The temperature of the universe will continue to drop as time goes on. It will be 13.8 billion degrees at the end of our lifetime. At the present time, the coldest places on Earth are much colder than those in intergalactic space. The coldest places on earth are in Greenland and the Boomerang Nebula. You can read about them in this article. But before you read about them, let's talk about the coldest places in the universe.
Boomerang Nebula
The coldest place in the universe is located in a star-forming region called the Boomerang Nebula. The temperature in this area is even colder than the coldest part of our Sun: -272.5 deg C, or -458.5 deg F. It is surrounded by a gas cloud, which extends 21,000 AU (about 21 thousand light years) from the central star.
The boomerang nebula is a binary system containing a giant star. The nebula is so cold that its temperature is colder than the cosmic microwave background (the 'afterglow' of the Big Bang). The nebula's temperature is 2.725 Kelvin, far cooler than empty space, which is -270.4 degC and 454.7 degF. This nebula offers astronomers a chance to study the physics of binary systems containing giant stars.
Eta Carinae
Astronomers have discovered an unusually large star in the coldest part of the universe. Eta Carinae has been detected as an x-ray source since 1972. The x-ray sources range from soft to hard and are spread throughout the surrounding nebulosity. They are more concentrated near the star and appear to rise and fall in varying amounts over the course of five and a half years. Observations of the star's x-ray emission have provided scientists with a new way to look at the star's evolution.
The star in Eta Carinae is about 120 times the mass of our sun. It is the second brightest star in the sky after Sirius. However, it is expected to undergo a supernova in a few hundred thousand years. Scientists are still unsure about the exact nature of Eta Carinae's coldness but they believe that it may be an extreme luminous blue variable star. It may also be a Wolf-Rayet star, where its outer envelope is stripped away to reveal hotter layers.
Quasar 3C 273
The EHT collaboration, which has been observing distant quasar 3C 273, has recently published the first image of a black hole located in the center of a galaxy billions of light years from our own. The new image shows the finest detail ever seen in a supermassive black hole's jet. The jet is thought to originate close to a region of violently variable radiation.
The findings of the new space telescope RadioAstron will change our understanding of the universe. Researchers will use the data from Earth-based observatories to create new observations that will change our understanding of space. Quasar 3C 273 caught the attention of astronomers after it was discovered that its core was incredibly hot. They studied the jets that radiate from the core to understand the structure and origin of the quasar. This discovery will change our view of space forever.
Greenland
Some sites in Greenland are colder than others. Despite the low temperatures, polar bears and multiple species of whales live there. Other animals include reindeer, arctic foxes, and polar bears. Although Greenlanders mostly hunt seals and fish, they also grow greenhouse vegetables. In fact, Greenland has the highest amount of polar bears per square mile.
At 85% covered in ice, Greenland is the coldest place on earth. Only in July does it reach above freezing. A British research station located in the northern interior of Greenland recorded the coldest temperature in North America on January 9, 1954. The temperature was -85 degrees Fahrenheit at that time. This makes Greenland the coldest place in the universe. This incredible place deserves a trip to anyone who has ever dreamed of living in a cold place.
Red Spider Nebula
In the constellation Sagittarius, there is a massive cloud of gas called the "Red Spider Nebula." This nebula is home to one of the brightest stars in the universe. Though its star may not run very fast, its powerful winds generate waves up to a hundred billion kilometers in height. This means that it must be colder than the Earth, but its temperature is still 25 times lower than the sun's.
The gas walls of the Red Spider nebula are rippled in a complicated way. The stellar winds of the central white dwarf are what drive the waves in the nebula, just like waves on the ocean. In addition, local gas is compressed in front of rapidly expanding lobes, causing supersonic shocks to form. The 'S'-shaped lobes are another characteristic of the structure.
Bose-Einstein condensates
It isn't easy to observe a frozen object at super-cold temperatures, but it is possible to study it in great detail using ultra-slow light pulses. These lasers work by negating thermal vibrations of sodium atoms, forcing them to make electronic transitions that push them into a specific place. In this way, a Bose-Einstein condensate can be studied in great detail.
The physics behind Bose-Einstein condensate formation originated in the 1920s when S.N. Bose, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Carl Wieman performed experiments on photons to find ways to trap them. In 1995, they became the first scientists to observe Bose-Einstein condensates, which are colder than any other known place in the universe.
