Amazingly beautiful and unusual stars in space. Too strange a star for a white dwarf

Science and technology

Astronomical photo gallery

Galaxy

A photo: A star losing mass and its nebula
Explanations: The hazy formation around this cool star is light reflected by dust particles surrounding it. The dust originated from the material of the star itself and is believed to consist mainly of silicon found in its outer layers. The rate of mass loss is much higher than usual for stars of this type and is sufficient for the formation of the reflection nebula IC 2220. The fact that the central object in the image is a star can be seen at least from the cruciform "spikes" emerging from it. These are artifacts that have arisen due to the design features of the telescope.
Copyright:(c) 1980 Anglo-Australian Telescope Directorate, photograph by David Malin
D.F. Malin

A photo: A Wolf-Rayet star in the nebula NGC 2359
Explanations: Wolf-Rayet stars are massive, extremely hot, and matter is ejected from their surface at a speed of several thousand kilometers per second. As for the star NGC 2359, the solar wind interacts with the gas and dust around it, generating the cosmic "bubble" visible in the photo. The shell-like layers are formed by the single star HD 56925, which is losing a significant portion of the matter from its outer layers, throwing it into a part of our Galaxy rich in interstellar gas. Such stars are unusual mainly because such an existence cannot last long.
Copyright:(c) 1979 Anglo-Australian Telescope Directorate, photograph by David Malin
Reproduced with permission: D.F. Malin

A photo: Beta Painter (optical image taken from Earth)
Explanations: Beta Pictoris is a 4th-magnitude star that radiates strongly in the infrared. It is surrounded by a disk of matter of the kind that is believed to eventually lead to the creation of a planetary system.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission: National Optical Astronomical Observatories

A photo: Faint Nebula NGC 6164-5
Explanations: Very hot, massive stars rapidly lose mass from their surfaces during their short lives. The loss of mass is usually a fairly stable process, but some stars sometimes have violent outbursts. The star HD 148937 has ejected large amounts of matter at least twice in its lifetime; the brightest and most recent ejecta is observed as the nebula NGC 6164-5 (center of the image), while the much fainter and older "rim" of the nebula, visible at a considerable distance from the central star, indicates another strong ejection that occurred much before.
Copyright:(c) 1984, Anglo-Australian Telescope Directorate, photograph by David Malin
Reproduced with permission: D.F. Malin

A photo: Double nebula NGC 6164-5 around a bright star
Explanations: The bright central star visible in this photograph is known simply as HD 148937. But as the hottest component of a young, orbiting triple system of stars, it is a rather unusual object, albeit similar in appearance to a planetary nebula. The star itself is shedding mass from its outer layers continuously, but occasional energetic outbursts cause the symmetrical shells seen in this image to appear. Both stellar shells are included in the catalogs as separate objects under the numbers NGC 6164 and NGC 6165,
Copyright:(c) 1981 Anglo-Australian Telescope Directorate, photograph by David Malin
Reproduced with permission: D.F. Malin

A photo: Young stars in the Orion Nebula
Explanations: An image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope shows a small portion of the Orion Nebula (0.14 light years across) and five young stars. Four of them are surrounded by gas and dust masses that were captured by the forming stars. It is possible that they are all protoplanetary disks ("proplyds") that can develop into planetary systems. Formations closer to hot stars appear brighter, while those farther away appear darker.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission: S.R.O "Dell and NASA

A photo: First images of a true brown dwarf
Explanations: The images show a red dwarf (Gliese 229) of the 8th magnitude, located in the constellation of the Hare at a distance of about 18 light-years. Its much fainter companion Gliese 229B was discovered on October 27, 1994. The companion's semi-major axis is 44 AU. The mass of this object is about 20 - 50 masses of Jupiter, but its density is so great that it has the same diameter as Jupiter (128,000 km). The companion has a low surface temperature and a methane atmosphere, proving that it is a substellar brown dwarf. The image on the left was taken in the far red light range using the adaptive optics coronagraph of the 1.5-meter telescope of the Palomar Observatory (October 1994). The right image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (November 1995) confirms that the faint speck named Gliese 229B is indeed an object orbiting its parent star.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission: T. Nakajima (Caltech), S. Durrans (JSU) (left image); S. Kulkarni (Caltech), D. Golimovsky (JSU) and NASA

A photo: protoplanetary disk
Explanations: An image of a very young star (its age is from 300 thousand to 1 million years), surrounded by matter left over from the period of star formation. The cool, reddish star has a mass about one-fifth that of our Sun. The dark disk, silhouetted against the Orion Nebula, is possibly the protoplanetary disk from which planets form. The disk contains at least seven times more matter than our Earth and is about 90 billion km in diameter, which is 7.5 times the size of the solar system. The Orion Nebula is about 1500 light years away from us in the direction of the constellation Orion. Image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission: K.R. O'Dale / Rice University, NASA

A photo: Planet around the star Beta Painter
Explanations: This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows for the first time the interior of the 320 billion km diameter dust disk surrounding the star Beta Pictoris. Top: Visible-light image of the disk, showing the disk almost edge-on and therefore spindle-shaped. It consists of microscopic dust grains formed by ice and silicate particles. One or more planets are located in the lumen of the disk. The light of the bright star lying in the center of the disk is blocked in this frame. Bottom: False color image processed to reveal details of the disk structure. You can see that the pink-white inner edge of the disk deviates slightly from the plane of the outer red-yellow-green disk (shown in dotted line in the image). The simplest explanation for this phenomenon is that part of the disk is attracted by the large planet. The planet itself is impossible to see, because it is close to the star, and its brightness is perhaps a billion times less.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission: C. Burroughs, Space Telescope Research Institute (NIIKT) of the European Space Agency (ESA), J. Christ (NIIKT), WFPC-2 HST Team and NASA

A photo: Emissions from a young star
Explanations: This image from the Hubble Space Telescope reveals new mysteries of star birth, showing a pair of spectacular gas eruptions from a young star. Top: The ejecta extends over a light year. The source of this structure - a young star - lies in the middle between the ejecta and is hidden by a dark cloud of dust. Nearly symmetrical bubbles of gas at either end of the ejecta form where they collide with interstellar gas. Bottom left: A close-up of the region around the star shows a glowing string of gas blasts ejected from the star, like a tracer of machine gun fire. Bottom right: This wedge-shaped structure is a classic example of a shock wave produced when fast-moving matter collides with a slower medium.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission: J. Hester (Arizona State University), HTC WFPC-2 Team and NASA

A photo: X-ray burster (artist's drawing)
Explanations: This painting conveys the artist's vision of a binary star in the globular cluster NGC 66224, which is the source of powerful bursts of X-rays. The object consists of a neutron star surrounded by a disk of matter, and a companion - a white dwarf, whose matter flows onto this disk through a narrow bridge. The object's ultraviolet radiation was detected by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission: D.Berry / STScI

A photo: Material surrounding the star Eta Carinae (HST)
Explanations: A rapidly expanding shell of matter surrounding the star Eta in the constellation Carinae was ejected during a violent outburst observed in 1841. Image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in January 1994. Eta Carinae is one of the most massive and brightest stars known; its mass exceeds the mass of the Sun by 150 times.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission: J. Esther and NASA

A photo: New Cygnus in May 1993 and January 1994 (HST)
Explanations: Development of the gaseous envelope surrounding Nova Cygnus after the explosion on February 19, 1992. Images obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope on May 31, 1993 and after the system upgrade in December 1993 are shown. Novaya owes its appearance to a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of a white dwarf in a star system.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission: F.Pareske, R.Jendrzejewski and NASA

Rider is a list of requirements that celebrity agents send ahead of time to the organizers of the performance. Sometimes these lists make the receiving party clutch their heads: “Well, why would they need THIS?”.

The editors of the site found out what things Russian and foreign stars need for a comfortable existence. Here is a selection of oddities and whims from star riders.

This information was collected from celebrity riders of different years, so the information may be outdated due to changes in their show programs, tastes, or for other reasons.

Ridiculous riders of foreign stars

Celine Dion

Celine Dion requires that the temperature in the dressing room be no more or less than 23 degrees Celsius. Otherwise there will be no concert!

Britney Spears

Britney Spears demanded a dedicated telephone line in the dressing room, otherwise the organizers paid a fine of $3,000 for each incoming call. There was a time when before a concert she and her team needed 100 McDonald's cheeseburgers... no buns. And for a concert in London in 2011, she needed a framed photograph of Princess Diana.

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez wants to be surrounded by white everywhere, and could leave the organizers with nothing if her sheets are not made from the purest cotton. And during a performance in Moscow, she needed a motorcade of 19 S-class cars, and hippos and crocodiles were to be embroidered on towels for her kids.

Rider Jennifer Lopez for a concert in Moscow

Madonna

Madonna is asking for a staff of 200 people, including a personal chef, a yoga instructor, 30 bodyguards and a special person to vacuum the stage costumes. The room should have pale pink lilies or white roses with a 15-centimeter stem.

Iggy Pop

The demands of Iggy Pop and his band The Stooges took up 28 A4 pages. One of the requirements was as follows: “We need 7 dwarfs dressed exactly like those dwarfs from the Walt Disney cartoon about a woman who falls into hibernation for a century after she was bitten by a poisonous gnome, or after she pricked her finger with a sharp an apple...or something like that. Well, taller people will do too. The main thing is attitude. And don't forget the pointed hats.

Paul McCartney

A longtime vegetarian, Paul McCartney will not tolerate anything in his room that results in the death of a living being: no hides, furs or skins, not to mention meat for dinner.

Marilyn Manson

Brutal Marilyn Manson will cancel the concert if his favorite Haribo bears, popcorn and chips are not in the dressing room.

David Hesselhoff

Actor and singer David Hesselhoff wants to see his full-length cardboard figure in the act.

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand wants the floor and toilet bowl to be strewn with rose petals.

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj's requests are very modest: a bucket of spicy chicken wings, two heaters, bakery-scented candles, three different flavors of gum and a plate of cheese.

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey asks for a bottle of Cristal champagne and a straw to be brought to the room to sip it slowly. She needs a helper to throw away her gum and help her up the stairs. The room should have a sofa in dark colors "without these annoying patterns." The temperature in the room is exactly 24 degrees Celsius, the room is full of white roses and vanilla-scented candles.

Cher

Singer Cher needs a separate wig room. It sounds strange, but she really has a lot of them.

cold play

There are no special requirements for Coldplay members, except that every hotel room should have postcards with images of local attractions - they send them to the family, such a tradition.

beyoncé

Beyoncé has two conditions that are not discussed under any circumstances: a huge dressing room the size of a school gym and baked chicken for dinner.

Rihanna

Rihanna's room should have a "plush" sofa and animal-print pillows, preferably zebra or tiger stripes, always without sequins, as well as a brand new carpet to walk on barefoot.

Katy Perry

Katy Perry's 45-page rider contains the following conditions: two cream-colored egg chairs, a refrigerator with a glass door, a vintage French lamp with an ornament, a special person for washing fruits and vegetables. And none of the staff should talk to her.

Eminem

Eminem is no longer the cocky bully he was at the beginning of his career. Now he has a philosophy of contemplation, which is probably why he once demanded a hotel with a pond full of Japanese koi from the organizers of a performance in Ireland.

Robbie Williams

Another fan of Zen Buddhism is Robbie Williams. His dressing room must have a bonsai tree, a photograph of the Dalai Lama and four ashtrays, and sometimes a live monkey.

M.I.A.

Singer M.I.A. wants to see a couple of 20-25-year-old dancers dressed in a burqa in the backup dancer, and in the room - "Gruyère cheese, old as dinosaurs."

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga's rider is weird simply because it's Lady Gaga. The dressing room should be decorated in the style of glam rock (whatever that means), all bath accessories should be lavender in color and smell, and a mannequin with pink pubic hair should be in the bathroom.

Moby

Moby needs 10 pairs of white cotton socks and 10 white boxers. He takes the underwear left after the performance with him.

The secret becomes clear

Van Halen's rider said, "The room should have a vase of M&M's with all the browns removed." But this strange, at first glance, requirement is more than a stellar whim.

The fact is that each performance of the group required serious efforts from the host. During the show, Van Halen drove onto the stage in huge trucks and did many other tricks that turned the performance into a colorful show, and any mistake in stage design could turn into a disaster.

To make sure that the organizers carefully read the technical requirements for the stage, among the detailed description of every little thing like outlets and the width of doorways, a section "Treats" with a line about M&M's was hidden. If, when checking into a room, the artists saw brown M&M's in the bowl, the concert was immediately canceled, the money was not returned to the organizer.

Riders of Russian stars

Singer Nikita

Singer Nikita, the author of the once popular song “Flew Forever”, loves his chow-chow Seva very much. In 2005, the media reported that a prerequisite for his rider is a separate room, a car and a hairdresser for a pet. Seva should have been fed young meat with vegetables and nothing else. Nikita was not so scrupulous about his beloved: he only asked to be put in a room in pastel colors.

Lolita

The rider of Lolita Milyavskaya seems quite adequate: a suite in a five-star hotel, bodyguards and a limousine at the gangway. But even these simple requirements were not always met. Tired of the irresponsibility of the organizers, Lolita added to the list "Oka" with a flashing light, which should meet her at the airport. So she determines who has read her rider and who has not. Those who read will certainly call and clarify, to which the singer replies: “Joke, relax!”.

As for the performance itself, Lolita needs two Viennese chairs and three water cannons on stage. After the last paragraph, I even wanted to go to the singer's concert.

Taisiya Povaliy

In the rider

Zemfira

In 2013, Zemfira came to Ukraine with a concert. The organizers of the event posted on the network the singer's rider demanding to provide her with a suite in a 5-star hotel, a BMW or Mercedes of an executive class with the ability to smoke in the cabin, 5 security guards, and a dressing room, which must have 10 terry towels and soap (with a shower there was no word). The menu listed 10 raw eggs, apparently to maintain the voice. But there was no alcohol on the list at all, contrary to widespread rumors that Zemfira likes to drink a glass of Widow Clicquot or a glass of Hennessy before the concert.

Alexander Rybak

In 2009, a pop star with Norwegian roots impressed the organizers of the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk with her demands. The producers of Alexander Rybak requested a representative Mercedes S220, and for its accompanying Mercedes Sprinter. According to the rider, the singer must be assigned at least two security guards, and during concerts, the backup dancers and musicians should have their own security. The minibar in the room was supposed to be filled with the following drinks: 10 bottles of beer, 1 bottle of dry white wine, 20 bottles of still water, 20 bottles of lemonade and 5 bottles of Coca-Cola Light. At the same time, the Rybak troupe was strictly forbidden to feed pizza and fast food. It is not clear why the festival management was so dumbfounded and "excessive and annoying" rather modest conditions for the winner of Eurovision, which took only 2 pages.

A limousine, 2 escort cars and a Mercedes bus for backup dancers are required to meet the singer at the gangway. In Russia and the CIS countries, Kirkorov's safety on the road should be ensured by traffic police cars.

The artist must be provided with at least a two-room presidential suite. The first room is large and bright, with a full-length mirror, upholstered furniture, a dressing table, a wardrobe for at least 20 suits, a table with a snow-white tablecloth, a private bathroom, fresh flowers and a decanter of orange juice. The second room is completely given over to the wardrobe.

One of the strangest conditions of the rider Kirkorov is “preliminary showing on local TV of Kirkorov's video clips, the film “Philip Kirkorov. One Year in the Life: Love and the Stage" and commercials for his performance.
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Nothing is more discussed during the various awards ceremonies than the outfits of the stars. Celebrities love to show off their splendor in front of the lenses of photojournalists and attract the attention of the public. But sometimes their very original outfits cause frank bewilderment. See the weirdest celebrity outfits of 2015.

17 PHOTOS

1. Madonna in a very original, if not strange, outfit at the Grammy Awards in 2015. (Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images; Starraks Photo/REX).
2. Famous supermodel Irina Shayk at the Vanity Fair After Party in Los Angeles. On Irina, with her perfect figure, this very ambiguous dress looks perfect. But if you choose a similar dress for graduation 2015, you can be very disappointed when you see yourself in the mirror, provided, of course, if your figure is not an exact copy of the beautiful Irina. (Photo: DANNY MOLOSHOK/Newscom/Reuters; Evan Agostini/Invision/AP).
3. Rihanna seems to be very pleased with her voluminous dress, which she chose for the Grammy Awards in 2015. (Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP).
4. American singer Toni Braxton in a very original black dress (especially behind) at the Grammy ceremony. (Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images).
5. British singer Rita Ora in a very revealing dress at the Vanity Fair After Party in Los Angeles. (Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP).
6. Joy Villa in a mesh dress at the 2015 Grammy Awards. (Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP).
7. Famous model Alessandra Ambrosio at the party InStyle and Warner Bros on the occasion of the awards "Golden Globe". It seems that fashion designers decided to save on fabric. (Photo: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP).
8. Known for the series "Game of Thrones" British actress Gwendolyn Christie in the "cape of a superhero" at the awards ceremony "Elle Style Awards" in London. (Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images).
9. Celebrity Kim Kardashian in a "robe" at the Grammy Awards in 2015. (Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images; Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
10. British singer Charlie XCX most likely just forgot to wear a dress to the NME Awards at the Brixton Academy in London. (Photo: Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)
11. FKA Twigs at the Brit Awards in London. It is difficult to even describe this intricate outfit in words. (Photo: Brian Rasic/REX; Ian Gavan/Getty Images)
12. American pop singer Jordyn Sparks at the Grammy Awards. Just a terrible dress. (Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images).
13. Actress Rose McGowan at the Elton John AIDS Foundation After Party after the Oscars in Los Angeles, either in a dress or a jacket. (Photo: GUS RUELAS/Newscom/Reuters; Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP).
14. Selita Ebanks - model and "angel" Victoria's Secret - came to the awards ceremony "Film Independent Spirit Awards" in Los Angeles in "pajamas". (Photo: Jim Smeal/BEI/REX; Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP). 17. Australian singer Sia (Sia Furler) at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills. Her outfit raises only one question: what would that mean? (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images).

"Shooting star

Everyone at least once in their life had to hear: “Look, the star has fallen!” Of course, this phenomenon is not directly related to the stars. Before us is just the hit of meteoroids in the Earth's atmosphere. However, not everyone realizes that the real “shooting” star is also known to science. It is called Mira and is a double star, which consists of the red giant Mira A and the white dwarf Mira B. The luminary is located at a distance of 417 light years from our planet in the constellation Cetus. The mass of the star is 1.2 solar, and the radius is 330-400 solar radii.

Back in 2007, scientists discovered Mira had a giant tail made up of dust and gas. The size of this tail is 13 light-years, which is much more than the distance from us to the neighboring star. We can see a similar tail in the example of comets flying up to the Sun. Every ten years, the World loses energy, which is equivalent to the mass of our planet. This is because the star is literally rushing through the galactic cloud of gas at a speed of 130 km/s. Other stars "slowly" revolve around the galactic center.

"Frozen" star

We associate heavenly bodies with something incredibly hot, but there are exceptions. An example of this is the “frozen” star WISE 0855–0714. It is a (sub-)brown dwarf located in the constellation Hydra. It is noteworthy that WISE 0855-0714 is not too far from us (in astronomical terms, of course): its distance from the Sun is only 7.2 light years. The temperature of the object is estimated between -48° and -13°C. According to the researchers, the mass of WISE 0855-0714 is from 3 to 10 Jupiter masses, and the age, according to scientists, does not exceed 10 billion years.

In general, subbrown dwarfs are of particular interest to science: it is often impossible to figure out exactly what is in front of us: a star or a planet. Such objects form like stars, not like planets, but they are quite cold. WISE 0855–0714 is the coldest object of this type. At least the ones we know about now.

The loneliest planet

In 2013, the Astrophysical Journal Letters published an article on a very strange phenomenon - a lonely planet deprived of its star. Almost nothing is known about the mysterious object PSO J318.5-22: neither how it appeared, nor what happened to its luminary. Scientists have found that the planet is very young: it is only 12 million years old. Before us is a gas giant, the mass of which is six times the mass of Jupiter. This celestial body is located at a distance of 80 light years from Earth. "We've never seen an object like this free-flying in space before," says Dr. Michael Liu of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii. “I have often wondered if there are such lonely objects in the universe, and now we know that they are.”

The important thing is that the planet can be observed using a telescope. As a rule, scientists are deprived of such an opportunity, including because of the luminary present next to the object. According to experts, the surface temperature of PSO J318.5-22 is +885°C.

Supergiant with a neutron star inside

Located in the constellation Tucana, the red supergiant HV 2112 is the most likely candidate for being the so-called Thorne-Zhitkov object, a hypothetical red giant or supergiant with a neutron star as its core. Neutron stars themselves are the result of supernova explosions. Such an object has a mass comparable to the mass of our star, but its radius is no more than 20 km.

The Thorn-Zhitkow object can be formed as a result of the merging of elements of a binary system. Something similar was predicted back in 1977, but only now, after a detailed analysis of the movement of HV 2112, it was possible to confirm that such an object really exists. There are other candidates for the role of the Thorne object - Zhitkov, for example, GRO J1655-40 and VZ Sagittarii. However, to prove their "authenticity" is even more difficult than in the case of HV 2112. In general, such celestial bodies are formed very rarely and in close binary systems. Having existed for a short period of time, such objects decay, for example, into a neutron star and a pulsar.

The largest reservoir of water in the universe

In 2011, American astronomers surprised the scientific community by discovering the largest reservoir of water in the universe. Quasar APM 08279+5255 surrounds an "ocean" that is 140 trillion times the volume of all of Earth's oceans. To be more precise, we are talking about a shell that surrounds the quasar and contains water vapor. The area around the quasar is about a hundred light-years long. Humanity will probably never get there and never use the water resources, because they are located at a distance of 12 billion light years from us. This is practically the boundary of the visible part of the Universe. Because of this distance, we now observe the quasar in the state in which it was at an early stage in the evolution of the Universe.

“The environment of a quasar is unique because it creates a giant mass of water. This shows once again that water is ubiquitous throughout the universe, even at such early times,” says study co-author Matt Bradford. Note that experts call active galactic nuclei quasars. These cores have a supermassive black hole that pulls matter from the surrounding space onto itself as a result of accretion.

The Black Hole That Couldn't Be

This discovery was made by an international team of researchers in 2015. A giant, very ancient black hole has been discovered that powered the brightest quasar in the early universe, SDSS J0100+2802, located 12.8 billion light-years away. The mass of the black hole itself exceeds the mass of our sun by 12 billion times, and the energy that the quasar takes is quadrillion times greater than the solar one. The quasar itself appeared only 900 million years after the supposed Big Bang.

It's not even about the mind-boggling size of these objects. It's just that, according to all existing models, it's not clear how the black hole that powers the quasar SDSS J0100+2802 could gain such an incredible mass in such a short period of time. It is important to note that these objects are located on the border of the observable part of the Universe, and therefore we see them as they were almost immediately after its origin.

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