Scariest Things of the Universe

Humans tend to get scared of things they are unable to understand. Our universe has always been a top contender in this list. The universe is an ever-expanding entity that dwarfs everything else by its sheer size. While its amazing discoveries have fascinated us for years, it is still filled with many concerning mysteries. Following are some of the scariest things that the universe has to offer.

The Triple Galaxy Collision

Back in 2007, three galaxies were observed colliding with each other. It is quite rare to see two galaxies collide but seeing three of them collide is an extremely rare occurrence. These are called ‘Interacting Galaxies’.

This scary event occurs when the gravitational field of a galaxy causes disturbances in the fields of other galaxies around it. What looks like just a blob of light in the photos is actually a merger of three massive clusters of stars. Within these interacting galaxies, stars are forming at a rapid rate (around 200 solar masses per year).

Zombie Stars

Every living thing is bound to die at some point. This rule applies to almost everything in the universe. It may sound like a scary thing at first, but all the stars we see in the sky are either dead or will die at some point. They are visible because the light emitted by them hasn’t reached us yet. Even our sun is a star and is bound to die at some point in time.

What continues to baffle scientists is that some stars die, and are reborn, as if nothing ever happened. These are called Zombie Stars. Researchers recently discovered these scariest things that should have died in their supernova stages. However, they somehow survived and are now hurtling across space with a renewed sense of life and adventure. We don’t really understand them yet, which is why we hope to stay away from them.

The Outcast Supermassive Black Hole

A lot of people are aware of the magnitude of our existence in comparison with the universe. Some of the things in the universe are so huge that they make our presence look insignificant. One of these scariest things is the supermassive black hole that was ejected from its galaxy. That’s the reason why it is called the ‘Outcast’.

Scientists calculated that it would have taken the same amount of energy as 100 million supernovas to throw a black hole into space. It is not any normal black hole either. It is the biggest black hole ever recorded. Astronomers believe that the energy required to fling the black hole out of a galaxy came from the merger of two black holes at the center of the galaxy.                     

Galactic Cannibalism

Cannibalism is a scary albeit disgusting thing. The very idea of a universe eating up another universe can be disturbing and a very scary thing to consider. The Milky Way seems safe so far, but there are many other galaxies that are being gobbled up.

 

Recently, Andromeda, the most familiar galaxy (after Milky Way), actually devoured a smaller galaxy near it. It is expected that Andromeda will do the same to the Milky Way in about 4.5 billion years. It is possible that humans may survive that catastrophe by developing inter-galactic traveling. On the other hand, the possibility that humans may no longer be there to witness it is also there. 

The Higgs Boson Doomsday

We have heard many doomsday theories on our planet. Many cultures believe that the end of the world would be dramatic, which is cool for us as long as we get to see some cool visuals. The scariest possible doomsday theory is the Higgs Boson Doomsday. The significance of this doomsday scenario can be judged by the fact that actual researchers have come up with it.

Many, including Stephen Hawking, believe that it has already begun or could happen very soon. It would start off as a bubble filled with unstable Higgs energy. This energy should remain consistent for the universe to stay stable. Then the unstable energy bubble would start expanding rapidly. This will essentially ‘reprogram’ or disintegrating atoms and thus, the universe itself. Many scientists are hopeful that humans would be long gone before the deadly bubble reaches us.