 The Boomerang Nebula. Located nearly 5,000 light years from Earth in the Centaurus constellation, this place proudly claims the title of the coldest place in the universe, and is even colder than the space around it. But where did this cold beauty come from and how exactly did it become as cold as it is today? Stick around to find out. A long time ago there was a red giant, which is basically a star in the last stages of its life. It's proposed that along the way a smaller star collided with the red giant, causing it to shed its outer layers of gas and dust, which went on to become the Boomerang Nebula we see today. But that's not what intrigues astronomers about this nebula. It's the fact that the Boomerang Nebula is just one degree above absolute zero, officially making it the coldest place in the universe. So what exactly is absolute zero? Well you see, temperature is measured by the movement of molecules within an object. The more energy a molecule has, the more it vibrates in the higher its temperature is. By the same token, objects with lower temperature have more stationary molecules due to less energy. In absolute zero, the molecules of an object are at their lowest energy state, also known as zero point energy, thus making the object at its lowest possible temperature. The phenomena of absolute zero occurs at approximately negative 460 degrees Fahrenheit, or zero Kelvin. The thing is though that we've never actually found an object that is at absolute zero, or made an object reach absolute zero ourselves. However, we have gotten pretty close before. For example, researchers at MIT once managed to cool sodium gas to less than a billionth of a Kelvin. Now while that is impressive and by no means am I detracting from human accomplishments, it's more amazing at how close nature managed to bring the boomerang to absolute zero without any artificial intervention, leaving us to wonder how exactly did nature pull this off? Remember what I said earlier about a red giant shedding its outer layers of gas and dust? Well, as those layers continued moving through space, they began to rapidly expand at approximately 10 times the rate they would have had they been ejected from the red giant naturally rather than from a collision. This rapid expansion caused the ejected gas and dust to cool to the temperature it is today. In addition to giving the nebula its remarkable hourglass shape. Despite its immense beauty and remarkable structure, it's unfortunate that the boomerang nebula won't be such a chill place forever. Recently carbon monoxide emissions were detected in the outflow of gas and dust. Scientists claim this presence of carbon monoxide indicates that the nebula is beginning to heat up, most likely due to a photoelectric effect where the electrons in the atoms of the dust particles absorb ultraviolet light, which in turn excites them and causes them to be ejected from the atoms. The electrons then move through the gas and dust, carrying the absorbed photon energy in the form of kinetic energy. This kinetic energy possessed by the electrons as it treks through the nebula causes the clouds of gas and dust to heat up. There is also the possibility that the red giant at the core of the nebula can grow hotter which in turn will heat up the gas dust cloud around it. So it's inevitable that one day the boomerang nebula will lose the cool which made it famous in the first place. But the thing is we don't know how long it will take. Until then let's appreciate the boomerang nebula for the beautiful sight it is. After all just because it's becoming warmer doesn't mean it's less marvelous to look at. Also the boomerang nebula may not be the only ice box in the universe as astronomers Lars Neiman from the Alma Observatory in Santiago Chile states, it's quite possible these super cosmic freezers are quite common in the universe but they can only contain such extreme temperatures for a relatively short time. So while it's comforting to know the boomerang nebula won't be the last of the cosmic freezers it does make me question what other wonders are out there in the cosmos. Unfortunately we're all out of time for today but if you want to continue exploring the cosmos with me to find other treasures then hit that subscribe button and together we can rule the galaxy or in this case nebula as teacher and student. Until then don't forget to stay tuned for more science videos.