back to article Pac-Man GHOST nebula is literally the coolest thing in the universe – boffins

If you're searching for the ideal place to hold your Halloween party next Thursday, may we suggest the Pac-Man-ghost-shaped Boomerang Nebula in the constellation Centarus? The Boomerang Nebula in the constellation Centaurus, as imaged by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope 'Casper, the Friendly …

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  1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge
    Coat

    Lowest natural temperature

    You can do a few picoK in the lab

  2. Bucky 2

    Ghost-shaped IBS treatment

    I thought the coldest thing in the universe was a witch's [something one exchanges for tat].

    But the thing that really puzzles me is how the IBS treatment Molecure relates to nebulae.

    1. Sir Runcible Spoon

      Re: Ghost-shaped IBS treatment

      "[something one exchanges for tat]"

      I actually thought you were going to say that it _rhymes_ with tat :)

      1. AbelSoul
        Joke

        Re: thought you were going to say that it _rhymes_ with tat

        Is a witch's cat really that cold?

        Must be all that flying about at night, perched at the rear of the broomstick....

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. ian 22

      Re: Ghost-shaped IBS treatment

      Colder than a witch's tit? Not colder than a well-digger's arse? Never having measured either, I wouldn't have the foggiest.

    3. Scroticus Canis
      Terminator

      Re: Ghost-shaped IBS treatment

      You obviously haven't met my ex then (you lucky, lucky bastard - apologies to Monty P and LoB).

      That witches heart would make this nebula feel like a sauna in comparison.

  3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

    SCIENCE!

    It's cool!

  4. Dalek Dave

    "Coldest Place In The Universe"

    Hmmm not sure about that.

    At 1 degree Kelvin it is rather warmer than the 1 nanoKelvin reached at MIT

    http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2003/cooling.html

    So I would say that as it is one billion times warmer it is not quite the coldest place in the universe.

    1. Richard 120

      Is that place where that temperature was achieved still that cold?

      Or did they turn the machine off?

      I am pretty sure that it's currently no longer as cold as it was, there maybe some other experiment running currently which is making a specific location cold for a short while, but let's face it, they're really not going to stay colder than this place in any kind of timescale that's going to appear on a geological clock.

    2. Sandtitz Silver badge
      Boffin

      MIT? Bah! Humbug!

      The 1 nanoKelvin reached at MIT is rather warmer than the 100 picokelvins reached by the boffins in Finland.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_zero#Very_low_temperatures

      1. Michael Dunn
        Joke

        Re: MIT? Bah! Humbug! @Sandtitz

        "The 1 nanoKelvin reached at MIT is rather warmer than the 100 picokelvins reached by the boffins in Finland."

        I always thought 1 nanokelvin was the ambient temperature in Finland - listen to "The Swan of Tuonela"

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pacman

    Is this anywhere near the Pacman nebula?

  6. koopmaster
    Angel

    meat and two veg

    Sounds like a good place to store my freezer food....

  7. Jedit Silver badge
    Mushroom

    "Colder even than a midwinter night in Aberdeen"

    No it bloody well isn't. >:[

    1. Wize

      Re: "Colder even than a midwinter night in Aberdeen"

      No wonder the Haudagain roundabout snarls up.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not for long

    I'm pretty sure there will be some OAP's houses in Blighty colder than that this winter

  9. BongoJoe

    Isn't that the evidence that our somewhat less than levelled headed chums in the Hubbardian Cult are looking for that Xenu exists as a ghostly hooded figure?

  10. AngryDeveloper
    Happy

    Good read.

    Nice article (and no sarcasm intended). Informative with a splash of Reg humour.

  11. Stevie

    Bah!

    Fridges do *not* use "expanding gas" to cool themselves. They use the change of state of the refrigerant to cool themselves.

    0/10. See me.

  12. intrigid

    Wait, "literally the coolest thing in the universe"?

    At 5000 light years away, I assume that it's inside our own galaxy.

    Given that there are billions of other galaxies, how do we know that there aren't colder nebulae out there?

    Seems that someone got careless with the word "literally".

  13. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
    Coat

    Coldest?

    "it's the coldest place in our known universe – colder even than a mid-winter night in Aberdeen"

    Geordius Nocturnulus will still be out drinking wearing shorts and a t-shirt. It's never too cold for him!

    Coat. 'Cos I'm one of those rare "soft" Geordies.

  14. raving angry loony

    Who is careless now?

    Hmm, lots of (well, several anyway) folks commenting on the careless use of "coldest in the universe". Yet the article states "it's the coldest place in our known universe", and the abstract of the paper it's based on states "coldest known object in the universe".

    So either there's a bunch of commentards who really need to double-check their reading and comprehension skills, or both the article AND the abstract of the paper were corrected between the time the comments were posted and I read the article (about 15 minutes before this comment was posted - see posting date...).

  15. JamesTQuirk

    Beware

    It looks like a Space Invader to me, looks like there is only one left, I think we should fire phasers, and get ready for the mothership ...

  16. ecofeco Silver badge
    Coat

    woka woka woka woka woka woka

    deerdeerdeerdeerdeerdeerdeerdeerdeerdeerdeerdeer

    Mine with too many quarters on one side. ------------------------>>

  17. Vociferous

    How can a cloud of glowing plasma be so cold?

    It's glowing because it's ionized gas illuminated by the radiation from the dead star, right?

    1. Bunbury

      Re: How can a cloud of glowing plasma be so cold?

      It does seem remarkable that something both inside our galaxy and lit up could be that cold. That'll be a good use of a grant to work out a theory.

  18. Martin Budden Silver badge
    Boffin

    ...have shed more light – or, actually, received more light...

    Actually both. ALMA has received light from the Boomerang Nebula, and light has also been reflected by ALMA* towards the nebula (though that light won't reach the nebula for another 5000 years).

    *and also by the top of my head

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