Up until 2019, astronomers could only 'see' them indirectly. All of this reusability is bringing down the cost of launching missions into space. It is estimated that these two black holes, which measured as 35 and 30 times the mass of the Sun, respectively, merged around 1.4 billion light years away from us (in another galaxy). Whats better than discovering one instance of gravitational waves? This total solar eclipse spanned from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast, and wont happen again in the United States until April 2024. The gravity near this stellar remnant is so strong that once you get close enough - the object's 'event horizon' - there is no escape. To the upper right, the red dot indicates where on Comet 67P this is. This meteorite sparked intrigue and curiosity among local astronomers and scientists, including members of the Adlers Teen Programs. But remarkably, its still sending back data from this entirely uncharted region of the universe. Due to the mass of this car-sized rover, it required a brand new, never-before-tried method of touchdown. The year 2014 saw a momentous occasion. Mars research got another boost in 2018 when Mars Express showed that there might still be an underground reservoir of liquid water near the southern pole of the planet. Kornmesser. The 1st known interstellar object to visit our solar system was discovered in October 2017. In nine years, it discovered over 2600 exoplanets. Some space science happens from space. Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images, We are no longer supporting IE (Internet Explorer). Credit: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration. Blog 10 Astronomical Discoveries and Historic Space Events to Close Out the Decade. The views from the eclipse's 'path of totality' were absolutely breathtaking. Renamed 1I/2017 U1, to designate it as the first interstellar object, it was also given a nickname - Oumuamua, which roughly translates to "first distant messenger" from the Hawaiian language. Here's how to organise kitchen cabinets and clear up clutter for good. The spacecraft Messenger entered Mercurys orbit and made history as the first artificial satellite to do so; and the spacecraft Dawn, which entered the asteroid belt that lies between Jupiter and Mars. Check out these audio tracks weve sent into deep space. The most exciting thing [Voyager finds] in the next five years is likely to be something that we didnt know was out there to be discovered.. Thats when the Curiosity rover landed on its surface and started sending back data that astounded scientists: evidence that thered once been water there, the discovery of organic molecules that may actually be related to life, according to Smithsonian Magazine, and the suggestion of dynamic life under the planets surfacehinted at by the activity of methane and oxygen. 2022 The Weather Network Pelmorex Weather Networks. Post flyby, New Horizons turned around and pointed its cameras at the dark side of Pluto, capturing its back-lit atmosphere. Read on for some amazing facts you didnt know about NASA. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Their outer layers are blown off in an explosion known as a 'supernova', leaving behind a dense core of matter that crushes down from the width of our Sun to a single point in space, all within the blink of an eye. Plus, Cassini flew straight through the plumes of water vapour that are ejected from Enceladus' south pole, and it detected organic molecules. This nail-biting maneuver was nicknamed Curiosity's "Seven Minutes of Terror". Additionally, it proved there are more planets than stars in our galaxy, which revolutionizes our understanding of our place in the cosmos, according to NASA; found a diversity of planets, and showed scientists that the most common size of the planets comes in somewhere between Earth and Neptune and doesnt [even] exist in our solar system. These are 15 everyday items you had no idea were created by NASA. Pluto was first discovered in 1930, when astronomer Clyde Tombaugh spotted it as a tiny moving dot using the telescope at the Lowell Observatory. Home As a bonus, NASA discovered it still had fuel enough to chase down another comet almost three billion miles away: the icy Comet Hartley 2. In 2016, physicists found actual physical proof of this for the first time, using an instrument called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. If there's a global ocean of liquid water under the surface of Enceladus, it is likely kept warm due to 'tidal heating' of the moon, as Saturn's gravity causes the rocky core to squeeze and stretch on each orbit. On February 11, 2016, astronomers working with two special observatories here on Earth reported that they had finally made their very first detection of gravitational waves. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. The spacecraft Messenger entered Mercurys orbit and made history as the first artificial satellite to do so; and the spacecraft Dawn, which entered the asteroid belt that lies between Jupiter and Mars. What it showed then was how remarkable this undervalued piece of rock actually is. This very first 'selfie' image by Curiosity was taken on September 7, 2012, a month after the rover touched down on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Thats the year the European Space Agency managed, for the very first time, to land a spacecraft, called the Philae lander, on the surface of a comet called Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko that, to complicate matters, was very small and very, very far away. We're learning more about our amazing universe with each passing day. She also writes about science for kids. As a bonus, NASA discovered it still had fuel enough to chase down another comet almost three billion miles away: the icy Comet Hartley 2. On February 7, 2017, a 600-pound meteorite landed in Lake Michigan, about 10 miles off the coast of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Then, both crafts got down to business. Thickness of layers shown here is not to scale. ), capturing an image of it required the collaboration of 200 scientists using observatories around the world, in a project called the Event Horizon Telescope. Based on the reflected sunlight astronomers picked up from it, the best fit for 'Oumuamua's shape seemed to be that of a flat disk, kind of like a rough-edged skipping stone. Proving, yet again, that theres so much still to learn about our universe. NASA had tried some gutsy landings on Mars before, from the powered descents of the Viking and Phoenix landers, to the air-bag-assisted bounce-and-roll touchdowns of Pathfinder and the Opportunity and Spirit rovers.

This supermassive black hole located in galaxy M87 is 6.5 billion times more massive than our Sun! 2I/Borisov, originally classified as a comet, is actually the 1st interstellar comet discovered and is still in our celestial neighborhood. Messenger instantly began to collect data on the planets geology, composition, and thin atmosphere, reportsSpace.com. All rights reserved. 12 of the coolest inventions NASA has ever made. detect an icy surface on the comet and organic molecules like carbon. What it showed then was how remarkable this undervalued piece of rock actually is. On July 14, 2015, however, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, after a ten-year journey into the outer solar system, finally gave us a close-up look at this distant world! Classic 1950s sci-fi movies had some laughable plots and special effects compared to what we see now, but they certainly got one thing right! 1300 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr. Curiosity continues to explore Gale Crater, to this day, making the slow climb towards the summit of Mount Sharp in its quest for more scientific discoveries! We are no longer supporting IE (Internet Explorer) as we strive to provide site experiences for browsers that support new web standards and security practices. While the mission team got three days of data out of Philae, which allowed them to perform some of the tests the lander was responsible for, the lack of sunlight at its location resulted in it shutting down. Now, it wasnt a creature from another galaxy. We recommend our users to update the browser. The various crescents represent how much of the eclipse was seen from different locations away from the path of totality. Elon Musk's SpaceX made this a reality on December 21, 2015, when their Falcon 9 booster rocket made a successful vertical landing at Cape Canaveral, after lifting nearly a dozen satellites into orbit. Thus, the Aquarius Project was born, and the Adler Teens embarked on a life changing journey to find bits of the meteorite at the bottom of the lake. How to organise kitchen cabinets, according to the pros, 12 silent signs of skin cancer youre probably ignoring. Read on for everything you need to know about space probes. Thats when the Curiosity rover landed on its surface and started sending back data that astounded scientists: evidence that thered once been water there, the discovery of organic molecules that may actually be related to life according toSmithsonian Magazine,and the suggestion of dynamic life under the planets surface hinted at by the activity of methane and oxygen. That there are nine planets is one of 25 facts you learned in school that are no longer true. Then, both crafts got down to business. Credit: NASA GSVS. By comparison, Curiosity's landing was over the top, though! The number of images snapped of both objects, and the other four tiny moons in the system, scientists will still be studying them all for years to come. If you have a gold ring, you own a piece of the guts of a neutron star, ripped out and spilled into space during its merger with another neutron star. While Dawn, sent to observe a space rock called Vesta, discovered that it had a battered surface, sporting mountain ranges and deep craters, which advanced our understanding of asteroid composition. Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI. In 2015, New Horizons zipped by the dwarf planet Pluto and took the first up-close images scientists had ever seen. Even after 40 years now in space, Voyager 1 is still sending back data, telling us what it's like beyond the heliosphere, and it was joined there by its twin, Voyager 2, as of November 5, 2018. These 13 NASA discoveries changed textbooks. The Deep Impact spacecraft was sent out to visit Comet Tempel 1, which it reached in 2005.

Curiosity snapped this full-rover selfie panorama on October 11, 2019, at the location on the slopes of Mt Sharp nicknamed "Glen Etive." Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. The first Friday in May is designated as Space Day and this year, theres a lot to celebrate on May 1not just the incredible discoveries of the last year but the multitudes made in the last fast-and-furious decade. Meanwhile, scientists are also trying to get a peek inside black holes. Much of the gold on Earth comes from these incredible collisions. The results of this mission have been nothing less than spectacular, leading to the mapping of 1.7 billion stars in our home galaxy, and helping scientists create a better understanding of how the Milky Way galaxy evolved into its current configuration, how quickly the local universe is expanding, how common large planets are, whether theres evidence for advanced extraterrestrial technologies, and whats going on with about 14,000 asteroids in our own solar system., The Kepler telescope, which was active in space from 2009 to 2018, made so many important discoveries about exoplanets that is, planets that exist outside our solar system its hard to wrap a feeble human mind around them. This fact had one astronomer speculating that it may not have been a natural object, but instead it could have been an alien solar sail! Credits: Main image and lander inset: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA; context: ESA/Rosetta/NavCam. 'Oumuamua is pictured here in this artist's impression. Comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko as imaged by the ESA's Rosetta spacecraft on July 7, 2015. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM. When she's not writing social media copy and editing astronomy videos, she loves watching science fiction or mystery movies, baking cupcakes, and going on out-of-this-world adventures. In the future, we would have rockets that could blast off, make a vertical landing back on Earth, and then be able to take off again for the next mission. Here are some crazy facts about Earth you never learned in school. Mars research got another boost in 2018 when Mars Express showed that there might still be an underground reservoir of liquid water near the southern pole of the planet. On April 10, 2019, though, astronomers working with the Event Horizon Telescope project gave us what amounts to the closest we'll ever get to actually seeing a black hole. The year 2012 was the beginning of newfound love and amazement for the red planet Mars. Their spacewalk lasted about 7 hours and they replaced a battery charge/discharge unit on the outside of the International Space Station. Their movement is detected by LIGO detectors as a distinctive chirping sound. A lot has happened since we put the first humans on the Moon almost 51 years ago, and things are picking up as we look ahead to sending people to Mars. Since then, four additional exoplanets have been discovered in this system! Dermatologists reveal the silent signs of skin cancer that are often overlooked, like a pimple that doesn't go away. Gaia had an incredible mission to take distance measurements for more than a billion starsin the Milky Way, as well as velocity data for more than 150 million stars,National Geographic reports. In nine years, it discovered over 2,600 exoplanets. Astronomers had to essentially use a radio telescope as big as the Earth, to accomplish it! Weve had our eyesand telescopes, and other instrumentsopen to the heavens for millennia, looking for objects from far, far away (read: alien life forms). Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI. A lot has happened since we put the first humans on the Moon almost 51 years ago, and things are picking up as we look ahead to sending people to Mars. This artist rendition of the Voyager 1 spacecraft shows it entering the interstellar medium.

Messenger instantly began to collect data on the planets geology, composition, and thin atmosphere, reportsSpace.com. Read on for some amazing facts you didnt know about NASA. Before it slipped into hibernation mode (not on the agenda), Philae was able to detect an icy surface on the comet and organic molecules like carbon, according to Space.com. Not only did this landing succeed, but it only took Curiosity roughly seven months to complete its primary mission on Mars! NASA pulled off two cool arrivals in 2011. Whats better than discovering one instance of gravitational waves? If conditions are right, the planet is in an orbit thats warm enough for liquid water to survive on its surface, National Geographic reports. It took those five months to actually confirm that what the astronomers saw was an actual real signal of gravitational waves, and to trace the ripples back to their source. That there are nine planets is one of 25 facts you learned in school that are no longer true. 2022 Readers Digest Asia. You can follow her on Twitter @LelaNargi. The satellite Gaia was launched by the European Space Agency in 2013. Discovering two, both triggered by the collisions of black holes millions of years prior that echoed across the universe, as Space.com reports. In 2016, physicists discovered physical proof of this, using an instrument called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. What it showed then was how remarkable this undervalued piece of rock actually is. It also was observed to change speed and direction, ever so slightly, as it was heading away from the Sun! We all have the potential to discover something great. The satellite Gaia was launched by the European Space Agency in 2013. Additionally, it proved there are more planets than stars in our galaxy, which revolutionises our understanding of our place in the cosmos, according to NASA; found a diversity of planets, and showed scientists that the most common size of the planets comes in somewhere between Earth and Neptune and doesnt [even] exist in our solar system.. The turn of the decade is upon us, and looking back of the past 10 years, there have been so many amazing achievements in space exploration and so many incredible astronomical events. Deep Impact flew by it in 2010 at a range of 700 kilometres, managing to snap a bunch of photos that helped scientists, for the very first time, match individual jets of gas and dust emanating off it to their sources on the nucleus, according to Sky and Telescope. The event horizon, itself, is roughly 2.5 times smaller, located in the core of that shadow. In 2015, New Horizons zipped by the dwarf planet Pluto and took the first up-close images scientists had ever seen. Gaia had an incredible mission totake distance measurements for more than a billion stars in the Milky Way, as well as velocity data for more than 150 million stars,National Geographic reports. Before it slipped into hibernation mode (not on the agenda), Philae was able to detect an icy surface on the comet and organic molecules like carbon, according toSpace.com. They could detect radiation emitted by matter spiralling around the black hole, or they could see how the black hole's gravity affected objects around it (such as other stars). Another solar eclipse this good, at least for those of us in Canada and the United States, won't happen until April 8, 2024, with an annular eclipse passing over the US Southwest in October of 2023. Now 21.2 billion kilometres away from Earth, its showing that cosmic radiation is very intense, and demonstrating how charged particles from the sun interact with those of other stars, according toSpace.com.

There has even been talk, recently, of sending a new mission that would actually stop and explore there, further! It orbits a red dwarf star called Proxima Centauri, which is 4.25 light-years away from our sunmaking it, believe it or not, the closest star to it. Based on the data and pictures Cassini had sent back to Earth, scientists had determined that there was a global ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus, trapped under a kilometres-thick crust of ice. It accomplished so much more before it became the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space in 2012 enough to fill its own textbook. Orbiting around the red dwarf star Gliese 58, this Earth-like exoplanet is three or four times the mass of Earth, and exists in the stars habitable zone. This means that the exoplanet could potentially have an atmosphere and liquid water could exist on the surface. Since its discovery, though, astronomers have also spotted a second interstellar object, and this one is obviously a comet! On that date, the Voyager 1 probe, after flying away from the Sun for nearly 35 years, became the very first spacecraft to leave the heliosphere, and enter interstellar space! The biggest space news of the entire decade most assuredly came in 2019, when scientists released the first-ever image of that most mysterious of all universal phenomena, a black hole. NASA pulled off two cool arrivals in 2011. Humans have launched plenty of spacecraft, sending them to explore planets, moons, comets and asteroids even the Sun! But it was the first object formed in another star system to pass through ours, as far as we know. As 2019 comes to a close, were reflecting on monumental astronomical discoveries and historic space events that happened over the last 10 years. In 2017, we found what we were looking forsort of. This exoplanet was discovered after 11 years of research. Its hard to choose just a handful of accomplishments but below, we give it a whirl. All rights reserved. We're learning more about our amazing universe with each passing day. Image Credit: NASA. Translation: Proxima-b could harbor life. It accomplished so much more before it became the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space in 2012 enough to fill its own textbook. Discovered by astronomers in Hawaii and named Oumuamua, it left our solar system as quickly as it entered, leaving more questions than it answered. In the last decade, the number of known exoplanets has also increased from about 600 to over 4,000! Comets are known to do this, due to gases ejected from the nucleus, but no such activity was observed from 'Oumuamua. Pro-level kitchen cabinet organisation is easier than you think. It was found to be long, thin and probably flat, with a similar shape to a skipping stone. JavaScript must be enabled to use this application. Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch from the United States of America embarked on the first all-female spacewalk in October 2019. In 2015, New Horizons zipped by the dwarf planet Pluto and took the first up-close images scientists had ever seen. Here are some crazy facts about Earth you never learned in school. Before it slipped into hibernation mode (not on the agenda), Philae was able to detect an icy surface on the comet and organic molecules like carbon, according toSpace.com. This object, now known as 1I/Oumuamua, is shaped unlike anything else in our solar system and is believed to have a reddish hue. Since that first detection, LIGO and Virgo have picked up 10 more gravitational wave events (including the amazing Kilonova event in 2017), and there is a longer list of candidates that astronomers are working to confirm! As the Adler's Digital Marketing Manager, Colleen Cesaretti is passionate about helping others tell their stories. Thats the year the European Space Agency managed, for the very first time, to land a spacecraft, called the Philae lander, on the surface of a comet called Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko that, to complicate matters, was very small and very, very far away. In nine years, it discovered over 2600 exoplanets. Chicago, IL 60605. The left image shows the craggly terrain the lander became stuck in, with the small inset to the lower right showing a close-up of Philae. When the most massive stars in the universe reach the end of their 'lifespan', they die rather spectacularly. New Horizons revealed a surprisingly dynamic and active world, with icy mountains reaching up to nearly 6000 metres and shifting plains that are so geologically active its possible they suggest that even cold, distant worlds could get enough energy to heat their interiors, possibly harbouring subsurface liquid water or even life,Smithsonian Magazinereports. It accomplished so much more before it became the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space in 2012enough to fill its own textbook. The Kepler telescope, which was active in space from 2009 to 2018, made so many important discoveries about exoplanetsthat is, planets that exist outside our solar systemits hard to wrap a feeble human mind around them. It took nearly two years for them to track down Philae's final resting place in Rosetta's surface imagery. The 2nd known interstellar object detected in our solar system was discovered in September 2019. spot all 14 constellations in these pictures. It was the very first detected interstellar object - an asteroid or comet that originated in an alien solar system and was somehow ejected out into the galaxy, millions of years ago.

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