Skip to main content

Posts

Ursa minor constellation I Myths I facts I stars

Have you ever seen small dipper or Ursa minor in the clear night sky if not you must have heard about it? It is a constellation that consists of seven stars including the pole star or north star.  Ursa minor or little bear is a constellation beside the Ursa major which can be seen from the latitude of +90 to -10 degrees and lies in the third quadrant of the northern sky. It comprises of seven major stars. The four stars make the ladle structure while the other stars make the handle. It is known that little dipper was one of the 48 constellations discovered by the Greek astronomer and mathematician  Ptolemy   and now is one of the 88 constellations that mankind knows. The Ursa minor is helping many sailors, travelers, and lost people for ages to navigate them because of the pole star present at the tip of its tail. It is the brightest star in the constellation. If you are standing at the north pole then the Polaris will be right above your head. Ursa Major in the night sky
Recent posts

What's so astonishing about Magnetar

A magnetar is a neutron star with a magnetic field greater than any other star in the universe. Same as any other neutron star, a magnetar is approximately 20 km wide and has mass many times the mass of the sun. When a big star undergoes supernova it either becomes a black hole or a  neutron star.  A magnetar is an exotic type of neutron star which has an enormous mass, it is thought that a tablespoon of the surface of magnetar or neutron star will be equal to the millions of tons of mass of matter. A magnetar releases a huge amount of electromagnetic radiation and gamma-ray bursts(GRBs) in space when there is a sudden change at its core popularly known as the starquake. Illustration of Magnetar A magnetar roughly 4000 light-years can wipe out the whole life form we know on earth. The magnetic field of the magnetar can damage all electronic circuits, grids, and satellites orbiting the earth, and in no matter of time, our whole communication system will be destroyed furtherm

10 hypothetical stars you don't know about

Blue Dwarf :- It is theorized to be developed from a red dwarf when it looses most of it's hydrogen supply.We haven't found any blue dwarf because red dwarf fuses their hydrogen slowly and currently the universe might not old enough to produce any blue dwarf. Black Dwarf  :- It is thought to be the come from a white dwarf which has exhausted all it's fuel and heat energy which now no further emits radiation and are very hard to detect, fortunately, it do retain it's mass allowing scientists to study it's the gravitational field. It is concluded that the time required for a black dwarf to be formed is longer than the age of the universe thus we haven't found it yet. Frozen star :-There is a probability that this star will form in the distant future when the abundance of heavier metals will be more than it is today which is known as the metallicity of the interstellar medium. It is calculated the temperature of this star will be 273 K or 0-degree celsius. T

Looking deep into supernova

What is a nova? A nova in deep space is a sudden bright flash that varies from some seconds to several years. The novas are often so bright that sometimes they are thought to be the new star is forming up which isn't the case.  All the novas which are observed so far involves a binary star system in which one of a star is a white dwarf and another is any star from the sequence of stars. Novae are mainly seen along the pathway of the milky way galaxy in the constellation of Sagittarius. Illustration of a white dwarf eating it's star The novas are divided into three broad categories:-  1.) Classical nova These are the most often seen type of nova. This happens when the orbital period of both the stars falls short and the white dwarf is close enough to the companion star then the white dwarf starts drawing matter from the companion star onto the surface of itself which forms a dense but low height envelop of gases mainly consisting of hydrogen.  When hydrogen gas i

Understand the Background of Aurora Borealis

What is an aurora? Aurora Borealis or northern lights is one of the most beautiful phenomena that nature has given us. It is a natural light display in the night sky. It is mainly observed in the high latitude areas.  It is an impressive and fascinating demonstration of how the very fast-moving charged particles interact with the atmosphere of the earth due to the magnetic field of the earth. It worth bearing the cold outside to experience this unforgettable and soothing scene. It makes you feel connected to nature and the divine. People have often confusion between aurora borealis and aurora australis but there is no difference between except for their location when the lights are observed in north pole then it is called as aurora borealis( or northern lights) and when seen at the south pole it is called as aurora borealis(or southern lights). Illustration of aurora formation What causes this amazing and magical phenom enon?   Our sun is a giant ball of gas which

How the universe will die?

Theoretical scientific explorations of the end of the universe were made possible by the general relativity given by the  Albert Einstein in 1915. here are many possibles outcomes of the theory it defines the universe at the largest structure possible.  Alexander Friedmann came up with many solutions in 1922 and Georges Lemaitre in 1927. one of them suggests that the universe is expanding since the birth of the universe To determine the ultimate fate of the universe the scientists need to gather the data regarding the  critical density of the universe  (the age density of matter required by the universe to stop the expansion).  If in the case the density found to be lower than the critical density then the universe will continue to expand forever, if the density found to be equal to the critical density then the universe expands forever but will decrease it's the of expansion gradually and if the density found is more than the critical density the universe will stop expanding

Types of galaxies

What exactly a galaxy? A galaxy is a gravitationally bound stable system consisting of billions of stars, planets, dust, gases and remnants of other heavenly bodies. Some scientists believe that there could be as many as one hundred billion galaxies in the universe. Millions of stars together separated by a large distance from a galaxy. Nearly all large galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their centre.  Milky Way galaxy also has a supermassive black hole at its centre known as  Sagittarius A* . When we look up in the night sky we see the stars,  these are the stars that reside inside the milky way galaxy. if it's really dark, far away from the lights of the cities and buildings we can actually see the dusty band of the Milky Way stretch across the star. Types of galaxies 1.)  Spiral galaxy This is the class of galaxy in which the stars and gas clouds are mainly concentrated in one or more spiral arms. Most spiral galaxies are consist of a flat, rotating disk

Types of black hole

What is a black hole ? A black hole in space is a region where the gravitational force is so strong that even light can not escape it.  Any matter which comes under the influence of a  black hole will be crushed down to a confined space and is being eaten by the black hole.  Black holes are formed when a star dies. Not every star can become a black hole only which have mass 1.4 times the mass of our sun. ( approx   2.8E30). A few black holes are orbited by the other heavenly bodies and are slowly eaten away by the black holes.  As the matter falls towards the event horizon it gets heated due to the increasing gravitational pull and the friction and forms a bright circular disc around the black hole known as Assertion disc .   On the basis of mass and sizes black holes has been divided into four categories:- 1.) Stellar black holes   When a star with a mass range from five to several tens times of the solar masses collapses due to its own gravitational force

The super saturn

  Artist’s conception of the extrasolar ring system circling the young giant planet or brown   dwarf J1407b. The rings are shown eclipsing the young sun-like star J1407, as they would have appeared in early 2007. Credit:   Ron Miller J1407b is the first brown dwarf planet discovered with the rings by the transit method. The star is situated in the constellation of Centaurus with at a distance of 433.8 light-years away from the earth. It was discovered by Eric Mamajek (an American astronomer). It is also known as the super Saturn because it has a ring-like structure around it comprising of gas, dust, and ice like Saturn. The ring system is roughly 200 times  larger than Saturn. However, the planetary science community has theorized for decades that planets like  Jupiter and Saturn had rings around them at the early stage of their formation that led to the formations of their natural satellite that we see today. Until this planet was discovered  it was hard for someone

Here is the list of five habitable planets we have found so far :-

1.)   Gliese 667Cc  Gliese 667Cc is an exoplanet found on 21 November 2011. It is the member of a triple star system Gliese 667. It is situated in Scorpius constellation approximately 23.61 light-years away from the planet earth.  It has an orbital period of  28 earth days. It is also known as  HD 156384Cc. The exoplanet was found using the radial velocity method.  It is approx 3.7 times heavier than the the earth.  2.)   Kepler-186f It was found on 17 April 2014 by Elisa Quintana. Kepler-186f is an exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf 582 light-years away from the earth. It has a radius of 7,454.1 km with an orbital period of 130 days. It is the first planet with discovered in habitable zone which has a roughly equal radius with that of our earth. The discovery of Kepler - 186f confirms that the habitable planets like our earth exists somewhere in the universe.  Kepler-186f is situated in the constellation of Cygnus. Although the size of Kepler-186f is known but its