It’s a big world out there and there are discoveries being made every day. The Learning Mind website put together the top 10 most mind-blowing recent space discoveries.
Enjoy!
1. Kepler-22
NASA scientists came across a planet that orbits the sun-like star in 1991 and exists where life is possible. This planet was given the name Kepler-22.
2. Planets Outside Our Solar System
1992 saw the discovery of the first planets outside the sun’s gravity zone. This led to the discovery of a large celestial body that orbits the 51 Pegasus star system.
3. The Dark Flow
In 2008 scientists discovered the dark flow. This is described as a high speed flow through the universe, which gives researchers hope that there may be parallel universes because of the Big Bang.
4. Geysers
In 2004 a spacecraft found active geysers on Saturn’s moon named Enceladus. Since this find Enceladus is said to have the most chance of containing life forms after Earth.
5. Martian Waterfalls
2012 saw the discovery of liquid on Mars. The Mars rover took photos of what is believed to be salty water.
6. New Planet Eris
Scientists discovered a new “dwarf planet” in 2005, now named Eris. Eris has one moon named Dysnomia.
7. Water On The Moon
NASA’s LCROSS lunar rover discovered traces of drinkable water on the southern part of the moon in October 2009.
8. Mira Star Tail
2007 saw the discovery of a binary star system thats has a tail that extends for 13 light-years. The star would have a speed of 300,000 km/h to cross the universe.
9. Magnetic Distortions Around The Sun
In 2007 to 2008 researchers discovered that the magnetic wheels in the solar system actually let off a “magnetic turbulence” that is present across the around 100 million miles of space.
10. Pluto’s Satellites
In 1978 Pluto’s first natural satellite was captured and named Charon. Since then, another three have been found. Two (Nikita and Hydra) in 2005 and the most recent satellite, P4, was caught by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2011.
[Source: Learning Mind]
