The Universe also knows how to be terrifying at times. The cosmos contains many objects, and several of them have particular shapes that have not escaped the watchful eye of astrophysicists. So much so that some names assigned by scientists reflect some of the most ingrained fears in human culture.
With the advent of observational instruments, including space telescopes, more and more details are being revealed daily about the cosmic structures populating our universe. Although most of them have no unusual morphology, some nevertheless awaken the imagination of astrophysicists.
Fomalhaut A is a white main sequence star (spectral type A) located in the constellation Pisces Austral, about 25 light-years from the Sun. It is surrounded by a torus-shaped disc of dust in which is Fomalhaut Ab, an exoplanet revolving around the star:
The planetary nebula NGC 3242 is the remnant of the supernova explosion of a star at the end of its life. Located in the constellation of Hydra, it is nicknamed the "Phantom of Jupiter":
The planetary nebula ESO 456-67 , or M1-42, is located in the constellation Sagittarius, 10,000 light-years from Earth. It is called the "Eye of Sauron", in reference to its resemblance to the eye of the evil lord from The Lord of the Rings:
2015 TB145 is a 650 m wide asteroid that should pass close to Earth in a few days. It is however usually referred to as "Halloween Asteroid », for obvious reasons… :
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This asteroid in the shape of a human skull will come to haunt the Earth just after Halloween
Captured by the NASA Viking 1 probe in 1976 on the surface of the Red Planet, the Face of Mars caused a lot of ink to flow, leading to the appearance of numerous conspiracy theories. Later analyzes will show that it is just an ordinary rock formation:
The Perseus Cluster (Abell 426) is a cluster of galaxies located in the constellation Perseus about 250 million light-years away. It is the brightest galactic cluster in the X-ray domain. Observed in this band of the electromagnetic spectrum, the Perseus cluster reveals a disturbing appearance to say the least:
NGC 2080 is an emission nebula (cloud of ionized gas absorbing light from a hot star to re-emit it in different colors at lower energies) located in the constellation of Dorade, in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is more commonly referred to as the "Ghost Head Nebula":
The dark and shadowy IRAS nebula 05437+2502 is reminiscent of the shape of a monstrous face with luminous eyes, patiently awaiting its next victim. It is also nicknamed the "Face of the Gargoyle":
Pulsars are objects that emit powerful stellar winds. In this case, the winds from PSR B1509-58, a young pulsar located in the constellation of the Compass 17,000 light years from Earth, form, when observed in the field of X-rays, a gigantic spectral hand called the "Hand of God":
SH2-136 is a reflection nebula located in the constellation Cepheus, near the NGC 7023 cluster. The dark ghostly figures that seem to loom over its surface have earned it the name "Ghost Nebula":
