of the undead was named, and the second one was named Phobethor, in honor of the ancient Greek spirit that appeared to people in dreams. And this incredible discovery has told astronomers how to finally overcome exoplanet blindness. Instead of staring in vain at the witnessed space around the Dawn, we need to properly study its own light. After all, its oscillations may contain

imprints of exoplanets that fly between this star and Earth. And even if we look at it from a different angle, the gravity of a sufficiently massive exoplanet will cause the Star to wobble slightly. Thanks to this, humanity literally saw the light and in 30 years discovered more than 5,000 exoplanets in the sky The most distant one, 17,000 light-years away, was visible thanks to a rare effect of gravitational microlensing when it passed in front of another star. But all of these are just close ones in the vicinity of the solar system. In our galaxy alone, there are not thousands of exoplanets, but most likely over a hundred billion. But finding even one in the same

avoidance zone, that is, on the other side of the Milky Way disk, is still completely impossible, even with all the scientific tricks. But recently it became clear that even near the solar system, where everything seems to be well-studied, invisible beings are literally swarming. This picturesque molecular cloud of serpentine beauty lies just 400 light-years from Earth. But in late 2021, scientists looked at this region of space through the lens of the Vista infrared telescope With its help, they expected to see the birth of new stars, which are usually hidden from our eyes by dense clouds of gas and dust, but unexpectedly they saw a whole scattering of mysterious dim objects.

To the surprise of scientists, the variety turned out to be from 70 to 170 giant planets the size of Jupiter or larger. But why did n't we notice them before? They are simply outcast planets that do not belong to any star and cannot be detected by conventional means. Most of them were once carried into interstellar space by gravitational perturbations. Astronomers now believe that in addition to the hundreds of billions of regular exoplanets in our galaxy, there must be at least 50 billion more rogue planets. If such a dark Jupiter were to fly to Earth from the blind spot right now, we wouldn't notice it until the very end.

Especially since these invisible curves can be much more massive and dangerous. In 2021, NASA's orbiting Infrared Telescope VI completely accidentally detected something huge and incredibly fast just 50 light-years away. This is a so-called brown dwarf. about 15 times more massive than Jupiter. Essentially, the star is a failure that didn't have enough mass to start thermonuclear reactions. As a result, this object was nicknamed Accident. It is hurtling through space at a record speed of over 700,000 km/h, which is 20 times faster than a bullet. Why? It remains a mystery. But the discovery of randomness itself suggests that there is a whole invisible world around the solar system that we are

only beginning to discover. According to preliminary estimates, up to 100 billion brown dwarfs invisible to ordinary telescopes may be hiding in the Milky Way. Fortunately, our new James Webb Infrared Telescope, with its huge mirror and ultra-sensitive detectors, will be able to shed light on such objects in the many blind spots of space. But if the difficulty were only in detection. Scientists are often baffled by the very nature of these invisible things. In recent years, astronomers have encountered increasingly exotic objects in the blind spots of space. And they question all our scientific knowledge. These frightening and intriguing discoveries were made possible by the same Weiss orbital telescope. Essentially, an entire infrared observatory.

If scientists use James Webb as a narrow-focus telescope, then with the help of Weiss they scanned the entire sky in just six months. And this gigantic data set has still not been fully explored. Only 10 years later, astronomers suddenly discovered an unusual object 10,000 light- years from Earth in Weiss's images. Where there was a blind spot in visible light, a bright gas bubble appeared in infrared. There was clearly a star lurking inside, but when scientists calculated its parameters, they couldn't believe their eyes. Unlike most stars like the Sun, this strange compact star does not use helium as fuel in its water and yet shines 40,000 times

brighter, creating the most powerful stellar wind at a speed of 16,000 km/s. This is 40 times faster than the sun and is an absolute cosmic record. But a star with such characteristics should be a clearly visible blue giant, and not at all a shy, invisible being behind a gas wormwood. Scientists reached an impasse until they developed an extremely exotic model of the origin of this object. Initially, there were as many as two stars, tiny white dwarfs that remain after stars like the Sun burn out. But a few thousand years ago they collided, forming an exotic type of star that is almost never found in the universe.

Instead of hydrogen and helium, it burns heavy elements like carbon. Red giants usually do this, but as you remember, this star, formed from the collision of white dwarfs, is very compact. That is why it shines so fiercely and at the same time retains the ability to hide in a cloud of gas. Astronomers believe we are very lucky here. In just a couple of thousand years, the star's carbon fuel will run out, a powerful explosion will blow away the gas wormwood on the bottom, and the invisible star will truly disappear. But sometimes stars disappear for no reason other than the appearance of literal blind spots in space.

Astronomers are now photographing space with ultra-sensitive digital cameras. But for almost the entire 20th century, this was done using analog photographic plates. They were used by the Palamar Observatory in California in the 1950s to create the most detailed star catalog. And even then, while processing hundreds of negatives, scientists missed some stars. But it sounded so crazy, and space was so poorly studied, that the discovery was buried for a long time. Only 70 years later, Swedish astrophysicist Beatrice Vilja Roel pulled the Palamar mystery from the archives and stunned the scientific world.

These are two images of the same area of the sky. The one on the right was made in the late 90s, the one on the left in the 50s. Don't you notice anything unusual? Nine stars disappeared at once. Explaining their disappearance in just half a century was already a difficult task. However, the mysterious nine was also absent from other Palamar pictures taken before and after with a difference of only half an hour. To Villa Roel. This oddity was attributed to contamination of the photographic plates or reflections from space debris that

accidentally fell into the frame. And this really happens. Even if it's rare. But for nine different defects to appear in one picture at once is already fantastic. Scientists began scanning this area of the sky using infrared and other telescopes to find at least something in place of the missing nine. For example, supernova remnants in invisible wavelength ranges. The explosion of nine stars at once within a few minutes is also fantastic, but it's much better than nine incomprehensible blind spots. Unfortunately, all efforts were in vain. As a result, the mysterious nine

were officially dubbed strange transients in scientific papers, but not even stars, but star-like objects. Translated from scientific to human, this means that scientists have no idea what unknown celestial bodies illuminated the cosmos for just a few minutes and then disappeared irrevocably. Or are these stars, from which some wormwood has flown away in a matter of moments? Either way, it's a very unpleasant blind spot that makes scientists quite nervous. The only thing that can bring them closer to a solution is this anomalous blinking star, which lives 25,000 light- years from Earth in the dense core of the Milky Way. Once, this red giant, hundreds of times more massive than the sun, seemed to almost fade away, but after 200 days it

suddenly reappeared. Scientists have decided that the scythe was obscured by an invisible partner, but one so unusual that it looks simply incredible. This object must have a huge and very dense gas-filled disk. Just imagine Saturn the size of a star. Celestial bodies of this configuration are unknown to science, but at least they do not affect the Earth in the way that the most mysterious inhabitant of the avoidance zone does. And we are finally ready to unravel its mystery. Some object with the mass of thousands of galaxies is just now playing in a mysterious way, like a feather. Did

you find it uncomfortable to drive around the city with a stripe across your windshield? At least you could brake or turn. However, to tell the truth, you haven't even started the engine and are still speeding through the streets at 600 km/h. On Earth, in just 10 seconds of such a trip, you would get from New York to Los Angeles. But you would never know what force carried you across the entire continent. And most importantly, what will she do with you next? Astronomers discovered the anomalous speed of the Milky Way back in the 1970s and concluded that the destination lies

somewhere in the constellation Centaurus, right in the avoidance zone. But the intrigue intensified when it became clear that thousands of other galaxies, including even those hidden Maffei galaxies, were racing with us toward the same point in the blind spot. In fact, it is this gravitational core that formed the giant Laniakea cluster, half a billion light-years across. Impressed astronomers dubbed the mysterious object the Great Attractor and immediately began peering into the avoidance zone in the hope of determining what kind of gravitational beast it was that was seeking to swallow us up. Initial estimates showed that to have such a strong impact on the Milky Way, the great attractor would have to weigh 10,000 times more than our galaxy. It is

much heavier than even the most ultramassive black holes, which clearly indicated the galactic nature of the attractor. This invisible cluster must be located at a distance of 150 to 220 million light years. In any other region of the sky, such a gigantic structure would appear before us in all its glory. But in the avoidance zone, it proved to be an extremely difficult target for telescopes. 20 years after the initial discovery, astronomers had already despaired of ever solving the mystery of the great tractor.

It seemed that all that remained was to wait for the solar system to complete a half-turn around the center of the Milky Way for the great attractor to finally leave our avoidance zone. However, this will only happen in 100 million years, too late. Dutch-South African astronomer Renee Krantewek did not wait and already in 1998, using advanced X-ray telescopes, discovered a huge cluster of galaxies called the Cosine Cluster in the depths of the avoidance zone, precisely 220 million light-years from Earth. Its gravitational power can be gauged by the appearance of this unfortunate jellyfish-shaped galaxy.

It is rushing towards the center of the cluster of stars three times faster than the Milky Way, at a speed of 1900 km/s. This causes a shock effect that knocks gas out of the galaxy and essentially renders it barren. After all, our sun was born from just such a gas. Does the Milky Way face the same terrible fate? However, further calculations showed that the cluster of squares is 10 times lighter than the predicted large attractor. And yet, the location in the avoidance zone is very similar.

And especially the coincidence of distances led scientists to believe that the cluster of squares is nothing more than the core of a large tractor, and its outer, more massive parts are still invisible. However, subsequent discoveries, on the contrary, shook the grandeur of this mysterious universal core. This is an X-ray image of the Milky Way galaxy cluster 650 million light- years from Earth, three times farther than a large tractor. Today, astronomers believe that this is the largest monster in the avoidance zone, with a predicted mass of 10,000 Milky Ways. And even further. At 840 million light-years away, the same astronomer Renee Krantovek spotted a supercluster of stars about

1,000 times more massive than our galaxy. So now the overall picture looks like this. It seems that the speed of 600 km/sq m along the Milky Way path is provided by the collective influence of the Kosynets cluster, as well as the Shapley and Vela superclusters. It so happened that they are located on the same line relative to our galaxy, and also in the same blind spot. Therefore, what awaits the Chumal path is not a catastrophic fall to the Universal Core, but rather a dance between several centers of the IAU.

Either way, astronomers still don't understand gravitational influences on such vast scales well enough to make a definitive prediction. And then suddenly we will discover even stranger and more massive structures in the avoidance zone that will turn our science upside down again. However, if I were an astronomer, I would pay attention not to distant intergalactic space, but to the immediate vicinity of the solar system. After all, we still can't detect Planet Nine, a celestial body 10 times more massive than Earth that has influenced the orbits of countless objects like Sedna. And while some theories disprove the existence of a ninth planet, I would still thoroughly check the remaining blind spots, from where

something like Neptune could fly towards us. Not only that, but did you know that there are hundreds of millions of black holes that, according to calculations, should be blocking our galaxy right now? Over decades of observations, we have only detected 12. No modern telescope can simply detect them directly. This would only be possible with a gravitational observatory, which does not yet even exist in the project. And it is precisely such a fantastic device that could shake most of the blind spots out of space. Do you think we will ever be able to invent something like that?

Yeah.