{"id":49748,"date":"2023-10-05T13:46:35","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T13:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/35edabd7-dda3-4f2f-b0f5-f2a8476cb538"},"modified":"2023-10-05T14:33:55","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T14:33:55","slug":"the-coldest-place-in-the-universe","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/the-coldest-place-in-the-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"The coldest place in the Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Boomerang Nebula is the only known place colder than the glow left over from the Big Bang. <\/p>

By Iain Todd\n <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 05 October 2023 at 13:46 PM<\/p>

\n\n

The coldest place in the Universe is the Boomerang Nebula, a glowing cosmic cloud located 5,000 lightyears away in the constellation Centaurus.<\/p>

Considering that the Cosmic Microwave Background<\/a> – the background glow left over from the Big Bang – is about -270\u00b0C, this gives you some idea of just how cold the Boomerang Nebula is, relative to the rest of the cosmos.<\/p>

The Boomerang Nebula is effectively colder than the rest of space. There is nothing colder than it known to humanity.<\/p>

It seems it has rightly earned its title as the coldest place in the Universe.<\/p>

The true shape of the Boomerang Nebula, as seen by the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Credit: Bill Saxton (NRAO\/AUI\/NSF); NASA\/Hubble; Raghvendra Sahai<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The Boomerang Nebula\u2019s title as the coldest place in the Universe is a result of a 1995 study by astronomers Raghvendra Sahai and Lars-\u00c5ke Nyman.<\/p>

Using the 15-metre Swedish ESO Submillimetre Telescope in Chile, Sahai and Nyman observed the Boomerang Nebula and discovered its temperature to be -272\u00b0C, making it just 1\u00b0C warmer than absolute zero.<\/p>

\"\"
A snapshot of the Cosmic Microwave Background – heat left over from the Big Bang – when the Universe was just 380,000 years old, as seen by the Planck Telescope. Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Why it’s called the Boomerang Nebula<\/strong><\/h2>

The Boomerang Nebula was first observed in 1980 by astronomers Keith Taylor and Mike Scarrott, who used the Anglo Australian Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory to discover its double-lobed shape.<\/p>

This symmetrical formation is a result of the star shedding its material out into space in two opposite directions, which is occurring because the Boomerang Nebula is actually a planetary nebula<\/a> (more on this later).<\/p>

As it appeared to Taylor and Scarrott when viewed through the telescope – and perhaps because they were in Australia – the nebula<\/a>‘s shape reminded the two astronomers of the famous Australian throwing tool, and the Boomerang Nebula got its enduring nickname.<\/p>

More recent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>, however, reveal its double-lobed shape, and that it in fact doesn’t look much like a boomerang at all.<\/p>

\"The
More recent observations of the Boomerang Nebula, like the image on the left captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2005, have revealed it doesn’t bear much resemblance to a boomerang after all. Credit: NASA, ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team STScI\/AURA; Michael Reusse \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Fast-forward to the mid 1990s, and astronomer Raghvender Sahai was considering the notion that somewhere in the Universe there must be a place that’s colder than the background glow left over from the Big Bang.<\/p>

Dr Sahai and his colleague Dr Nyman studied the Boomerang Nebula and concluded that it was absorbing background radiation.<\/p>

This led them to infer that the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest place we know of in the Universe: it’s the only region known to be colder than the background glow of the Big Bang.<\/p>

Why the Boomerang Nebula is so cold<\/strong><\/h2>
\"\"
Many planetary nebulae are round, puffed-out objects like NGC 2022. Credit: ESA\/Hubble & NASA, R. Wade<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The Boomerang Nebula is an object known as a planetary nebula, which is one of the final stages of a Sun-like star\u2019s life.<\/p>

As the star runs out of fuel, instability at its core causes the star to shed its outer layers.<\/p>

A stream of charged particles known as a stellar wind pushes this material outwards, often creating a round, puffed-out object.<\/p>

This spherical appearance appearance is what gives planetary nebulae their name: they don\u2019t actually have anything to do with planets.<\/p>

The Boomerang Nebula may not have a rounded appearance typical of a planetary nebula, but it is expelling vast amounts of cosmic material at breakneck speeds, and has been doing so for about 1,500 years.<\/p>

And this is why the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest place in the Universe: it is expelling mass, which is projected outwards and rapidly expanding, causing it to cool down to the extent that it is actually colder than space itself.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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