8 Unsettling Astronomical Incidents And Phenomena!

From the formations of planets and stars to mysteries in space that haven’t been solved quite yet. Join me as I reveal to you 8 Unsettling and Astronomical phenomenon!

8. Fast Radio Bursts

The ideas of signals coming from space isn’t exactly a new thing, but sometimes a new development will come along that really makes people wonder what is going on out in space.

For example, back in 2007 scientists started getting these strange radio bursts. What’s more, they were fast and powerful, and came in somewhat frequently.

“White noise from space?” you might be asking, but that’s what makes this so odd, based on the kind of radio signals that we were picking up, it’s actually quite impossible that it was something from the “known sources”. Mainly, because they’re so powerful and fast, it means that they could’ve only come from smaller objects that are likely from outside our own galaxy.

While this hasn’t been proven, there is another factor here that we all need to consider. Which is the fact that one of these radio signals has been found to be repeating. Meaning that when it came to Earth multiple times, it was the same signal every time. Which would mean that it couldn’t be a random signal or event that just happened to reach Earth, it was something much more, a cycle of sorts. But as to what kind, we don’t know.

However, there are many out there who do indeed believe that this is potentially the work of aliens. So much so that in 2017 a paper was published stating how it could be the “leakage” of an alien craft.

No matter what side of the issue you fall on, it’s very curious that these radio bursts came to Earth and are continuing to come to us. Only time will tell if we find the true nature of them.

7. The Dyson Sphere

Wikipedia defines the Dyson Sphere concept as thus:

“A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure that completely encompasses a star and captures a large percentage of its power output. The concept is a thought experiment that attempts to explain how a spacefaring civilization would meet its energy requirements once those requirements exceed what can be generated from the home planet’s resources alone.”

Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie or novel right? Well, you would be correct, as it was first thought of in the book Star Maker in 1937 by Olaf Stapledon, and then later popularized in the modern times by Freeman Dyson.

However, whatever way you want to say the Dyson Sphere was “created” in terms of concept, it’s still something that is talked about to this day. Despite it being something that is almost as ludicrous as various other parts of “sci-fi science”.

Think about it, think about what it would take to build a massive structure around a star in such a way that it wouldn’t be destroyed by the star itself AND we could somehow harness its energy. That would take years, decades, maybe even centuries of construction, as well as enough raw materials to make it which would have to come from other planets because one planet couldn’t handle it on its own!

So why are we bringing this up? Because for whatever reason, there are people out there who are legitimately looking for candidates to make a Dyson Sphere with. No joke, no lie.

They “found” potential candidates by considering what it would take to make a Dyson Sphere and to capture its energy, and then realizing what it would “give out” in the process. By using special satellite scanners and the Gaia Space Probe, 19 different stars have now been tapped as potential candidates for Dyson Spheres…or as stars that might already have a Dyson Sphere around them.

However, all of these findings have been dubbed “ambiguous” because of the nature of the readings themselves.

6. Strange Detections

In 2016, a pair of scientists released a paper (one that referenced a previous paper made by one of the scientists) that stated that certain technologies could in fact make a pulse that could be detected in space a long distance away. How long? Try 1000 light years, which would be a very impressive feat.

Naturally though, not a lot of people put stock into what they were saying. So, the scientists dug into the vast amounts of data that have been collected from space over the years. All with the goal of trying to find the exact pulses that they were stating was possible.

To the shock of the scientist, he didn’t just find one, he found 234 separate and distinct instances of these kinds of pulses being found in space.

This is the kind of thing you don’t expect to see coming, and yet it’s exactly what happened. If you found one of these pulses, or five, you might be able to play them off in one way or another. But 234? And having vast majorities of them come from different areas of space? Yes, that’s very significant.

So significant in fact that many media sites decided to take these findings and declare, “Aliens Found!”

Which wasn’t the case, and even the team who made the paper said that this isn’t what they inferred. They noted that it was a possibility, but not a definitive thing.

That being said, one thing that was noted about the 234 pulses were that they came from areas with stars and planets that could in potentia be suitable for life. And again, 234 pulses of the kind that these scientists stated could happen…doesn’t just happen randomly, else someone would’ve found them before.

5. TYC 8241 2652

Try saying that five times fast, and I right?

Getting more serious, TYC 8241 2652 is the name of a star, specifically, one that had a very interesting and peculiar phenomenon happen in 1983. Specifically, when it was observed in that year, a debris disk was discovered around the star.

This in and of itself was not weird. Far from it in fact because when it comes to stars, these kinds of things are not only natural, they are a key part of how planets form. Including how Earth may have formed over the course of billions of years (depending on which theory of creation you believe of course).

Anyway, when it came to the star, nothing was really out of place. but then, in 2010, the star was observed once again, and when it was observed this time, a mere 2 years after the last glimpsing, the debris disk was completely gone.

Now while it’s true that debris disks can eventually disappear just like they can also form planets and other entities, it never EVER happens this quickly. Usually it’s done over millions of years, not 2. Which is why many are puzzled as to how and why this happened. As there is no other record of such a thing happening in our universe that we know of.

Naturally, a lot of potential explanations were given for such an event happening. But not a single one of them was found to be credible within the time frame of 2 years. Which makes it all the more curious as to what could’ve happened in order for this debris disk to complete vanish.

4. The Phantom Planet

Sounds like a movie plot, doesn’t it? “Out in space, there is a world that is there, and yet, isn’t there at all…”

Or something to that effect. But the case of this “Phantom Planet” is one that is very near and dear to the hearts and telescopes of many scientists. Because there are many out there who believe that there is another planet lurking somewhere in our solar system, or just beyond it.

What caused such a line of thinking? Orbits. Specifically, the noticing that orbits just outside our solar system by various planets and other entities seem off. If you recall, an orbit is caused by a large object causing another object to be caught within its gravitational pull. Like how the moon revolves around the Earth, and the Earth revolves around the sun.

Based on the odd orbital structure of things just outside of the solar system we inhabit, people believe that there is a “Phantom Planet” exuding some kind of gravitational pull that is messing everything else up. We just can’t see it right now for one reason or another.

There are many theories as to what exactly the “phantom planet” is, including a planet that used to be a part of our solar system and was “thrown away” for some reason. Or, a planet that was from just outside our solar system and then somehow got pulled into our suns gravitational pull. We just don’t know.

Either way, this is something that many are interested in, especially since some speculate that due to the gravitational force this phantom planet must exert to disrupt other orbits that it may just be a Super Earth.

3. The Wow! Signal

There are a lot of weird sounds that come from space, and sometimes you need to be in the right spot in the right place to pick them up. Such as when the Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio State University was listening to space in 1977 and found something that they didn’t expect.

Originally, the telescope was made to listen to space via radio emissions, but it was then converted and remade into a telescope that would look for signals that could prove alien life. Which was a bit of a problem in 1977 because things weren’t exactly that advanced. However, by looking at the signals, they did notice something peculiar.

You see, back then, they would print out the sounds they collected into numbers and letters and look for patters. And one day, they found ” 6EQUJ5″. Which is a now famous code which is a continuous radio signal that is played at about 1420 megahertz.

But not just played, played continuously from one spot. The Sagittarius constellation. The head of the telescope at the time saw this pattern, circled it and wrote “Wow!” Thus the name of the signal.

Here’s the catch, they then went into depth on the signal and tried to figure out what made it, and why it is coming from that fixed point in space. They haven’t been able to explain it, not even now. Although, they do note that it could be proof of alien life.

Whether it is or not is up for debate, but if it is the case, we’re going to have a new reason to say “Wow!”

2. Tabby’s Star

When it comes to the star KIC 8462852, nicknamed “Tabby’s Star”, it stands out above the rest of the stars in the sky because of how its light diminishes.

By that, I mean that of the 150,000 stars discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope, it’s the only one that has its light fade in a way that science can’t explain.

If you think about Earth’s sun, the only time it gets “blocked” in terms of giving sunlight is when the moon passes by it (called a lunar eclipse) or a planet goes by it (which is rare for us to perceive given our position to the sun). Other stars in the universe have similar things happen to them, but not Tabby’s Star. Its light output drops regularly, sometimes even up to 20% at a time, and yet, there is no logical explanation as to why it’s happening.

For this to occur at such a rate, that would require a ton of planets to come together to block it. But there aren’t enough planets around Tabby’s star to do that. There is also the theory that dust clouds from within the star are causing it, but, the star itself is not old enough to cause such phenomenon.

There are many other theories as to why this happens to this star, but as of yet, none of them have been definitively proven. And whether it’ll ever be proven remains to be seen.

1. The Fermi Paradox

If we really want to talk about the mysterious and phenomena of the stars, then the question of life on Earth is one that we have to address. And specifically, where other life may or may not be in the stars. This question is known as the Fermi Paradox.

A question that actually happened in the most casual of places, a conversation between friends. Physicist Enrico Fermi was with his friends (who were fellow physicists themselves) and had lunch with them during a particular day in the Summer of 1950. Nothing strange about this at all.

As they began to chat with one another on the way to lunch, the topic of UFOs came at. During the late 40’s and early 1950’s, there were many UFO “sightings” all over America, and even the world at some points. This created a hysteria of sorts as to whether we were really alone in the universe. But, naturally, most governments and logical people felt that these aliens were hoaxes, and many were proven to be just that.

However, as these physicists talked about the possibility of alien life, a question came to Fermi. And while the exact question is actually lost to history, the basic concept of it is, “Where are they?”

“Where are whom?” you ask? The aliens, that’s what Fermi was asking. Because based on his reasoning, and his very true logic of the universe as a whole, there honestly shouldn’t be a reason that we haven’t met aliens of some kind. Or, at the very least, haven’t discovered that there is alien life out there in the universe right now.

This may seem like one in a long line of far-fetched theories, but this paradox is one that has taken root in the culture of the world. Because it’s a question, and a paradox, that can’t easily be dismissed. And because of the question itself, but rather, the science that is inherently behind it.

You see, just talking mathematically, there is almost a 0% chance that there isn’t some kind of life amongst the stars outside of Earth.

Granted, they don’t necessary have to have space travel and “Meet us” on Earth. Because obviously we’re not there either. But there is a very strong likelihood of life amongst the stars, and no one can figure out why we haven’t seen it, heard, or gotten definitive proof of it. Thus, the paradox remains.