Space is full of strange things. Galileo first used the telescope to look up into the heavens and get the best view of the moon and some of the planets, that man had ever attained up to that time. Since then, we have been improving our instruments at an ever increasing pace and we are constantly discovering new and more wondrous objects lurking out there.

Scientists believed that when a star of a certain size exploded it always shone with the same brightness. This theory is turning out to be false. Why do they feel that this is so important? It is important because the size of the universe was calculated using some of these explosions and if they are not universally the same, then the size calculations are not correct. Here is what happened. Supernova or exploding stars were classified by types. Take type 1A for example. Scientists were aghast when a type 1A supernova explosion turned out to be way more massive and bright than other type 1A supernova explosions. Brown Dwarf stars have exhausted their nuclear fuel. When they begin to get more matter from companion stars and reach 1 4 times the mass of the Sun, they explode. This size is called the Chandrasekhar mass limit. Scientists had believed that all type 1A supernova emitted the same amount of light and faded in the same amount of time so they used them to measure the universe. Now they find that they were wrong.

As I said, space is full of strange things. There are planet like bodies floating alone in space and astronomers feel that miniature solar systems might be created from their material. They have no name yet for such a system. A study was conducted and six of these objects were found that had different sizes. They had a mass of five to fifteen times that of Jupiter. Have you ever noticed how many times that Jupiter is used as a comparison for planet and object size? All of the objects had dust and gas disks and scientists believe that they are very young. The disks are like the ones found around newly formed stars. None of the planets or objects, for lack of a better name, were attached to any stars. A name is starting to take shape for these objects and it is "planetary mass objects" or "planemos" for short. Not all scientists agree on this name and some just call the objects brown dwarfs.

The Hubble telescope has found something interesting. It was aimed at M22 a popular globular star cluster that has been known about for a very long time. You would think that nothing new would be discovered there, but that is not the case. Planet size objects have been found wandering throughout that cluster. You have to wonder how objects this small could be found in such a far away location. It was done by detecting the way gravity bends light. I won't go into that here since it is better suited to a scientific forum, but it is quite a clever way to discover objects. The objects we are talking about only range up to 80 times the mass of the Earth. Objects this small at this great a distance have never been detected before.

Another unique discovery that was made by scientists was a pair of unique objects. What makes them so unique is the fact that it is not possible to tell if they are planets or solar objects. It is suspected that they are planemos, but it is the first time a pair have been found so scientists are not sure.

Jupiter, The Planet That Seems To Have Every Other Object Compared To It In Size

A new, surprising fact, is now being suspected. Before I tell you about it I first have to tell you exactly what a brown dwarf is. A brown dwarf is a failed star or sun. Now that we know this we can better appreciate the fact that I am going to tell you. Scientists now suspect that some brown dwarfs have planets. A brown dwarf never reached the mass that would have enabled it to start the nuclear reaction that would have made it a star. They only range up to 70 times the size of Jupiter. There is that Jupiter comparison again. This a significant fact because it means that brown dwarfs and stars probably form the same way. After all, the discussion about different objects may someday boil down to the fact that many of the objects that are being called by different names are actually brown dwarfs or failed stars.

So what is that object that is in an orbit beyond Pluto, and I am not talking about Neptune which sometimes outdistances Pluto? This is a strange heavenly body in orbit way out there that is in a strangely inclined position. As a matter of fact it is tilted 47 degrees from all the other planets. The orbit is almost circular and astronomers can't figure out why there is this tilt? The object is small being between 500 to 1,000 kilometers wide. It is in an area known as the Kuiper Belt where a lot of icy bodies lie. The theory is that some object was responsible for throwing it out of the inner solar system and that is how it landed up where it is. It is thought that a star or even a planet was responsible. Some think that the planet Neptune is responsible for many of the objects landing up in the Kuiper Belt.

One thing that I found interesting is the fact that a meteor shower may have been responsible for setting a house on fire. The Leonid Shower that produces thousands of "falling stars". A house burst info flames in the British Isles and several witnesses said that they actually saw a small meteor hit the earth near the house and start the fire.

Oh there are so many interesting things out there and one never knows what will be found next. We have to do this again, soon.