Amazing space discoveries this year. Recent space discoveries that have captured our imagination New discoveries in space

Discoveries that confirm known cosmological models are like a pat on the back of theoretical scientists. But some sensations go completely against popular ideas about the structure of our Universe. Such discoveries amaze the imagination of researchers; they are full of mystery and reveal to us the vast expanses of space from a side from which we do not know them at all. Sometimes it's even scary...

Over the course of their research, some scientists have become overconfident and have difficulty accepting news that goes beyond the classical postulates. However, recent discoveries easily demonstrate to humanity how little we know, and how many outdated theories about the final frontier we still have to revise and expand.

10. The supernova with which our solar system as we know it began its existence

Every cosmic catastrophe is just the birth of some new phenomenon. For example, a supernova explosion can become the very spark that ignites the flame of life in a new planetary system. Our Solar System is no exception. Initially, it was a simple cloud of debris, dust and gases, which eventually grouped into countless celestial bodies, floating in space for a long time, until they united to become the very 8 planets of the solar system and its other natural objects held in orbit the main star due to the gravitational field. However, to start this process, a catalyst was needed, some kind of push.

A supernova is an ideal candidate for this. The theory of the participation of a supernova in the creation of the Solar System is supported by isotope samples found in very ancient meteorites, in sedimentary rocks and in samples of oceanic crust. The isotope iron-60, which decays into nickel-60, is not produced on Earth, so its origin is clearly cosmic. In the samples studied, scientists discovered precisely the “treacherous” nickel-60, which, by its presence, revealed the secret of the origin of our world. Ancient meteorites likely fell into the earth's crust during a supernova explosion, which triggered certain processes that led to the formation of our planetary system as we know it today. According to this assumption, it is thanks to periodic supernova explosions that new planetary systems constantly appear throughout the Universe - the process of creation is endless...

9. Proxima is probably completely scorched and barren


Photo: space.com

Just 4.2 light-years away, the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri is our closest neighbor. An exoplanet very reminiscent of our Earth, Proxima Centauri b, revolves around this star, and it is located in the so-called habitable zone. This means that this exoplanet may have all the conditions for the emergence of life there. The discovery of Proxima Centauri b was a real sensation for astrophysicists.

Alas, most likely Proxima b was almost completely burned out. In March 2017, researchers observed a new phenomenon. In just 10 seconds, the red became 1000 times brighter, which indicates either a catastrophic outbreak, or some kind of extraterrestrial testing of powerful weapons (ufologists do not sleep). Proxima Centauri's mass is small, but the flare was 10 times more powerful than the strongest bursts of solar activity known to us...

The exoplanet Proxima b is theoretically about 4.85 billion years old, so it has likely experienced countless such impacts. If this is true, then the atmosphere and water on this exoplanet have long been destroyed by the strong effects of stellar radiation. It turns out that scientists are unlikely to be able to detect signs of life there, but they had such high hopes for this...

8. It turns out that there are an incredible number of giant stars in the world


Photo: npr.org

The Universe, as it turns out, is much richer in giant stars (10 times more massive than the Sun) than we previously thought. While studying the Tarantula Nebula, located 180,000 light-years from Earth, astronomers discovered 30% more supermassive stars in this promising star cluster than they expected.

In addition, scientists had to reconsider their understanding of the term giant star itself. It was previously believed that the largest stars had up to 200 solar masses, but now this limit has had to be raised to as much as 300. This means that our Universe is much more active, there may be 70% more supernovae in it, and black holes are forming 180% more often than we thought. It sounds menacing and incredibly fascinating...

7. Discovery of a completely new type of planet


Photo: ucdavis.edu

Astronomers have always thought that there were two types of planets: like our Earth and with rings. At least that's what we thought before. But a new discovery has added a third type to this series - a synaesthetic, or celestial body, surrounded by a huge cloud of evaporating rock particles, which is shaped like a giant red blood cell.

These bizarre monsters appeared as a result of catastrophic collisions of two rapidly rotating space objects, the size of which is comparable to an ordinary planet. After the impact, the kinetic moment of these is not only preserved, but also provokes the unification of their fragments into one common accumulation of molten debris (fragmental material), not distinguished by either a solid or liquid surface.

Incredibly, there is theoretically a very common and completely new type of planetary body in the Universe that we have never noticed before. Probably, we were still completely ignorant only because the life cycle of these synesthetic planets does not last so long - up to 100 years, but this is negligible on the scale of the endless and timeless cosmos.

6. Stars may be smaller and cooler than their planets


Photo: Newsweek

Scientists have always believed that even the tiniest stars must be larger than the planets gravitationally bound to them. However, astronomers recently discovered the tiniest star ever recorded - EBLM J0555-57Ab. This star is located just 600 light years from us, and its radius and mass are approximately 8% of those of our Sun. In fact, EBLM J0555-57Ab is so small that it is only a hair larger than Saturn. So the discovered star, if it entered our solar system, would be smaller in size than Jupiter, for example. In addition, EBLM J0555-57Ab is cooler than some giant gas exoplanets. It literally barely reached the minimum required stellar mass, enough to burn hydrogen into helium without becoming an inglorious brown dwarf or so-called substellar object.

5. The star system TRAPPIST-1 is too old for life to originate there


Photo: engadget.com

The red dwarf planetary system TRAPPIST-1 was discovered in February 2017, and was then considered one of the most likely places where we could find extraterrestrial life thriving on several potentially habitable planets. This is what scientists assumed until it seemed to them that this system was only 500 million years old.

However, when the list of parameters by which the age of planetary systems and stars was estimated included the speed of their rotation around the center of the galaxy, the metallicity of the star's composition and the nature of the spectral absorption lines, the researchers came to the conclusion that the TRAPPIST-1 system is at least almost the same age as our Solar system. systems. Moreover, it may also be 2 times older, that is, it has existed for almost 9.8 billion years.

It turns out that there is unlikely to be life there, because the probability is too high that the planets in the habitable zone have long been scorched and thereby sterilized by powerful stellar flares. A new study has once again demonstrated to humanity how unique our planet is, and how valuable and rare life is, especially on a universal scale.

4. Dark matter may be disappearing


Photo: phys.org

Dark matter has long been considered by scientists to be something permanent and practically eternal, however, the latest research suggests that it is actually something impermanent and changeable.

The recorded fluctuations, which supposedly occurred 378,000 years after the Big Bang, contradict past calculations of the expansion rate of the Universe as predicted by the generally accepted cosmological model. This can be explained by the decay of black matter, which has existed since the beginning of time, but has since undergone some changes, gradually decomposing into neutrinos or other hypothetical particles.

Analysis of the data suggests that the modern Universe is depleted by 5% of black matter, since some of it is slowly disappearing. Perhaps these unstable components decayed during the first few hundred or thousand years of the Universe's existence. However, everything could be different, and they are still falling apart, constantly changing the future of the whole world.

3. First exomoon?


Photo about: Scientific American

The Kepler space observatory has helped us discover thousands of exoplanets, but exomoons have long been much less successful. The reason for this was probably that these satellites managed to hide from the most powerful telescope behind their exoplanets, which were far from us. Recently, a short piece of news appeared on Twitter that astronomers had finally spotted the first moon located outside the solar system. The planet Kepler-1625 b has become a candidate for the presence of a natural satellite, behind which a curious source of light is hidden. Apparently, the exoplanet, whose radius is 0.5 the radius of Jupiter, has its own satellite the size of Neptune. We may have discovered an exomoon for the first time, and this could give a big impetus to the search for celestial bodies suitable for colonization, although a lot of research still needs to be done to confirm the discovery, but with the help of the Hubble orbital telescope.

2. Dark energy activity


Photo: astronomynow.com

The universe is expanding faster than we thought, and no one knows why. For almost the last 6 years, astronomers have been trying to increase the accuracy of their calculations using data from the Hubble orbital telescope. They previously concluded that the Universe is expanding at a rate of 73.8 kilometers per second per megaparsec (1 megaparsec = 3.3 million light years). It turns out that two galaxies located at a distance of 3.3 million light years from each other should fly in the opposite direction at a speed of 73.8 kilometers per second. However, new data suggests that this speed is 67-69 kilometers per second per megaparsec. The difference between the data from Hubble and from Planck (another space observatory) is almost 9%, and it is almost impossible to attribute it to a simple error, since the chance of error in Hubble's measurements is only 1 in 5000.

According to a new study, dark energy is much more complex to our understanding than we previously thought. Perhaps it is growing, or this hypothetical type of energy is “more sociable” than we thought, and it constantly interacts with the Universe according to some kind of its own scenario. Or maybe we have discovered a completely new type of subatomic particle that affects what happens to our Universe. One way or another, scientists will probably have to change their ideas about the laws of physics...

1. Most stars similar to the Sun belong to a pair system


Photo: space.com

Many stars have their own personal companion, that is, a second star gravitationally bound to them, and our Sun is presumably no exception. A new study says that most often stars similar to our star are born in a binary system.

For some time, astronomers have been observing young single stars and double stars in the constellation Perseus, located 600 light years from Earth. According to their calculations, almost all the stars in this system, similar to our Sun, are members of a binary system, the distance between the components of which can reach approximately 500 astronomical units. For reference, 1 astronomical unit (AU) is equal to exactly 149,597,870,700 meters (the average distance from the Earth to the Sun).

However, this partnership often breaks up even in the early stages of the development of double stars - after about a million years, which by universal standards is not so long. In this way, so-called separated binary systems appear. The discovery of our Sun's long-lost companion could perhaps better explain to scientists the current state of our planetary system. The Universe is an incredibly spacious and therefore very lonely place, and the researchers' model suggests that almost 60% of star pairs have already separated, but the remaining 40% are close binary systems in which mass is being exchanged. It is possible that Nemesis, the supposed pair of our Sun, is hiding somewhere among other stars in our galaxy.

In honor of Cosmonautics Day the editors of the site decided to remember 10 Latest Discoveries in Astronomy, which can be considered the most important for humanity.

1. The ninth planet. On January 20, 2016, astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin (Caltech, Pasadena) reported that they had found Planet X, the existence of which was predicted even before the discovery of Pluto. Scientists concluded that it exists due to the presence of gravitational disturbances that could be caused by some large body. When Pluto was discovered, it was decided that this was the same Planet X, but this did not explain the features of gravitational disturbances. As Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin report, the object they found is comparable in size to Neptune, 10 times heavier than the Earth and is located beyond Pluto. However, there is no exact evidence of the presence of another planet in the solar system. For example, a discovered object may not be a planet at all, but a fairly dense meteorite or asteroid cloud, but, according to scientists, the probability of this is only 0.0007%.

Estimated orbit of Planet X

2. Gravitational waves. On February 11, 2016, scientists reported that they were experimentally able to prove the presence of gravitational waves, which were predicted by Albert Einstein. This discovery is sensational because it proves the existence of space-time curvatures and in the future will allow scientists to learn about long-past events in the life of the universe that cannot be seen with optical telescopes. It was possible to “catch” gravitational waves for the first time on September 14, 2015. They were caused by the merger of two black holes into one massive black hole, which occurred 1.3 billion years ago.

3. Second Earth. In August 2016, scientists reported that an exoplanet similar to Earth had been found in the Proxima Centauri system (the closest star to the Solar System). The celestial body, named Proxima b, is 1.3 times heavier than Earth, orbits Proxima Centauri in a nearly circular orbit with a period of 11.2 days and is located at a distance of 0.05 astronomical units (7.5 million kilometers) from it. What makes this planet similar to Earth is that it is located in the habitable zone of its sun. That is, conditions on Proxima b may resemble those on Earth. If it turns out that the planet has a magnetic field, a dense atmosphere and oceans of liquid water, then the likelihood of life existing there is very high.

4. Strange star. At the end of 2016, scientists discovered another star with an irregularly changing glow. The name of the star is EPIC 204278916. A similar star - KIC 8462852 in the constellation Cygnus - was found in 2015. Scientists have not yet figured out what causes the uneven brightness of these stars. Most likely, the stars are covered by some massive objects comparable in size to the stars themselves, but it is difficult to imagine what kind of objects could be of such size. Even a dense cloud of comets could not cover these stars, because in this case there must be hundreds of thousands of comets with giant nuclei in it. Along with other scientists, there was also an absolutely fantastic assumption that the star is surrounded by some kind of astro-engineering structures such as a Dyson sphere (see figure).

5. Impossible engine. In the fall of 2016, NASA scientists announced that the EmDrive engine, which essentially violates the laws of physics, is working. An article published in the Journal of Propulsion and Power states that the EmDrive engine can produce 1.2 millinewtons per kilowatt of thrust in a vacuum. No reverse force that would contribute to the development of thrust (according to the law of conservation of momentum) was found. This way the motor moves without emitting anything. At the end of 2016, EmDrive was successfully tested at the Chinese Tiangong-2 space laboratory, after which Chinese scientists announced that they planned to use the engine on orbiting satellites.

6. Will Pluto become a planet again? In February 2017, NASA scientists proposed redefining the term "planet." Alan Stern, the leader of the group of researchers who came up with this proposal, believes that a planet can be called any object in which nuclear fusion processes do not occur and which has gravity sufficient for it to take a spherical shape. Now in the scientific community, when determining planets, it is also common to take into account the ability of an object to clear its orbit around a star from planetesimals - small celestial bodies (ranging in size from a few millimeters to several kilometers) formed from dust and gas. But NASA scientists led by Alan Stern argue that this criterion depends on how far the body is from the star, and therefore should not be taken into account when defining the term “planet.” So, for example, if our Earth was located beyond Neptune, it could not clear its orbit from planetesimals; accordingly, it could not be considered a planet. If the scientific community makes these amendments, then Pluto will again become a planet. However, at the same time, natural satellites, including our Moon, will need to be considered planets.

7. Twin of the Solar System. Also in February of this year, NASA scientists made a sensational statement - four more planets were found in the TRAPPIST-1 star system (previously, in 2016, three exoplanets were discovered there), all of them are similar to Earth and three of them are likely to support life . Read more about this discovery. At that time, scientists had high hopes for the planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system, because Previously, it had never been possible to find so many planets located in the “habitable zone of a star” at once. However, in early April, Hungarian scientists reported that, with a high probability, the planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system are still not suitable for the origin of life. Astronomers came to this conclusion after analyzing data obtained by the Kepler space telescope. According to these data, the star TRAPPIST-1 often experiences strong plasma emissions, hundreds of times stronger than solar storms that reach Earth. Over 80 days, 42 such flares were recorded; with such a frequency of emissions, exoplanets simply do not have time to stabilize their atmosphere, and the magnetic field of these planets is too weak to reflect such powerful geomagnetic storms. So hopes for the early detection of aliens in the TRAPPIST-1 system did not materialize...

8. Traces of alien technology. However, in another place, scientists may have discovered traces of alien activity. We are talking about the phenomenon of fast discrete radio pulses, which may be evidence of the activity of huge transmitters (they can reach the size of entire planets) transmitting energy to interstellar ships in distant galaxies. Scientists first learned about the existence of such pulses in 2007, and since that time no more than 20 fast discrete radio pulses have been recorded. In 2017, scientists Avi Loeb and Manasvi Lingam conducted a study in which they used calculations to try to determine whether such large transmitters could exist. Scientists have found that from the point of view of the laws of physics and from an engineering point of view, such transmitters can exist. Loeb and Lingam also suggested the purpose of creating such devices - they could be used to accelerate interstellar light sails. “This is quite enough to transport living passengers across interstellar or even intergalactic distances,” said Manasvi Lingam. At the same time, the researchers note that their work is hypothetical.

9. New model of the Universe. Scientists from the University of Budapest recently conducted a study that suggests dark energy may not exist. The concept of dark energy was introduced into the mathematical model of the Universe in order to explain why the expansion of the Universe is constantly accelerating. Until recently, the theory of dark energy was the most common explanation for the expansion of the Universe and was accepted by many scientists. However, American and Hungarian cosmologists from the University of Budapest this year presented a new model of the Universe, in which there is no place for dark energy. Having developed a computer model of the Universe and tracking its evolution, researchers noticed that different regions of space are expanding at different rates. If these data are confirmed, it will have a major impact on the further development of models of the Universe.

10. An atmosphere was discovered on an exoplanet. And the last, most important discovery in the field of astronomy, in our opinion, is the discovery of an atmosphere on the planet GJ 1132b. This is the first time that scientists have recorded the presence of an atmosphere on an exoplanet that is closest to Earth in size, mass and composition. GJ 1132b is located in the star system of the red dwarf GJ 1132, which is located in the direction of the constellation Velas of the Southern Sky and is located at a distance of 39 light years from us. This discovery is a breakthrough in the discovery of life beyond the solar system.

And I would like to complete our list of the most interesting and important astronomical discoveries made recently with another study conducted in March of this year in our country. According to data obtained during a survey by VTsIOM, a quarter of Russians are confident that it is not the Earth that revolves around the Sun, but the Sun that revolves around the Earth. Researchers note that they have been asking Russian citizens this question for several years now and always get approximately the same results...

The Universe is perhaps the most mysterious and mysterious thing that a person has to face. People are attracted to space by the possibility of colonizing other planets and discovering unknown life forms. Modern scientists are constantly engaged in space exploration, and their discoveries are truly amazing.

1. 20 billion exoplanets

In 2013, astronomers confirmed the presence of 20 billion exoplanets in our Milky Way Galaxy. Exoplanets are planets that are similar to Earth (and therefore could support life). Considering how many billions of galaxies there are in the Universe, the number of planets similar to Earth is simply difficult to imagine.

2. Dwarf planet

Amateur astronomers around the world were upset in 2006 when Pluto's status was downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet. Those who kept counting the same way were rewarded in 2015 when the New Horizons spacecraft passed Pluto. It turned out that this cosmic body is still more of a planet, since Pluto has a gravity strong enough to hold an atmosphere and deflect charged particles from the solar wind.

3. Gold Star Collisions

2013 was a fantastic year for astronomy. Astronomers have discovered the collision of two stars, during which an incredible amount of gold was formed, weighing many times the mass of our Moon.

4. Martian tsunamis

Scientists recently published evidence that once massive tsunamis may have forever changed the Martian landscape. Two meteorite impacts caused huge tidal waves that rose many tens of meters in height.

5. Planet Godzilla

Earth is one of the largest rocky planets, but in 2014, scientists discovered a planet twice the size and 17 times heavier. Although planets this size were considered gas giants, this planet, named Kepler10c, is remarkably similar to ours. She was jokingly called "Godzilla".

6. Gravitational waves

Albert Einstein announced that he had discovered gravitational waves back in 1916, almost a century before scientists confirmed their existence. The science world was thrilled by the discovery in 2015 that spacetime could ripple like still water in a pond when you throw a stone into it.

7. Formation of mountains

New research has discovered how mountains form on Io, Jupiter's volcanic moon. While mountains on Earth typically form in long ridges, the mountains on Io are mostly solitary. On this moon, volcanic activity is so great that a 12-centimeter layer of molten lava covers its surface every 10 years.

Given the rapid rate of eruptions, scientists have concluded that the enormous pressure on Io's core is causing rifts to rise to the surface to "release" excess pressure.

8. Saturn's giant ring

Astronomers recently discovered a huge new ring around Saturn. Located 3.7 to 11.1 million kilometers from the planet's surface, the new ring rotates in the opposite direction to the other rings.

The new ring is so rarefied that a billion Earths could fit in it. Because the ring is quite cold (around -196°C), it was only recently discovered using an infrared telescope.

9. Dying stars give life

After a star burns all the hydrogen in its core, it expands to many times its normal size. As it expands, it attracts and absorbs nearby planets. Scientists recently discovered that this could raise the temperature of more distant frozen planets enough to support life.

In the case of the Solar System, the Sun would expand beyond the orbit of Mars, and the temperature on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn would rise enough to support life.

10. Old stars of the Universe

A few hundred million years is a drop in the ocean for a Universe whose age is 14 billion years. The oldest star known to humans is SMSS J031300.36-670839.3—its age is an incredible 13.6 billion years.

11. Oxygen in space

Oxygen is naturally an extremely reactive gas, which causes it to interact with other elements existing in the universe. The discovery of molecular oxygen - the same type that humans breathe - in the atmosphere of the famous comet 67P has deepened people's knowledge of cosmic gases and raised hopes that oxygen may be available elsewhere in the universe in a form that humans can use.

12. Cosmic purgatory

Astronomers have named the new region of space discovered by the Voyager 1 probe Cosmic Purgatory. This region is located outside the solar system and is notable for having a magnetic field twice as strong as usual. This creates a kind of barrier between the Solar System and outer space: charged particles emitted by the Sun slow down and even turn back, and radiation from outside does not enter the Solar System.

13. Flags on the Moon

During all the Apollo missions, during which people visited the Moon, American flags were planted on the Earth's satellite. Since, according to international treaty, no one can own the Moon, the flags were expected to fade within a few years due to the influence of cosmic radiation.

However, when the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter pointed its telescopes at the Apollo landing sites in 2012, it discovered that the flags were still standing.

14. Hyperactive galaxy

The galaxy, which produces stars incredibly quickly, was discovered 12.2 billion light years from Earth in 2008. It was named "Baby Boom" and is considered the most active known part of the Universe. While in our Milky Way a new star is born on average every 36 days, in the Baby Boom galaxy a new star is born every 2 hours.

15. The coldest place in the Universe

The coldest place in the Universe is the Boomerang Nebula, in which heat is practically not registered; the temperature there is close to almost absolute zero. This nebula glows bright blue due to light reflecting off its dust.

16. Spot, spot, spot...

Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot has been shrinking throughout the past century, and is now half its original size. Today on this planet near the equator you can observe a giant storm that never stops. Scientists still don't know what causes it.

17. Smallest planet

The smallest planet discovered to date was found in 2013. The planet, named Kepler-37b, is only slightly larger than our Moon, but three times closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun. Thanks to this, real hell reigns on its surface - the temperature is 425 ° C.

18. The premature death of stars

Some stars in a region of active star formation, called the Carina Nebula, were discovered in 2016 to die prematurely. About half of the stars in this location skip the red giant stage in their development, thereby shortening their life cycle by millions of years. It is unknown what causes this effect, but it has only been seen in sodium-rich or oxygen-poor stars.

19. Where to look for life

Some scientists believe that we don't need to look for other planets to discover life, but rather look at their moons. As it passes Jupiter, its icy moon Europa shoots 6,800 kg of water per second into the air from geysers at its south pole.

Scientists have recently developed a project in which a probe could easily analyze the content of this water before it falls back to the planet's surface. Such research could help determine whether life exists on Europa.

20. Giant Diamond Star

The star BPM 37093, often called "Lucy", is a white dwarf located about 20 light-years from Earth. What's remarkable about this star is that it's basically a giant diamond the size of the moon.

21. Planet Nine

Although Pluto has been demoted to a dwarf planet, scientists believe there may well be a massive planet in orbit around the Sun beyond Pluto. Using mathematical laws, scientists have determined that there must be a Neptune-sized planet orbiting in distant orbit, but it has still not been found.

22. Vacuum noise

23. The brightest supernova

Discovered in 2015, ASASSN-15lh is the brightest supernova ever recorded. It shines more than 570 billion times stronger than the Sun. Even stranger, scientists discovered that supernova activity increased a second time about two months after the star passed its peak brightness.

24. Asteroid with rings

Orbital ring systems are common among massive gas giants, but rings are quite rare among other celestial bodies. Scientists were fascinated to discover rings around the asteroid Chariklo. The asteroid has two rings, likely formed from frozen water.

25. Alcohol Comet

Comet Lovejoy has been captivating astronomers and drinkers since it was first discovered in 2015. While studying the fast-moving piece of ice, scientists discovered that the comet was spewing out the same type of alcohol that humans drink - at the rate of 500 bottles of wine per second.

Anyone interested in science will be curious to know.

In total, in 2017, the authors of the In-Space website published 544 news items covering the most interesting and exciting discoveries, observations and research of astronomers around the world. On average, each news was read by more than a thousand visitors, but there were those that stood out among the total, but more on that later.

In 2017, In-Space began collaborating with the Hubble and Kepler telescope teams, as well as NASA departments. Now you can read on our website press releases about the most high-profile discoveries at the time of their English-language publications in leading scientific journals.

Artist's impression of ESO's Extremely Large Telescope. Credit: ESO

The most interesting topics of the past year for In-Space readers were observations of Jupiter by NASA's Juno spacecraft, searches for the nature of dark matter, data on the first recorded interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua, discoveries of exoplanets, photographs of distant stars and galaxies obtained by instruments of the European Southern Observatory and the telescope " Hubble", gravitational waves and, of course, the finale of the Cassini mission. First things first:

10th place. Native asteroids

In 2017 (at the time of publication of the article), 785 asteroids rushed past the Earth at a distance of less than 10 million kilometers, of which 99 are potentially dangerous. The complete list is presented on the page. The most interesting of them were the astroid, and, which on October 12 flew past our planet at a distance of only 50 thousand kilometers.

An artist's representation of the collision of two neutron stars in the galaxy NGC 4993, producing a kilonova flare and gravitational waves. Credit: ESO/L. Calgada/M. Kornmesser

3rd place. Fall of Cassini

A joint project between NASA and ESA, the Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists around the world with unique data about the Saturn system for 13 years. Launched in 1997, the daring explorer studied the gas giant and its moons, transmitting unique data back to Earth and baffling scientists. But on September 15, this event became a landmark for all space lovers around the world.

One of the latest portraits of Saturn from Cassini. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

2nd place. Oh that 'Oumuamua

On October 19, 2017, a significant event for all humanity took place: . At the time of discovery, the guest was at a distance of 0.2 astronomical units from Earth. Observatories around the world pointed their telescopes at the intruder in an attempt to determine the nature of the foreign object. The instruments of the European Southern Observatory have advanced the furthest, determining the size, proportions and composition of the guest.

'Oumuamua as imagined by the artist. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Subsequently, project scientists hoped for the “intelligent” origin of the wanderer, but no signs of intelligent life were recorded on the asteroid.

1 place. Jupiter and Juno

“Juno”, Juno, whatever is more convenient for you. The spacecraft, named after the ancient Roman goddess of family and motherhood, spent the entire 2017 studying the largest planet in the solar system -. The world has never seen such a giant, hiding the secrets of the origin of the Solar System.

A perspective view of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Credit: NASA

Probing of the Great Red Spot, radiation spots, colorful photographs and discoveries made by the spacecraft, which traveled to Jupiter for 5 years, became the most significant for In-Space readers in 2017.

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The past year, without a doubt, turned out to be one of the loudest in all areas. And the world of scientific discoveries did not stand aside in this regard either. This year, truly significant scientific discoveries took place, for example, or, located less than 5 from. Below we will briefly recall stories that were not talked about in scientific communities, perhaps only by the lazy.

Gravitational waves exist

There is nothing more significant and fundamental in the world of science than a discovery related to the very nature of our reality. And this year, scientists at the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory () can boast of just such a discovery, who confirmed the existence. Moreover, it was confirmed not once, but twice.

We are all more or less familiar with the concept of space-time - a sort of four-dimensional box where we eat, live, grow and eventually die. But it turns out that space-time is not a rigid box. Rather, it is not even quite a box, but a spacious and living ocean, filled with subatomic-sized waves formed during collisions and other incredibly massive objects. These waves are called gravitational waves. These are ripples in space-time that LIGO scientists were the first to discover, actually back in September last year. However, official confirmation of their observation came only in February. Then in June, LIGO physicists were able to detect gravitational waves again. This frequency forces scientists to continue their observations. But we can consider that a new window into the darkest secrets has finally officially opened.

Of course, Albert Einstein couldn’t do it here either. After all, he was the one who predicted them when he came up with his general theory of relativity in 1916. It's hard to say what's more incredible: the fact that every part of Einstein's theory was eventually confirmed and found evidence, or that modern physics is now testing the ideas that came to the mind of a 26-year-old nerd at that time.

Proxima Centauri b: one to rule them all

Over the past few years, astronomers have discovered thousands, including a fair number of rocky, earth-like worlds. However, all the potentially habitable candidates immediately became less interesting this year after the discovery of Proxima b - slightly larger than , orbiting our nearest stellar neighbor, located just 4.3 light-years away.

Proxima b, discovered using the Doppler method (measuring the radial velocity of stars), is a rocky world orbiting Proxima Centauri at a distance of only 7.5 million kilometers, which is 100 times closer than the location of . Since Proxima Centauri is a cool red dwarf star, the planet's location is ideal for maintaining liquid water. There is a high probability (at least according to the researchers' assumptions) that the exoplanet Proxima b may be habitable.

It may, of course, also be the case that Proxima b is an airless desert, which, of course, will turn out to be less joyful. However, we will probably be able to find out this very soon. It is quite possible as early as 2018, when a new and very powerful one named James Webb will be launched into space. If in this case the picture does not become clearer, then it will be possible to launch a fleet of interstellar nanoprobes that will find out everything for sure.

The elusive ninth planet of the solar system

For more than a decade, astronomers have wondered whether there might be a ninth planet on the outer reaches of our solar system. This year, scientists from the California Institute of Technology Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown presented to the public quite convincing evidence that the so-called Planet Nine actually exists. Larger than Neptune and colder than frozen hell, Planet Nine orbits the Sun in a very elongated elliptical at distances of 100 and more than 1000.

Our best guess about Planet Nine is based on the unusual orbits of a variety of objects that Batygin and Brown believe are subject to the gravitational forces of this mysterious planet.

Of course, the only convincing evidence for the presence of a “shy planet” would be its direct detection in , and not based on the unusual behavior of some Kuiper belt objects. However, this task seems extremely difficult, since such cold and distant objects (which is exactly what the planet is, according to scientists) emit very little light and heat. However, several astronomers, including Brown, are currently attempting to search for Planet Nine and believe it will be found within the next few years.