Star Travel 33: Five Weird Things That Happen In Outer Space

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Star Travel 33: Five Weird Things That Happen In Outer Space | Tweet

Published in North Macedonia - Social interactions and entertainment - 4 - 25 Sep 22 00:01

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/side_image/public/thumbnails/image/sept_soho.gif?itok=kuCmAqjV

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/source-8.gif?itok=152RrVFc

An animation of NASAs Parker Solar Probe passing near the Sun. As Parker whips around the Sun, it rotates to keep temperature-sensitive instruments behind a 4.5 inch thick carbon-composite shield designed to withstand temperatures approaching 2,500Â°F (1,371Â°C). In the shade of the shield, the rest of the instrument will stay near room temperature.
Credits: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio

3. Cosmic Alchemy

Every second, the Sun fuses about 600 million metric tons of hydrogen. Thatâ€™s the mass of 102 Great Pyramids of Giza, 1,812 Empire State Buildings, or nearly all of the fish on Earth by some estimates.Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â ï»¿ï»¿

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/side_image/public/thumbnails/image/origin_of_life_fusion.gif?itok=f19nz4Kp

Fusion is the process in which light elements are squeezed under immense pressure and temperature into new heavier elements.
Credits: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/CILab

Right now, the Sun is squeezing hydrogen into helium at its core. This process of joining atoms together under immense pressure and temperature, forging new elements, is called fusion.

When the universe was born, it contained mostly hydrogen and helium, plus a dash of a couple other light elements. Fusion in stars and supernovae have since furnished the cosmos with more than 80 other elements, some of which make life possible.

The Sun and other stars are excellent fusion machines. Every second, the Sun fuses about 600 million metric tons of hydrogen â€” thatâ€™s the mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza 102 times!
Along with the creation of new elements, fusion releases enormous amounts of energy and particles of light called photons. These photons take some 250,000 years to bump their way up the 434,000 milesÂ (about 700,000 kilometers) to reach the Sunâ€™s visible surface from the solar core. After that, the light only takes eight minutes to travel the 93 million miles (150 million kilometers)Â to Earth.

Fission, the opposite nuclear reaction that splits heavy elements into smaller ones, was first demonstrated in laboratories in the 1930s and is used today in nuclear power plants. The energy released in fission can create a cataclysmic bang. But for a given amount of mass, itâ€™s still several times less than the energy created from fusion. However, scientists have not yet figured out how to control the plasma in a way to produce power from fusion reactions.

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Huge, invisible explosions are constantly occurring in the space around Earth. These explosions are the result of twisted magnetic field lines that snap and realign, shooting particles across space.
Credits: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/CILab