4 curious things that have been discovered in space

Despite all that has been discovered about the universe, the truth is that it remains a great unknown to us all. So it is not surprising that scientists discover unusual things about it - especially now, with technological advances allowing space exploration to reach limits that until recently seemed unreachable.

The folks at Cracked gathered some of these findings in one interesting and entertaining article, and we at Mega Curious have selected the four most interesting ones for you to check out. Look:

1 - Too much alcohol!

The image above shows a molecular cloud called Sagittarius B2, and it could serve to fuel every bar in the galaxy! Located about 390 light-years from the center of the Milky Way, the cloud is made up of billions upon billions of liters of alcohol floating within it, as well as ethyl metanoate molecules - which, curiously, smells of rum and is used by earthlings as a raspberry flavoring flavor.

2 - Giant magnifying glasses

Astronomers have found that what they are observing in space is not always where it seems. This visual effect is called the "gravitational lens" and is formed by a distortion in space-time caused by the gravitational force of massive bodies - such as galaxies - that bend light from objects behind them relative to observers. here on earth.

One of the characteristics of this effect is the magnification of light emitted by very distant stars. However, for astronomers to take advantage of the gravitational lens, the two objects - a galaxy-lens and the body behind it - must be perfectly aligned, and this, as you might imagine, is extremely rare and difficult to identify. .

3 - An unknown force

If you think black holes are the most sinister things in the universe, this is why you must not have heard of the "dark flow." It was discovered a few years ago by a NASA scientist named Sasha Kashlinsky, who observed a sort of cosmic drain on the edge of the visible universe.

This location is about 45 billion light-years from Earth, between the constellations of Centaur and Vela, and entire galaxies are being sucked into it at incredible speed. No one can tell what this dark flow is, but astronomers speculate that it may be an exotic megaobject that has never been observed before, or that this "drain" will hit another universe.

4 - Several unusual figures

In fact, the photographs you will see below are the result of a psychological phenomenon called "pareidolia", which consists of associating random images with figures or facial expressions that do not exist.

Mickey Mouse on Mercury

Located within a crater called Magritte, the Mercurian Mickey is created by the shadows and placement of some smaller craters on Mercury's surface.

Unicorn-like nebula

Known as the Trifid Nebula, the object you just saw above is in the constellation Sagittarius.

A huge hand

Pulsar wind nebula located in the constellation Circinus known to scientists as the "Hand of God."

God's Eye

Helix Nebula - or NGC 7293 - located in the constellation Aquarius, also called by astronomers the "Eye of God."

The Tinkerbell

The image above - although it looks like a galactic “Tinker Bell” - shows three galaxies, two spiral and one irregularly shaped, merging into space.