All About Space reveals the scariest stars, planets and galaxies lurking in the corners of our universe
Space has been an inspiration behind human mythology for thousands of years, and with a little help from technology we are capturing some images that really bring these legends to life. However, far from being evidence of the supernatural at work, the spooky space images that we are about to show you are nothing out of the ordinary.
Humans can't help but try to find meaning in meaningless shapes, and the phenomenon even has a name pareidolia. It is why we see faces in the clouds, religious icons in our food and constellations in the night sky.
The universe really is a dangerous place, where massive galaxies swallow up their neighbours and greedy stars feast on their close companions. But with the power of pareidolia, it also has witches and ghosts made from glowing gas, zombie stars and winking demons. Our Sun has even transformed into a grinning pumpkin. Our universe has it all. Read on for our pick of the most terrifying space objects.
1 HELL PLANET
COROT-7 b is one of the most Earth-like planets ever discovered, but this alien world is no place for a human. Just over oneand-a-half times the size of our own planet, and almost five times the mass, COROT-7 b more closely resembles a depiction of hell than a second home. Its star, COROT-7, is younger than ours, and COROT-7 b orbits it at around 2.5 million kilometres (1.5 million miles) - 60 times closer than Earth is to the Sun. This journey takes just over 20 hours, and the planet skims so close that its surface melts under the daylight and the rocks boil away into space.
Esta historia es de la edición Issue 161 de All About Space UK.
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Esta historia es de la edición Issue 161 de All About Space UK.
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MYSTERIES OF THE UNI WHERE ARE ALL THE SPIRAL GALAXIES?
There are far fewer spiral galaxies than elliptical ones in the Supergalactic Plane, and scientists are keen to discover why
ZOMBIE STARS
+10 OTHER TERRIFYING SPACE OBJECTS
HOW TO BEAT LIGHT POLLUTION
Thought it was impossible to observe the wonders of the night sky from towns and cities? Think again. Follow our tips and tricks on successfully observing through sky glow
15 STUNNING STAR CLUSTERS
These beautiful stellar groupings are spattered across the cosmos
Eileen Collins "It was a difficult mission...we were the first to see Mir"
Having served as both the first female pilot and first female commander of NASA's Space Shuttle, Collins boosted the involvement of women in space exploration to a whole new level
MARS LEAKS FASTER WHEN IT'S CLOSER TO THE SUN
The Red Planet has lost enough water to space to form a global ocean hundreds of kilometres deep
FUTURE TECH KANKOH-MARU
This ambitious reusable spacecraft will be capable of taking 50 people to and from orbit
THE FINAL FRONTIER
Beyond the reach of the Sun is a fascinating region of the cosmos that were only just beginning to explore
A long-lost moon could explain Mars' weird shape and extreme terrain
A long-lost moon could explain why Mars is so different from the other rocky planets in the Solar System. Today Mars has two tiny moons.
A sprinkling of cosmic dust may have helped kick-start life on Earth
Cosmic dust may have helped kick-start life on Earth. New findings challenge a widely held assumption that this wasn't a plausible explanation.