Month: September 2022

EXTREME DENSITIES. “Normal planets have densities that are no more than 1,870 lbs. per cubic foot (30 grams per cubic centimeter). In contrast, strange planets would typically have densities of nearly 25 million billion lbs. per cubic foot (400 trillion grams per cubic centimeter). (For comparison, gold has a density of about 1,200 lbs. per cubic foot, or nearly 19.3 grams per cubic centimeter.).” https://lnkd.in/dhCeUnA View in LinkedIn

EXTREME PROXIMITY. “The extraordinary density of strange planets means they can survive even if they come within 14.7 miles (23.7 km) of a strange quark star they are orbiting, virtually grazing its surface. In contrast, a normal planet's orbit can take it only as close as about 348,000 miles (560,000 km) before getting ripped apart by the dead star's gravitational pull.” https://lnkd.in/dhCeUnA View in LinkedIn

CANDIDATE STRANGE STARS. “Now, based on this feature of these strange worlds, scientists in China say they may have detected four good candidates for strange planets. These exoplanets revolve around pulsars — rapidly spinning neutron stars that appear to flash like lighthouse beacons from our perspective here on Earth — in orbits of about 348,000 miles (560,000 km) or less.” https://lnkd.in/dhCeUnA View in LinkedIn

CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK. “Respiratory disease meant I was deprived of a grandfather. His only presence in my life was through one of his rib bones; it was cut out of his chest during an operation, cleaned up and kept by his widow as a memento. Years later, my grandmother would use it to open her morning post and then leave it to rest on the living room table. My grandfather never held me to his chest, but I’ve held part of his chest to me.” Simply, wow. https://lnkd.in/dbTpr_S View in LinkedIn

The toe-nibbler pretending to be serene. View in LinkedIn

STRANGE QUARK DWARFS, (no really). “The researchers noted that strange planets might also orbit what appear to be white dwarfs — the remnants of normal stars that have burned all the hydrogen fuel in their cores — but are actually strange quark dwarfs. They found five exoplanets around white dwarfs orbiting suspiciously close to these stellar remnants, suggesting that they might also be strange planets.” https://lnkd.in/dhCeUnA View in LinkedIn

THE POND. “By looking for ripples in the fabric of space-time, scientists could soon detect "strange stars" — objects made of stuff radically different from the particles that make up ordinary matter.” https://lnkd.in/dtC2gzg View in LinkedIn

SHITSTORM. “In one of the most violent events in the universe, two neutron stars are gravitationally latched onto one another. They perform a cosmic dance where immense forces draw them together and deform their once neat, round bodies into gnarled and oblong shapes. It takes only a few milliseconds — less than the blink of an eye — for their crusts to shatter open and the less massive star to burst in a gory mess of material.” https://lnkd.in/dj52j3n View in LinkedIn

NEUTRON STAR MERGERS. “Its contents form a spiral shape surrounding the merger while the larger star continues to get heavier. It grows, becoming more massive, soaking in the superdense material of the erupted star until it can no longer hold itself up against gravity. The star wavers, but finally succumbs into a black hole.” https://lnkd.in/dj52j3n View in LinkedIn

FROM NEUTRON STAR TO BLACK HOLE. “The universe is now home to a new dark, sucking sphere. Less dense material that isn’t scraped into the black hole will orbit around in a fast-moving torus extending hundreds of miles. It is during one of these events that scientists hypothesize a dangerous, unpredictable substance might be ejected into the universe.” https://lnkd.in/dj52j3n View in LinkedIn