The coldest place in the Universe has been named: how many degrees is it

The temperature in the Universe is surprisingly diverse, and scientists have coined the concept of "absolute zero," which is the point at which significant molecular activity ceases. Absolute zero is measured on the Kelvin scale, denoted by 0 K and equal to -273.15 °C.

Scientists have probably found the coldest place in the Universe. The details were reported by Ifl Science.

According to the Big Bang theory, after the actual explosion, the Universe was formed, which was overheated, but cooled as it expanded. The energy left over from the initial explosion provides the cosmic background radiation, which has a temperature of 2.7 K (-235 °C). Scientists assume that as the Universe "ages", this temperature will fall further, but this happens extremely slowly. Laser cooling followed by expansion was used to remove so much heat from clusters of atoms that they were 0.000000000038 above absolute zero.

In 1995, astronomers discovered something very unexpected in space. It was the Boomerang Nebula, located 5,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Centauri. Due to its interesting shape, it is unofficially called the Bow Tie Nebula.

The nebula has a temperature of 1 K (-272.15° C), which is why it absorbs the energy of the cosmic background around it rather than radiating it.

The Hubble Telescope took a clear picture of the nebula in 1998. Scientists assume that in a few thousand years - which is a rather short period of time on a cosmic scale - Boomerang will transition to the phase of a planetary nebula.

Over the decades, scientists have conducted many studies that have confirmed the previous hypothesis that the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest place in the universe known to mankind. For twenty years, astronomers have been looking for an explanation for this paradox.

It is likely that the nebula is so cold because it is expanding at an extraordinary rate. A 2017 study states that scientists have found evidence of the existence of a pursuing star. The gravitational interaction between them accelerates the expansion of the nebula's gases.

Scientists emphasize that the Boomerang is only a few thousand years old, and the nebula is already starting to heat up, and such anomalies do not last long.

The Boomerang, located only a modest 5000 light-years from Earth, is not the only planetary nebula where something similar is happening. There is probably a nebula in the vast universe that is subject to the same processes and may have even lower temperatures.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA reported that NASA's telescope saw the oldest supernovae, which could reveal the cosmic origin of humans.

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