Spine-tingling new NASA image shows ‘ghostly cosmic hand’ 16,000 light-years from Earth
- NASA shared a pretty scary image of a massive, ghostly hand in space
- The ‘hand’ is actually a dead giant star
- The agency also posted a photo of what appears to be a huge face on Jupiter
Published on Nov 02, 2023 at 2:47 PM (UTC+4)
by Andie Reeves
Last updated on Nov 03, 2023 at 4:06 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Alessandro Renesis
NASA really got into the Halloween spirit this year.
First, the space agency released a playlist called ‘Sinister Sounds of the Solar System’, and hen they shared a pretty scary image of a massive, ghostly hand in space.
The photo isn’t fake.
But there’s an explanation for it that doesn’t involve a giant made up of stars coming to crush our planet.
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NASA posted a photo that it says shows the “bones” of a “ghostly cosmic hand”.
The agency uses X-ray telescopes to get a deeper look into space.
“We’re all familiar with X-rays as a diagnostic medical tool for humans,” Josephine Wong, an astronomer said.
“Here we’re using X-rays in a different way, but they are again revealing information that is otherwise hidden from us.”
These telescopes captured what appears to be a severed hand in space, just in time for Halloween.
Mind you, the ‘hand’ in question is actually a dead giant star from 1,500 years ago.
When stars run out fuel they collapse, and a ‘neutron star’ is born.
A neutron star is really dense, rotates constantly, and is a site of extreme conditions that cannot be replicated on Earth.
This results in stars and winds combining to create this hand-shaped light show.
This particular star is 16,000 light-years away.
With one light year being 5.88 trillion miles, we’ll let you do the math on that one.
Not content with just a creepy hand, NASA unveiled another scary space image too.
This time a huge face, as seen on Jupiter.
We can clearly see two eyes, lips, and even nostrils.
Sure, it looks like the face in question is pressed up against a pane of glass but it’s still pretty cool.
Opinions were split on this Picasso-esque planet painting.
“The universe is a work of art,” one commenter said.
“Looks like a deflated human,” another said.
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Andie is a content writer from South Africa with a background in broadcasting and journalism. Starting her career in the glossy pages of Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, Andie has a broad portfolio, covering everything from sustainability solutions to celebrity car collections. When not at her laptop Andie can be found sewing, recording her podcast, taking board games too seriously or road-tripping in her bright green Kia.
