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Where is the coldest place in the universe?

Just how cold will it get?

By Rekhi OnyPublished about a year ago 3 min read
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In a good night sky, no matter which direction we look in the sky, we can see the dense stars, but this is only our illusion the distance between the stars in the universe is very large, how large? Let's put it this way, if we compare the sun star to a ping pong ball, then according to the proportion of conversion, even the closest to the sun another "ping pong ball" - Proxima, but also far away from 1000 km.

Although there are countless stars in the universe, their heating effect on the entire universe is very limited, so the average temperature of the entire universe is only about minus 270 degrees Celsius, this temperature is already very close to absolute zero (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius). It is obvious that the temperature is not uniform everywhere in the universe, there must be a place where the temperature is the lowest, so where is the coldest place in the known universe, and how cold will it be? It must be said that this is standard "cold knowledge", we will understand the following.

According to current observations, the coldest place in the universe is the Boomerang Nebula (also known as the Dart Nebula), which is located about 5,000 light-years away in the direction of Sagittarius, not far from our planet. This nebula is located about 5000 light-years away from the constellation Sagittarius, not too far from Earth. The reason for this strange name is that this nebula has two relatively symmetrical cone-shaped structures that look like a flying back stick.

How cold will the "Reckitt Benckiser Nebula" be? Scientists believe that the temperature of this nebula is only about minus 272 degrees Celsius, only 1 degree Celsius higher than absolute zero, so this nebula is also known as the "refrigerator of the universe. Here someone must ask, "back to the flying stick nebula" so far from Earth, scientists are using what method to measure the temperature of this nebula is minus 272 degrees Celsius?

The research shows that in the universe, all substances with a temperature above absolute zero will radiate heat outward in the form of electromagnetic waves, for the same substance, the higher its temperature, the more short waves in the electromagnetic radiation, and the more energy it has, and vice versa.

For example, a piece of steel at room temperature will also radiate electromagnetic waves, but because the wavelength of this electromagnetic wave is very long, and the energy is very weak, so we simply can not perceive it, and if we continue to heat this piece of steel, then it radiates the electromagnetic wave will become shorter and shorter, when the wavelength of these electromagnetic waves shortened to the visible range, we can see this piece of steel in the dark glow.

Because in the visible range, red light has the longest wavelength, so the light emitted by this piece of steel is red at first, and as the temperature of this piece of steel continues to rise, we will observe that the light emitted by this piece of steel will be transformed into orange, yellow, yellow-white, white, blue-white, in essence, this is this piece of steel in the process of continuous heating up the radiation of shorter and shorter electromagnetic waves.

It follows that we only need to observe the color of the light emitted by this piece of steel from afar, and then compare it with the relevant data, we can calculate its temperature at this time. This is a process of analyzing electromagnetic waves, the same reason, although the "back to the flying bar nebula" is the coldest place in the known universe, the temperature of this nebula is still above absolute zero, so the material here will also be in the form of electromagnetic radiation heat, we just need to choose a familiar nebula in this nebula We only need to select a familiar substance in this nebula and then analyze the electromagnetic waves it radiates, we can calculate the temperature of this nebula.

In 2013, scientists used the Atacama Millimeter/Submillimeter Array Telescope (ALMA) to measure the electromagnetic waves emitted by the thermal radiation of carbon monoxide in the Echo Bar Nebula, and then subsequent calculations gave the temperature of the nebula, which is -272 degrees Celsius.

So why is the Echo Bar Nebula the coldest place in the known universe? Scientists speculate that the "predecessor" of the Echo Bar Nebula was a star that underwent an extremely violent expansion (red giant) at the time of the star's demise, thus reducing the temperature of the nebula left behind to extremely low levels. In simple terms, this is the same thing as "the temperature of a gas increases when its volume is compressed and decreases when its volume is expanded".

Science
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About the Creator

Rekhi Ony

Struggle to change destiny, dreams make us different.

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