What is the coldest place in the Universe ? What is its temperature ? Who discovered that place ? I am sure you are filled with curiosity. The Coldest place in the Universe is a Nebula called the “Boomerang Nebula” which was first discovered in 1980.
THe Boomerang NEbula
The Boomerang Nebula is called the coldest place in the Universe. It is also known as the Bow-Tie Nebula. It is located approximately 5000 light years away from Earth in the constellation “Centaurus“. Its extremely cold temperatures make it one of the most intriguing and coldest places in the universe. It is believed to be a star which has turned into a Red Giant.
Though it was once very similar to our sun, the red giant at the heart of the Boomerang Nebula has exhausted its fuel so it cannot continue nuclear fusion to sustain itself. The mass of the star was low enough that it does not produce a supernova resulting in a neutron star or a black hole, but instead it is going through something called the “deathbed” phase of a star.
Discovery of the coldest place in the universe
The Boomerang Nebula was first discovered in 1980 by astronomers in Chile using the Swedish-ESO submillimeter Telescope. Then it was named “Boomerang Nebula” because of its distinct hour-glass shape, resembling a Boomerang. Its formal astronomical name is “ESO 172-7”. The Nebula took this shape due to a pair of opposing jets of gas ejected from the dying star in its core. It is believed to be a star system evolving towards the planetary nebula phase. It is formed by a star shedding its mass forming clouds of dust and gas as it is in the late stage of its life. It is believed that the star is a Red Giant.
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TEmperature
This Boomerang Nebula is the coldest place in the universe discovered so far. Scientists have measured its temperature to be approximately 1 kelvin which is -272.15 degree celsius or -457.57 degrees Fahrenheit. It is even colder than even the faint background glow of the Big Bang which was measured to be around -270 degree celsius. The gas from the central star is expanding at incredible speeds which is the reason why it has such low temperature. The Nebula was declared to be the coldest place ever discovered in 1995. It was named by Keith Taylor and Mike Scarrott in 1980, after they observed it with the Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales.
This astonishingly low temperature makes it one of the most fascinating places in the universe and has sparked numerous research endeavors. In 1998, NASA revealed that even though its shape looks like a bow tie, the cloud of gas around the star is infact spherical in shape. The Boomerang Nebula’s central star is nearing the end of its life cycle and everything that it has ejected has given rise to this beautiful nebula we observe today.
WHAT is the importance of the nebula
The Universe is filled a great number of wonders and this Nebula is certainly one of them. Since this is the coldest place in the Universe, the Boomerang Nebula provides astronomers with valuable insights into the process of stellar evolution and behavior of matter at very low temperatures. Studying such environments helps us understand the conditions that lead to the birth and formation of new stars. It also provides us with a great opportunity to understand the behaviour of matter at low temperatures and also understanding fundamental physics and the laws that govern the universe.
Its discovery prompted further research into the temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background radiation and helped refine our understanding of the early universe’s conditions. By examining the processes at play in the nebula, astronomers can gain insights into the dynamics of cold gas and dust in the interstellar medium which helps us in broadening our knowledge of stellar evolution, cosmology, and the properties of extremely cold environments in the universe.
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