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Vampire Stars and Franken-Galaxies: The Spookiest Things in Outer Space

A guide to the scariest astronomical phenomenon observed in the universe.
Eye-shaped Helix Nebula. Image: ESO/VISTA/J. Emerson

Halloween is all about irreverently confronting our greatest fears, from the inevitability of death to the slow march of candy-induced tooth decay. But though witches, ghosts, zombies, chainsaw-massacres, and Trump masks make for adequately scary symbols of the season, they pale in comparison to the frightfest offered by the wider universe.

Out there beyond our skies, galaxies eat each other alive and the light of long-dead stars shines on like a spectral cemetery. There are eerie pareidolic apparitions written with the guts of exploded stars, and worlds more hellish than anything dreamed up on our tranquil little planet.

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In that spirit, here's our guide to some of the most Halloweeny of astronomical phenomena, running the gamut from flesh-vaporizing lava planets to Orwellian nightmare nebulas. Enjoy the good old-fashioned existential cosmic dread.

Zombie Stars

We have zombie movies, zombie television shows, zombie comic books, zombie games, zombie reboots of classic literary works, and "Zombie" by the Cranberries. Should we draw the line at zombie stars?

No, said the universe. The term "zombie" has been applied to a few different types of star systems, but the most well-known scenario involves a low-mass white dwarf star exploding in a Type Iax supernova, which means that the star survives what is normally a fatal blast. After that, it is deemed an undead zombie star.

Zombie stars can also refer to the "mysterious glow of high-energy X-rays that […] could be the 'howls' of dead stars as they feed on stellar companions," according to NASA. So metal.

The Witch Head Nebula

Image: NASA/STScI Digitized Sky Survey/Noel Carboni

Nebulas are enormous clouds of dust and gas that often act as stellar nurseries for successive generations of stars. They are particularly captivating phenomenon because they form ghostly, ethereal shapes, which people frequently anthropomorphize for kicks. Exhibit A: The Witch Head Nebula, located 900 light years from Earth and illuminated by the nearby giant star Rigel. Nebulaic flying monkeys not pictured.

Franken-Galaxies

About 250 million light years away lies a galaxy called UGC 1382 that appears to be slapped together out of "spare parts," according to NASA. Its insides are younger than its outsides, and it's various components are so dislocated that it stretches out over 718,000 light years across, around seven times as wide as the Milky Way.

UGC 1382 imaged in successive detail. Image: NASA/JPL/Caltech/SDSS/NRAO/L. Hagen and M. Seibert

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"This rare, 'Frankenstein' galaxy formed and is able to survive because it lies in a quiet little suburban neighborhood of the universe, where none of the hubbub of the more crowded parts can bother it," said researcher Mark Seibert, based at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science in California, in a JPL statement. "It is so delicate that a slight nudge from a neighbor would cause it to disintegrate."

This is the part where we pedantically point out that UGC 1382 would be more accurately called 'Frankenstein's monster' galaxy.

Hell Planets

We Earthlings are wise to unforgiving nightmare planets, given that our closest neighbor, Venus, is an acid-soaked pressure-cooker that would melt your face off like in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

But with the ongoing discovery and characterization of thousands of worlds beyond our solar system, astronomers have learned that Venus is far from the only torture planet out there. For instance, take Kepler-78b, or the "Hell Planet," as some have taken to calling it.

Concept art of Kepler-78b. Image: David A. Aguilar (CfA)

Only slightly larger than Earth, Kepler-78b is stuck in an orbit that brings it 40 times closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun. Its entire surface is expected to be covered in lava, reaching temperatures of over 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes the 800 degree weather on Venus seem chilly by comparison.

In keeping with biblical themes of penance and suffering, it's worth noting that the Hell Planet itself is doomed to be eaten by its star within the next three billion years. The universe is wonderful; the universe is terrifying.

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READ MORE: The Science of Being Scared to Death

Halloween Skull Comet

Animated GIF with resolution of 25 feet (7.5 meters) per pixel. Image: NAIC-Arecibo/NSF

Just in case you forgot, a skull-shaped dead comet zipped by Earth last year on Halloween night. Perhaps we'll receive a similar trick-or-treater at our planetary door this year. My money's on a pumpkin-shaped asteroid that sounds like a theremin.

Vampire Stars

We are all used to having only one Sun, but single parent stars are not the only type of solar hosts in the universe. Binary and multiple star systems are common, especially when massive O-type stars are involved.

More often than not, these hulking giants are accompanied by smaller stars, and their lower-mass companions capitalize on this proximity by sucking fresh hydrogen gas off their O-type partners to revitalize and sustain them for longer, more active lives. This draining of lifeforce has earned them the name "vampire stars."

Concept art of a vampire star system. Image: ESO/M. Kornmesser/S.E. de Mink

It's not all bad for the "victim" O-type stars, because losing that outer layer of hydrogen makes them look much several million years younger. And in any case, these unstable stellar relationships are ultimately doomed to self-immolate in the fiery mutual destruction of a supernova, the way all good vampire love stories end.

Ghost Galaxies

Galaxies can contain several hundred billion luminous stars, so they are not exactly known for being difficult to spot. But "ghost galaxies," a newly identified phenomenon, are another matter entirely.

Made up primarily of dark matter, these small globs of mass are thought to be ancient, small, and relatively undisturbed galactic fossils from the early universe. They float around in our midst, but because they contain so few stars, it takes specialized instruments like the Hubble Space Telescope to root them out. Scientists think they likely date back over 13 billion years ago, when their star-forming fires were possibly snuffed out by the reionization epoch.

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"These galaxies are all ancient and they're all the same age, so you know something came down like a guillotine and turned off the star formation at the same time in these galaxies," said Tom Brown, an astronomer based at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, in a NASA statement. "The most likely explanation is reionization."

Helix Nebula

Helix Nebula. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Ariz.

Who has time to worry about the NSA spying on them when this gigantic eyeball is out there watching our every move? This source of this intense cosmic staredown is the Helix Nebula, located 700 light years away. It is sometimes referred to as the Eye of God or the Eye of Sauron, depending on whether you think it looks like a benevolent cross-cultural deity or a rogue Maiar intent on destroying Middle Earth.

Cosmic Cannibalism

Let's face it: The universe is pro-cannibalism. Stars eat planets like tapas, and frequently binge on other stars until they're overweight with stellar blubber. Galaxies certainly enjoy feasting on their brethren—our own Milky Way is still digesting some of the smaller galaxies it has eaten in the past. Even black holes have been spotted wolfing down other black holes. I'm not saying this justifies cannibalism on Earth (though for the record, it's common as hell here). I'm just saying that the universe would have a hard time judging you if you decided to go that route.

On that note, happy Halloween!

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