A New Study Shows Space Might Not Be Pitch Black After All

There are certainly some extremely bright stars and planets in the vastness of space. But many of us expect most of space to be extremely dark with nothing but pitch black darkness to be seen. However, a new study will be published soon has found that outer space isn't pitch black after all. According to the study, outer space is filled with light.Researchers from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Arizona have been studying light in deep space using the NASA New Horizons mission. The main mission for New Horizons was to study Pluto, and after spending six months doing that, it headed into deep space. Currently, New Horizons is more than 4 billion miles from home.

While the universe is filled with stars, New Horizons is far enough into deep space that presumably it would have a good look at the pitch black darkness. The researchers studied what was expected to be the emptiest photographs of deep space taken by the spacecraft, specifically ones with no bright objects in them. The images were processed to remove all light from known sources, including any relatively nearby stars.

The team also removed more light from galaxies that are believed to exist but haven't been found. Scientists were left with images of deep space without any light pollution. Interestingly, despite removing all known light from known and unknown sources, there were still lots of light in the images. Where exactly the remaining light comes from is a mystery.

Theories suggest that the light could be from stars or galaxies not yet discovered. However, the light could be something entirely new. More research will undoubtedly be conducted as scientists look to find where exactly all of the extra light comes from. For now, the source will remain a mystery.