15/03/2026

ON SUNDAY March 15, 2026 theSunday Special XII

Space remains a mystery that humbles and inspires. For every answer we uncover, a thousand new questions arise Secrets from the cosmos BY AQILAH NAJWA JAMALUDDIN

9. Black holes are not entirely black Stephen Hawking discovered that black holes emit faint energy known as Hawking radiation. Over billions of years, this process causes them to lose mass and eventually vanish. Even the darkest objects in the universe are not eternal. 10. 6SDFH ZHDWKHU FDQ D̆ HFW (DUWK The Sun constantly releases streams of charged particles called solar wind. When these reach Earth, they can create stunning auroras but also dis ruptions. Powerful solar storms have been known to interfere with satellites, GPS signals and even power grids. A VLQJOH PDMRU ÀDUH FRXOG RQH GD\ FDXVH global outages.

7. 7LPH PRYHV GL̆ HUHQWO\ LQ VSDFH E LQVWHLQ¶V WKHRU\ RI UHODWLYLW\ UHYHDOV that time slows in stronger gravity. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station age slightly slower than WKRVH RQ (DUWK 7KH GL̆ HUHQFH LV WLQ\ – just milliseconds – but it shows how gravity bends not only space, but time itself. 8. The universe may have no edge Cosmologists believe the universe could be infinite or curved back on itself like the surface of a balloon. If WKDW¶V WUXH WUDYHOOLQJ IDU HQRXJK LQ RQH direction might eventually bring you back to where you began – though not within a human lifetime.

S PACE has always been the great unknown, a silent ocean of stars that has captivated human imagi nation for centuries. Yet beyond its beauty lies a trove of strange and wonderful truths that continue to defy belief. Here are some of the most surprising facts about the universe we call home. 1. Space is not completely silent Though sound cannot travel through D YDFXXP VSDFH LV ¿OOHG ZLWK SODVPD waves that can be translated into au dible frequencies. NASA has captured haunting tones – low hums, crackles and whistles – produced by planets and PDJQHWLF ¿HOGV ,W LV WKH XQLYHUVH¶V RZQ eerie music. 2. The universe is expanding faster than ever Scientists once thought cosmic ex pansion was slowing down, but the opposite is true. A mysterious force called dark energy is accelerating the expansion of galaxies. It makes up nearly 70% of the universe, yet no one knows what it really is. 3. There are more stars than grains of sand on Earth Astronomers estimate that there are around 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe, each containing KXQGUHGV RI ELOOLRQV RI VWDUV 7KDW¶V

more stars than all the grains of sand on every beach and desert on Earth FRPELQHG ,W¶V D UHPLQGHU RI KRZ VPDOO our world truly is. 4. Space has a scent Astronauts returning from spacewalks often describe a metallic, burnt smell clinging to their suits – similar to seared steak or hot metal. It comes from polycyclic aromatic hydrocar bons, molecules born when stars die. In one distant cloud, scientists even found a compound that smells like raspberries. 5. Neutron stars are unimaginably dense When massive stars collapse after a supernova, they form neutron stars so dense that a teaspoon of their matter would weigh about a billion tonnes. Many spin hundreds of times per second, emitting beams of radiation NQRZQ DV SXOVDUV ± QDWXUH¶V PRVW precise cosmic clocks. 6. There is a massive water cloud in space Astronomers once discovered an enor mous cloud of water vapour surround ing a black hole 12 billion light-years away. It contains 140 trillion times WKH DPRXQW RI ZDWHU IRXQG LQ (DUWK¶V RFHDQV SURYLQJ WKDW OLIH¶V HVVHQWLDO element existed early in the universe.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station ¾÷ãϰłēÿ÷üŊēũϰłēĢţãľϰŊü¾ěϰ those on Earth.

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Cosmologists believe the ŏěÿŢãľłãϰÙĢŏēßϰØãϰÿěżěÿŊãϰĢľϰ curved back on itself like the surface of a balloon.