NASA Detects Dangerous Debris Near the Milky Way

Bright Side

🌌 NASA has detected dangerous debris drifting near the Milky Way, and scientists are paying close attention. In this video, we explain what this debris actually is, where it came from, and why it matters. We’ll break down whether it poses any real threat or if the headlines are getting ahead of the science. From cosmic dust to fast-moving objects, space isn’t as empty as it looks. If space dangers and real astronomy intrigue you, this one’s worth your time. 🚨   Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en Large Synoptic Survey Telescope: by LSST Project Office https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Large_Synoptic_Survey_Telescope_3_4_render_2013.png The Cosmic Treasure Chest: by  NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Cosmic_Treasure_Chest_(Video-EN).webm he Trifid and Lagoon nebulae: by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trifid_and_Lagoon_nebulae.jpg Cosmic Abundance: by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cosmic_Abundance.jpg LSST sensor: by Cmglee https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LSST_sensor.svg Telescope Mount Assembly: by Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Some_Assembly_Required.jpg LSST camera: by Todd Mason, Mason Productions Inc. / LSST Corporation https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Design_of_the_LSST_camera.jpg Waveform Sensor: by Sandrine Thomas https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Waveform_Sensor_for_Vera_Rubin_telescope.png LSST optics: by LSST consortium https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LSSToptics.jpg LSST Camera: by Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LSST_Camera_Arrives_at_Rubin_Observatory_(rubin-2024_0517_RUBIN_CAMERA_Bonin_AR33368101).jpg L1 Lens of the camera: by LSST https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LSST_Telescope_-_L1_Lens_of_the_camera.jpg Rubin Observatory: by Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA/A. Pizarro D. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rubin_Observatory_Summit_Site_(rubin-Revelado-Rubin-N40-CC).tiff LSST Camera: by Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LSST_Camera_Arrives_at_Rubin_Observatory_(rubin-2024_0517_RUBIN_CAMERA_Bonin_AR3310674).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rubin_Observatory_Commissioning_Camera_(rubin-ImagefromiOS).jpg Portion of Virgo Cluster: by RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portion_of_Virgo_Cluster_(with_asteroids)_(noirlab2521al).tiff SN2020jfo: by Raysastrophotograhy https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Messier_61_with_SN2020jfo_(Supernova).jpg CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en Galaxy Collision Animation: by James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galaxy_Collision_Animation-_James_Webb_Space_Telescope_Science.webm Galaxy collision: by Ingo Berg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galaxy_collision.ogv M61 galaxy: by Unknown Author https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M61_3.6_5.8_8.0_microns_spitzer.png Black Holes: by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - University of Maryland College Park/Sara Mitchell, University of Maryland College Park/Barb Mattson, Business Integra/Kelly Ramos, eMITS/Scott Wiessinger, eMITS/Sophia Roberts, eMITS/Chris Smith, University of Maryland College Park/Francis Reddy, University of Maryland College Park/Jeanette Kazmierczak https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Holes_Vertical_Video_(SVS14793_-_Spinning_Black_Hole_w_Audio_%26_Watermark).webm Mice Galaxies: by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - Paul Morris, Aaron E. Lepsch https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sonification_of_the_Mice_Galaxies_(SVS14515).webm Euclid: by European Space Agency CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/deed.en https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Euclid%E2%80%99s_wide_and_deep_surveys_over_the_next_6_years_ESA494480.webm Animation is created by Bright Side.

Transcript

00:00A recent shocking discovery, shocking I tell you, shows that one galaxy can devour another smaller one, leaving behind just faint remains.

00:09Can anything like this happen to our home Milky Way galaxy?

00:12And if it does, what will happen to the inhabitants of the planet Earth?

00:17You know, us. Well, let's figure it out.

00:22This whole discovery is actually a curious story.

00:25Even before the Rubin Observatory, an astronomical observatory in Chile, even started its full science work, it accidentally helped astronomers spot something totally unexpected.

00:37In June, the team released its very first test images, and one of them showed a deep look at the Virgo cluster.

00:44As a huge group of nearby galaxies, scientists have been studying for years.

00:48But in the bottom right corner of that image, there was something thin and strange.

00:53And it wasn't me. It was a tiny, razor-sharp streak of stars stretching away from a well-known galaxy called M61.

01:01No one had ever seen it before.

01:03Now, M61 looks a lot like our own Milky Way galaxy.

01:07It's a barred spiral galaxy with long, sweeping arms.

01:11But despite the similar shape, the center of M61 is far more dramatic.

01:15While Milky Way's supermassive black hole sits quietly, almost as if it's asleep, M61's black hole is wide awake and hungry.

01:25It feeds on surrounding matter and blasts out powerful flows of energy, which creates a kind of galactic storm that spreads through the galaxy.

01:34M61 has been studied for decades, but Rubin's camera is built to pick up things that are extremely faint.

01:40That's why this new star system suddenly appeared.

01:43It was as if someone turned on a flashlight in a dark room.

01:47Now, the stream is enormous.

01:49It's about 50 kiloparsecs long, which is roughly 163,000 light-years.

01:55That's more than the size of the entire Milky Way.

01:58Most stellar streams around our own galaxy are only a few tens of thousands of light-years long.

02:03So this one is huge by comparison.

02:05Scientists think that the long trail is made of a dwarf galaxy that got too close to M61.

02:12Once it crossed into the larger galaxy's territory, the dwarf galaxy became trapped in its gravitational grip.

02:18Little by little, powerful tidal forces began pulling it apart, stretching it into a long, faint trail of stars.

02:26Eventually, it was completely ripped apart by M61's gravity.

02:29When that happened, the larger galaxy seemed to have responded with a burst of new star-making about 10 million years ago.

02:37It almost felt like the collision kicked it away.

02:40This process, large galaxies tearing smaller ones apart, is thought to be one of the main ways galaxies, like the Milky Way and M61, grow over billions of years.

02:50Each smaller galaxy that falls in becomes fuel for the larger one, adding stars and gas.

02:56And sometimes, this process can even stir up activity around the central black hole.

03:01Will our Milky Way become that smaller galaxy one day?

03:05Well, we do have a much bigger neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy.

03:09But at the moment, we can't predict whether it'll get hungry enough to attack the Milky Way.

03:14Whew, what a relief.

03:15Anyway, it might seem weird that the M61 stream had gone unnoticed for so long.

03:22It wasn't exactly faint or subtle, you know.

03:24Glowing with the light of about 100 million suns.

03:27Hard to miss.

03:28But it managed this trick by staying hidden behind a nearby galaxy.

03:32This makes it really difficult to detect even bright stellar streams.

03:36To find them, we need extremely sensitive instruments and careful techniques.

03:40At least, now we know that giant galaxies may grow by eating smaller ones, leaving long trails

03:47of stars behind as evidence.

03:50The researchers admit that it's surprising that such a huge structure stayed hidden around

03:54a famous galaxy for so long.

03:56And it seems that the discovery of the M61 stream is just the beginning.

04:01The night sky might start filling with new, uncovered structures, ghostly trails, forgotten

04:06galaxies, and the remains of ancient cosmic encounters.

04:10The Rubin Observatory is a brand-new astronomy center built on a mountain in Chile.

04:15Its full name is the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

04:19It was named after the astronomer who first found strong evidence that dark matter is real.

04:24Now, what makes Rubin special is that it's the first telescope of its kind.

04:28Its giant mirrors, super-sensitive camera, fast movement, and powerful computers all use

04:34cutting-edge technology.

04:35The main telescope, called the Simon-Yee Survey Telescope, has a 27-foot mirror, and it uses

04:41the LSST camera, which is the biggest digital camera ever made.

04:46But we'll talk about it a bit later.

04:48For 10 years, this telescope will take extremely detailed pictures of the southern sky.

04:53It will scan the entire sky every few nights, creating a huge, high-quality time-lapse video,

04:59the largest movie of the universe ever recorded.

05:02This movie will help scientists spot things that change over time, like asteroids, comets,

05:08stars that get brighter or dimmer, and exploding stars, called supernovae.

05:13To create this giant time-lapse, the Rubin Observatory will have to use a lot of new technology.

05:19Some of its parts were invented from scratch, and others were improved versions of older designs.

05:24It'll help scientists discover all kinds of things, many we already expect, and many we

05:29can't even imagine yet.

05:31Even so, Rubin Observatory was built with four main science goals in mind.

05:36Learning more about dark matter and dark energy, creating a complete list of objects in our

05:41solar system, mapping the structure of the Milky Way, and studying objects that move or

05:46change brightness over time.

05:48Everything about the telescope, its huge size, fast scanning speed, and ultra-sensitive camera,

05:54was designed to make discoveries in these four areas as complete as possible.

05:59Rubin's telescope isn't the first telescope with a mirror about 27 feet wide.

06:03But it is the first to combine its primary mirror and tertiary mirror into one single surface.

06:10Putting both mirrors together is a special innovation that makes the entire telescope more compact.

06:16Because of this, it can move faster and get ready for its next observation much more quickly.

06:20The telescope's LSST camera is the biggest digital camera ever created.

06:26It's about the size of an SUV and weighs around 6,000 pounds.

06:31It holds a giant 3,200-megapixel CCD array.

06:35Just one single picture from Rubin is so large that you'd need about 400 Ultra HDTV screens to display it.

06:43It's also the fastest-moving large telescope on Earth.

06:46Rubin's telescope can swing into a new position in only 5 seconds and immediately start taking its next image.

06:54This speed comes from the telescope's compact design, thanks to its 2-in-1 mirror and its powerful drive motors.

07:00They can quickly move and stop the 220-ton telescope mount without shaking it.

07:06Even small vibrations can ruin an image, so this stability is a huge achievement.

07:10By the way, if the telescope were spinning at full speed, you wouldn't be able to outrun it.

07:16Also, Rubin Observatory has a rare combination.

07:20It can collect a lot of light and capture a very large area of the sky in a single picture.

07:25This means it can spot faint objects spread out over a wide region without needing many separate images.

07:32When you add the telescope's incredible speed,

07:34you get the perfect setup for creating Rubin's ultra-high-definition 10-year time-lapse of the universe.

07:41A fun fact!

07:42Each Rubin image covers about 10 square degrees of sky.

07:45That's the same area as 45 full moons, or about the size of a golf ball held at arm's length.

07:51Another cool thing is that Rubin data will be immediately available to scientists in the US and Chile

07:57and to members of Rubin's international In-Kind program.

08:01They'll be able to access everything through an online portal, which means that no giant downloads are needed.

08:07After two years, the entire world will be able to view Rubin data.

08:12Rubin will also process new images every night in near real time.

08:16If something in the sky moves or changes, the system will send out a public alert within 60 seconds.

08:22This will allow scientists to respond quickly and point their telescopes at the event.

08:26Each night, Rubin Observatory will create 20 terabytes of data

08:31and send out up to 10 million alerts about changes in the sky.

08:35By the end of the 10-year survey, Rubin will have produced a whopping 60 petabytes of raw images.

08:42It'll be the first time so much astronomical information is shared with so many people.

08:47That's it for today.

08:49So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.

08:53Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side!

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