Strange Astronomical Observations that Defy Easy Explanation

Just read the following on New Scientist so you might be onto something:

Black hole mergers may create bubbles that could swallow the universe | New Scientist
Unfortunately, NS is a paywall site so unless you either have an account or buy the magazine, you'll have to read the original paper. Here is the abstract:

[2111.07178] Higgs Induced Triboluminescence in Binary Black Hole Mergers (arxiv.org)
The bubbles of true vacuum are predicted to last for a few milliseconds before being engulfed. The predictions of the conjecture seems to be experimentally falsifiable. That the vacuum state of the universe hasn't been destabilised by such collisions might also offer some insights in how to merge QM and GR.

 

So in short: Black holes REALLY suck and they're REALLY dangerous and can potentionally end the entire universe within a nano second.. fun!

 

Any vacuum phase change would propagate at the speed of light but you wouldn't be able to detect it coming.

 

^^ Hmm.. so that would IIRC be about 14.3 Billion years at best since that's how far we've been able to "see" and we don't know how much larger the universe actually is.
Also, even if we could detect it then mweh, I assume we can't do much about it.

 

The observable universe is about 93 billion light years across (because it's expanding) and it might well be infinite or fold back on itself eventually - we just don't know. Parts of the universe beyond the horizon, which are regressing at greater than light speed, should be safe from a phase change (I think). Other parts might be undergoing inflation - a transition from a false vacuum phase - as there is apparently no way in theory to supress the inflaton field.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflaton

 

More strange goings on, not only with KIC 8462852 but also with a dozen or so other F and G type stars in the same general area of the sky.

The weirdness of similar dimming being indicated for stars with similar masses to the Sun in the same general area of the sky but not elsewhere is compelling. This is definitely worthy of some observation time being devoted to it by space telescopes such as the JWST.

Here is the original paper:
A Search for Analogs of KIC 8462852 (Boyajian’s Star): A Second List of Candidates 2111.01208.pdf (arxiv.org)

 

Another weirdly dimming star that the Webb could investigate:
Mysterious Dust-emitting Object Orbiting TIC 400799224 2110.01019.pdf (arxiv.org)

 

...and a mysterious spinning object about 4,000 ly away that turns on for one minute every 18 minutes.

Australia scientists find 'spooky' spinning object in Milky Way - BBC News

 

Huge can of Foster's?

 

Or maybe an XXXX-ray source?

 

Perhaps they could analyse the radio burst itself and see whether it is random enough to rule out artificial source.

 

As technology progresses, we are getting better detecting strange things, but we'll never know for sure what these things are until we're able to see them up close. That means either traveling to these places, or somehow being able to see things faster than light can travel. So close, yet so far.

 

I think it is possible to figure out whether a signal is naturally occurring or artificial. That would be a start.

 

"Did We Just Detect a New "Wow" Signal from Proxima Centauri?"

Observed in 2020.

 

Yeah, I think that one has been explained last year - I don't recall exactly. This new one is probably just a magnetar in some unfamiliar configuration. Now, if we were to detect modulated, coherent, narrow-band, visible light coming from another planetary system, that would probably be difficult to attribute to anything except aliens with advanced technology.

 

Don't forget Physics Girl her channel is good too

 

Yeah, there are lots of good physics and astrophysics channels on YouTube. There are a few crappy ones with clickbait headings though that take 20 minutes to get to the part that turns out to be something you already knew, is pure speculation, is unconfirmed, is about something else entirely, or is just plain incorrect.

 

I liked her video about the moving mud puddle.

 

Not really a strange astronomical observation though, is it? Here's someone who's more on topic for this thread:

 

Oh I like the video....... Yeah I know wasn't astronomical but it was still strange