Penn State Astronomer Contributes to Space.com's Effort to Define Weirdest Things in Space

Neither E.T.'s snack habits nor Princess Leia's hair style made the cut, but Space.com offers a list of the Top 10 Weirdest Things in Space and visitors to the Web site can place their vote. A Penn State professor helped describe one of the finalists.

Niel Brandt, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics, provided information about high-energy cosmic rays-which started out second on the list during the first week of voting. Scientists know Earth's atmosphere is regularly bombarded by very small numbers of incredibly energetic cosmic ray particles, a type discovered less than a decade ago. However, no one can explain where they come from. According to Brandt: "How these microscopic particles achieve macroscopic energies is one of the most pressing questions for high-energy astrophysics."

Other items on the list include: electrostatic levitation, hypernovae, neutron stars, and the black hole in the center of our galaxy.

"Some of these objects and phenomena are pretty well understood. Others are complete mysteries," said Rob Britt, senior writer for Space.com. "Prof. Brandt was instrumental in developing the list. It is delightful to get in the minds of scientists who love to relate what they know to the general public."

Voting at Space.com will continue through 9 January and the list will be re-ordered according to the results.