APOD and General Astronomy Discussion Forum
https://asterisk.apod.com/
Mercury wrote: ↑Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:32 pm by Maria Temming
Our first interstellar visitor may have been a shard of nitrogen ice from another solar system.
Link: Science News
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Zone wrote:
<<The Phantom Zone is a prison-type Parallel dimension appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with stories featuring Superman.
The Phantom Zone was a "pocket universe" discovered by Jor-El that existed outside the space-time continuum; it was used on the planet Krypton as a humane method of imprisoning criminals. Kryptonians had abolished the death penalty in the long distant past. In more recent history, criminals were punished by being sealed into capsules and rocketed into orbit in suspended animation with crystals attached to their foreheads to slowly erase their criminal tendencies; Klax-Ar was one criminal who received this punishment but escaped. Gra-Mo was the last to suffer the punishment, for it was then abolished in favor of the Zone.
The inmates of the Phantom Zone reside in a ghost-like state of existence from which they can observe, but cannot interact with, the regular universe. Inmates do not age or require sustenance in the Phantom Zone; furthermore, they are telepathic and mutually insubstantial. As such, they were able to survive the destruction of Krypton and focus their attention on Earth, as most of the surviving Kryptonians now reside there. Most have a particular grudge against Superman because his father created the method of their damnation, and was often the prosecutor at their trials. When they manage to escape, they usually engage in random destruction, particularly easy for them since, on Earth, each acquire the same powers as Superman.>>
A new study resolves the not-quite-comet-like character of a strange visitor from beyond our solar system
The first known interstellar object to pass through our solar system is likely a piece of a Pluto-like planet from another solar system, according to a new study published as a pair of papers ...Click to play embedded YouTube video.
The results may help scientists learn about the stuff exoplanets are made of and the evolution of solar systems beyond our own. ...
Discovered in 2017 via the Pan-STARRS astronomical observatory in Hawaii, 1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua, meaning ‘scout’ or ‘messenger’ in Hawaiian, hurtled past at 87.3 kilometers per second (196,000 miles per hour). The weirdly flat object was like a comet, but with features that were just odd enough to defy classification.
‘Oumuamua’s characteristics suggest it is likely made of solid nitrogen, like the surface of Pluto, according to the authors. ...
