9 amazing facts about space we learned this year

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

One of the longest space missions allowed the interplanetary station New Horizons to approach Pluto at a record distance. We continue to discover Earth-like planets. The astronauts' diet now includes fresh greens grown in space. Even with funding cuts, the US space agency has managed to accomplish some truly brilliant accomplishments.

Here are nine things we learned about space this year.

1. Pluto has a "heart"

In July, the automatic interplanetary station (AMS) New Horizons completed its almost ten-year voyage to Pluto, showing us from an unprecedented side. We learned that Pluto is actually red and has a giant ice heart made of carbon monoxide. And the coolest thing is that the expedition gave us a beautiful picture of this distant dwarf planet.

2. Discovered the "big brother" of the Earth - Kepler-452b

Also in July, NASA announced that the Kepler Space Telescope had found a planet, dubbed Kepler-452b, 1,400 light-years from Earth. It is 60% larger than our planet in diameter and is located in the habitable zone of a star similar to the Sun. According to scientists from NASA, only in our galaxy there may be a billion more such planets - and the Kepler telescope will help find them.

3. Astronauts tasted food grown in space

In early August, astronauts aboard the International Space Station tasted red lettuce grown there for the first time. The Veggie system, developed by ORBITEC, made it possible to build the first "vegetable garden" on the ISS. In the future, this system, which does not require a lot of resources to maintain, could help provide food for the first colonists on Mars.

But this achievement is important not only for astronauts. This method of growing food can also be used on Earth - where there is no fertile soil and other conditions for traditional farming.

4. We were shown a new image of a beautiful nebula

This year, the Hubble Space Telescope, a joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency, showed a new image of the Lagoon Nebula, a delightful glowing cloud of incandescent gas in the constellation Sagittarius. Despite such a peaceful name, in fact, we are looking at strong streams of stellar wind, swirling hot gas and active formation of stars - all this behind a "veil" of black cosmic dust.

5. Astronomers have discovered the exoplanet closest to Earth

Using the Spitzer space telescope, NASA scientists managed to find the closest exoplanet to us, called HD 219134b. It is located at a distance of 21 light years from the Earth, and although it is worth admitting that it is simply impossible to physically reach it in any reasonable time (1 light year is equal to 9 460 730 472 580 800 meters), this opens up unique opportunities for exploring the distant past of our own planet. The only other planet that is so “close” - GJ674b - has practically nothing to do with the Earth.

“We now have a beautiful object to explore down to the smallest detail,” said Michael Gillon, a University of Liege researcher and leading scientist using the transiting exoplanet detection method for the Spitzer Telescope. "This is the real Rosetta Stone in the super-earth exploration area."

6. NASA has published a new "epic" image of the Earth

Last month, the DSCOVR satellite demonstrated what its special polychromatic camera, called EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera), is capable of. From a distance of more than one and a half million kilometers, she took this wonderful picture.

The camera's official purpose is to capture images of the Earth from multiple angles, which would later be used to study how sunlight travels through the atmosphere. But it is obvious that the results of EPIC's work are of interest not only to scientists: we all get the opportunity to admire our little blue planet.

7. Serious climatic changes were noticed with the help of the satellite

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA's research center for the creation and maintenance of unmanned spacecraft - has discovered that the remainder of the Larsen B Ice Shelf, which researcher Ala Hazendar says has existed for more than 10,000 years, could disappear within a decade. If this happens, fragments of the glacier will end up in the open ocean and, melting, will lead to a significant increase in water levels.

The loss of ice masses is very worrisome for scientists doing research in this area. Even Larsen C, the “brother” of Larsen B, is gigantic in comparison to neighboring glaciers, shows symptoms of weakening. According to Euronews, glaciologist David Vaughn believes that if Larsen C does melt, the sea level will rise by 50 centimeters by the end of the century, and this could lead to serious problems for residents of coastal and low-lying cities.

8. The spacecraft captured the mysterious lights on Ceres

The most curious and almost sci-fi discovery this year is two points of light on the surface of Ceres, a dwarf planet located between Mars and Jupiter. AMS "Rassvet" recorded them from a distance of more than 45 thousand kilometers - too far to accurately determine their nature. It is only known that the desired objects are located in a crater three meters deep and reflect much more sunlight than anything around. Existing hypotheses include versions of ice volcanoes or salt patches.

Fortunately, Dawn's mission is to explore Ceres while in its own orbit, so more detailed imagery awaits us that will give scientists a clear idea of what is happening on the planet's surface.

9. We saw new images of the "Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula

The first images of these giant columns of interstellar gas and dust were taken in 1995. Over the past 20 years, the Hubble Telescope has continued its work, capturing images in various ranges - from infrared light to visible light - and in the end we have obtained images that are breathtaking.

There is evidence that the "Pillars of Creation" was destroyed by a supernova explosion about 6,000 years ago, but due to the fact that the nebula is 7,000 light years away, we will be able to observe this stunning astronomical object for at least another thousand years.

In the near future, even more interesting things await us. Already next year, the AMS "Juno" will approach the orbit of Jupiter, the launch of the InSight research vehicle will take place, which will help us study the internal structure and composition of Mars, and the OSIRIS-REx mission will start, the purpose of which is to deliver soil samples from the asteroid Bennu, which may become the first step towards the industrial development of asteroids.

As you may have noticed, NASA has had a great year. Better yet, there are four months left for new discoveries.

Photos: NASA.