Space Events That Shocked The World

 

the expanse of space  billions of galaxies containing billions  of stars that stretch further into the  cosmos than even our best telescopes can  reach  with all this stuff there's bound to be  some crazy things happening all the time  and thanks to our rapidly advancing  technology we're getting better at  spotting these eye-catching events  if we include humanity's efforts to  reach the stars  we're left with an even longer list of  space events  that shocked the world welcome to fact  nominal today  we're looking back at epic moments in  space history that forever changed our  understanding of the universe  in space events that shocked the world  m87 black hole in 2019  humanity saw the first picture of a  black hole ever captured  after a record-breaking collaboration  between astronomers and scientists  across the world  the black hole at the middle of the  giant elliptical shaped messier 87  galaxy  was snapped by the event horizon  telescope an array of telescopes  located all across the world and  synchronized  so that they acted as a single telescope  the size of our entire planet  we had known for some time there was  some incredibly strong radio waves being  generated from the virgo cluster but it  was only after this incredible  achievement  that we were able to stare into the  heart of a black hole for the very first  time  this bmoth of a black hole weighs in at  a mind-boggling  6.5 billion solar masses  but luckily for all of us it remains a  safe distance away  53 million light years to be exact  devouring anything in its path the m87  black hole has a hefty appetite pulling  in dust  gas ice rock planets and stars  not even light can escape this black  hole's intense gravity  and it's the reason we can only see a  pale halo of light and mata  surrounding the event horizon in fact  much of the orange glow around m87s  black hole  is due to radiation given off by  superheated gas  swirling around and into the event  horizon like water down a drain  the black hole's incredible mass  superheats nearby mata  that to the naked eye actually appears  white with tinges of either blue or red  depending on the distance from the event  horizon  the iconic orange and red coloration was  added afterwards by scientists  to emphasize radiation intensity  discovery of cosmic background radiation  in the 1920s the big bang theory was put  forward by belgian priest and astronomer  george lemaitre however many people were  skeptical  and for good reason it was a radical  idea that would completely shatter the  world view of the public and scientific  community alike  if it were proved true proof came in  1965  when a radio meter was able to detect a  faint level of microwave radiation  which was present everywhere the device  was pointed even in areas without  anything nearby that could possibly be  producing the microwaves  it turns out that these microwaves are  present all throughout the universe  and are leftover remnants from the big  bang from when the universe was very  dense  hot and filled with gamma radiation as  the universe expanded  the gamma radiation was stretched  eventually becoming microwave radiation  this discovery shocked the world as we  finally understood  the origins of the universe detection of  gravitational waves  gravitational waves are ripples in the  fabric of space-time that distort the  shape of objects temporarily  luckily for us they distort objects by  the tiniest amount  and can only be detected by extremely  advanced equipment  these waves occur when objects of great  mass accelerate towards each other  usually black holes or neutron stars  gravitational waves were predicted by  none other than  albert einstein in 1916 as part of his  general theory of relativity  however due to technological constraints  it took almost  100 years for gravitational waves to be  confirmed in 2015  when the ligo gravitational wave  detector experienced a tiny distortion  in space-time  which could be traced to the merging of  two black holes  more than a billion light years away  this provided further support of  einstein's general theory of relativity  completely rocking the scientific  community and general population  in the process observations of  supernovae  a supernova is one of the most powerful  explosions that can happen in the  universe  as a star reaches the end of its life it  stops fusing elements in its core  and the release of energy associated  with this nuclear fusion  also comes to an end as a result of this  there is no longer any energy to oppose  the force of gravity  generated by the huge mass of the star  causing it to  violently collapse in on itself before  fragments of the star are catapulted  into the cosmos at three percent the  speed of light  throughout history various civilizations  have observed the appearance of a new  star in the sky  which sticks around for a short amount  of time before vanishing forever  for a millennium it was a complete  mystery what this phenomenon was caused  by  this all changed in 1866 when astronomer  william huggins made observations of a  supernova  and proposed that they were caused by  cataclysmic explosions  the realization that stars die in such a  violent manner  shocked the world and continues to fuel  our imaginations  even to this day total solar eclipse  a total solar eclipse occurs when the  moon passes in front of the sun  completely blocking sunlight from  reaching the earth and plunging the  earth into temporary darkness  although a total solar eclipse occurs  every year or two it is only visible  from 0.5 percent of the earth's surface  which makes it incredibly difficult to  observe this eye-catching phenomenon  partial solar eclipses occur more often  between two and five times per year  and involve the moon covering a portion  of the sun  due to the extreme brightness of the sun  this usually doesn't make a difference  to the amount of light reaching the  earth and makes for a not very  spectacular viewing experience  the next total solar eclipse is expected  to occur in december of 2021  but will only be visible from antarctica  and the surrounding seas  we'll most likely need to wait a little  while before we can witness this  shockingly beautiful space event  from somewhere less chilly apollo 11.  apollo 11 is possibly the most  well-known space mission of all time  and of course refers to the first time  humanity visited the moon  it was july 21 1969 when neil armstrong  took the first steps on the moon  followed closely by buzz aldrin this was  the first time humans walked on a  celestial object other than earth  and was eagerly watched by millions of  people all across the globe while there  the astronauts collected 47.5 pounds of  lunar material  before returning to earth this mission  was significant  for multiple reasons firstly  in the words of neil armstrong it was  one small step for man  one giant leap for mankind referring to  the fact  that this event represented a huge  milestone for humanity's technological  progress  secondly it marked the end of the space  race between the united states and the  soviet union  which was significant due to the  widespread uncertainty and fear  surrounding the cold war between these  nations this success was paramount  for the american people to maintain  confidence in their country  overall apollo 11 humanity's first trip  to the moon  has endured as a pivotal moment in space  history  space shuttle challenger disaster on the  chilly morning of january 28  1986 the space shuttle challenger was  preparing to blast off  and take its seven crew members into  space five nasa astronauts were on board  the craft  along with a researcher from the hughes  aircraft company and christa mcauliffe  a school teacher christa was part of the  teachers in space project  a program under ronald reagan that aimed  to spark interest in science  engineering and mathematics by allowing  teachers to travel to space  because of christa's inclusion on the  mission it was estimated that  17 of all americans were reading the  launch live  many of whom were school children as the  spacecraft was launched  the right booster partially detached  from the external fuel tank due to a  flawed o-ring seal that didn't work  properly as a result of the low  temperatures that morning  this resulted in a series of failures  that led to ignition of the external  fuel tank  creating a fireball that engulfed the  entire craft  73 seconds after launch to make a bad  situation worse  the partially detached right booster  continued to add thrust at an odd angle  which induced a force of 20 g's on the  challenger  which was only made to withstand five  g's of force  causing the aircraft to disintegrate  even further  this disaster caused the deaths of all  those on board  and resulted in the abandonment of the  teachers in space project  and all planned space shuttle missions  for the next 32 months  while this was an absolute tragedy it  was also a shocking event  in 2015 it was revealed that carol  spinney the puppeteer for the character  of big bird from sesame street  was initially invited to take part in  the challenger mission to encourage kids  to pursue science  initial plans were to have carroll  travel in character on the mission as  big bird  the six foot two bird had become  massively popular with kids by the 1980s  and nasa initially looked as though they  were going to exploit this free pr  opportunity  while plans eventually fell through and  they chose a schoolteacher instead  we very nearly had a beloved kids show  mascot burn up in a fireball  on live tv