discoveries made by NASA
Water on Mars Many books, TV shows, and movies have fantasized
about colonizing the planet Mars.
The only problem is that Mars is not a place that can sustain life in its current state,
and just as bad, it does not have any water…or so we thought.
In 2018, scans from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered that formations on the
the planet was actually caused by water that is still there right now.
This was a confirmation based on a finding of “hydrated salts” on certain slopes of the
planet.
John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in
Washington said that “Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water,’ in our
search for life in the universe”.Now they finally have the science to back up what they have long suspected.
There is briny water flowing on the surface of Mars.
This discovery changes very much what we think of Mars.
If it does have the capacity for water in its current state, this means that colonization
of the planet is not only an option, but it could also be adapted to be habitable.
Not that I want to run and live there but I know some people are excited about the idea!
“It took multiple spacecraft over several years to solve this mystery, and now we know
there is liquid water on the surface of this cold, desert planet,” said Michael Meyer,
lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters.
“It seems that the more we study Mars, the more we learn how life could be supported
and where there are resources to support life in the future.”
Are you excited??
Multiple “Earths” In February 2017, NASA discovered that there
might be 7 Earth-like planets orbiting a dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1.
In fact, all seven of these planets were found in the same galaxy, which is a very rare thing
indeed.
As you know our Earth is a very special planet, it has an atmosphere that has oxygen (amongst
other gasses) and thus allows life to breathe and grow.
It is orbiting a sun that doesn’t bombard our planet with too much heat or radiation,
nor does it give it too little.
We are in the perfect Goldilocks zone!
From new discoveries on Mars to solve mysteries within the depths of space, here are 9 recent
discoveries made by NASA
Water on Mars Many books, TV shows, and movies have fantasized
about colonizing the planet Mars.
The only problem is that Mars is not a place that can sustain life in its current state,
and just as bad, it does not have any water…or so we thought.
In 2018, scans from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered that formations on the
the planet was actually caused by water that’s still there immediately.
This was a confirmation supported a finding of “hydrated salts” on certain slopes of the
planet.
John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in
Washington said that “Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water,’ in our
Search for life in the universe”.
Now they finally have the science to back up what they have long suspected.
There is briny water flowing on the surface of Mars.
This discovery changes considerably what we expect of Mars.
If it does have the capacity for water in its current state, this means that colonization
of the planet is not only an option, but it could also be adapted to be habitable.
Not that I want to run and live there but I know some people are excited about the idea!
“It took multiple spacecraft over several years to unravel this mystery, and now we all know
there is liquid water on the surface of this cold, desert planet,” said Michael Meyer,
lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters.
“It seems that the more we study Mars, the more we find out how life might be supported
and where there are resources to support life within the future.”
Are you excited??
Multiple “Earths” In February 2017, NASA discovered that there
might be 7 Earth-like planets orbiting a dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1.
In fact, all seven of those planets were found within the same galaxy, which may be a very rare thing
indeed.
As you recognize our Earth may be a very special planet, it’s an environment that has oxygen (amongst
other gasses) and thus allows life to breathe and grow.
It is orbiting a sun that does not bombard our planet with an excessive amount of heat, or radiation,
nor does it give it too little.
We are in the perfect Goldilocks zone!
Finding another planet that’s like Earth is really extremely hard, as these conditions
are very specific.
So to find seven that could possibly have similar conditions to ours is quite the breakthrough.
Not only that, they are about the same size as Earth, and some of them (based on pictures
and scans) do appear to have water.
Should this be true, and should we be able to reach them, there could be life on these
planets or might be a serious colonization option for Earth.
You know, because that’s what everyone really wants to hear!
If this water is like our own, it is reasonable to expect there to be living in the water, and
it gives it a way higher chance that that’s the place where the primary life outside
of Earth might be discovered.
Liquid on Titan Saturn has 53 moons that have been named by
scientists and more could actually be named within the future.
One of the most popular of these moons is the one known as Titan.
It’s been the source of much research and has even been home to an alien race in the
Marvel Comics Universe.
During a scan by the Cassini guided missile of NASA, they found that in certain gorges and
canyons of Titan, there are literally pools of liquid, specifically hydrocarbons.
This find is important because at first, scientists didn’t know what was in these canyons.
NASA reports that the branching channels appear dark in radar images, very similar to Titan’s methane-rich
seas.
“Previously it wasn’t clear if the dark material was liquid or merely saturated sediment.”
As for how they got there, many speculate that it is actually the same way the Grand
Canyon was formed in the United States.
Meaning, they think that there’s an underground river in Titan somewhere, and it eroded the
ground until it formed these massive canyons, then filled them with liquid.
Alex Hayes, co-author of the study, said during a statement that: “Earth is warm and rocky,
with rivers of water, while Titan is cold and icy, with rivers of methane.
And yet it’s remarkable that we discover such similar features on both worlds.”
Pretty cool right??
Comet Soup In 2005, NASA sent their Deep Impact spacecraft
into a comet called Tempel 1.
If you’re curious on why they might destroy one among their craft by crashing it into a comet
on purpose, it is because they wanted to analyze the content and particles that were released
from the impact.
Scans from the craft before crashing, mixed with observations from the Spitzer Telescope,
revealed that many of the ingredients were already known common ingredients such as silicates
and sand.
BUT, some things like clay, carbonates, iron-bearing compounds and “aromatic hydrocarbons” were
quite the surprise since this stuff are found on Earth in barbecue pits and car exhaust.
These ingredients form the basis of what is known as “comet soup”.
It is the hope of NASA that by studying these “ingredients”, and getting more samples that
they can figure out more about how our solar system was formed.
Death of Saturn’s Rings The Rings of Saturn are not only the most
defining features of the planet, but also one of the most recognizable things in all
of our solar system.
Strangely enough NASA speculates that the rings are “dying”.
More accurately, NASA states that the rings are losing the moisture within the rocks that
form the rings.
The moisture itself is being pulled into the earth thanks to gravity, and thus, the rings
are slowly but surely breaking down.
James O’Donoghue, a space physicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said that We
are lucky to be around to ascertain Saturn’s ring system, which appears to be within the middle
of its lifetime.
An interesting point he makes is that if rings are temporary, perhaps we just missed out
on seeing giant ring systems of Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, which have only thin ringlets
today!”
Maybe all of the gas giants had them at one point!
As for when the rings of Saturn will truly “disappear”, it’s believed it’ll take another
300 million years, but NASA has also stated it could happen much faster counting on how
fast the moisture continues to be drained from the rocks.
But eventually, it’s going to happen.
Jupiter’s Orbit NASA has long tried to urge a spacecraft into
Jupiter’s orbit.
But because of conditions in the planet’s atmosphere, it’s been a very difficult task.
Not to mention, getting a craft near the earth in terms of its position in space is additionally
hard.
Yet, on July 4th, 2016, the Juno became the first spacecraft to make it into Jupiter’s
orbit, which by NASA’s own admission was one of the toughest things they’ve ever done.
The Juno may be a solar-powered spacecraft, and it had been sent to Jupiter to find out more about
the planet through pictures, videos, and scans.
Already, it’s sent back video of storms happening on the planet’s surface, as
well as an eruption happening on the nearby moon of Io.
Supermassive Black Hole The Hubble Space Telescope is one of NASA’s
biggest tools with regard to the searching region for brand spanking new discoveries, and in February
of 2016, the telescope took a picture of a galaxy and found a black hole of astonishing
size.
This was found in galaxy NGC 4889, in what is known as the Coma Cluster.
The black hole in question is 21 billion times the mass of the sun in our own galaxy.
To those that don’t recall, black holes are a pocket of space where the gravity is so
intense that nothing escapes it, not even light.
Anyone or anything that is caught in this gravitational field is instantly stretched
beyond recognition into spaghetti!
(Maybe, it’s just a theory).
To find a region of this size during a singular galaxy are some things few ever expected.
Just as unexpected though is that this particular black hole doesn’t seem to be “feeding” anymore.
Meaning it isn’t drawing in the matter that surrounds it like it used to.
This is quite rare and may offer proof that black holes can “evolve” over time.
Maybe at some point, they shut down, offering another sliver of information to help us learn
more about black holes.
Ice Volcanoes On Earth, volcanoes spew fire, ash, soot,
and smoke, but on the dwarf planet (a planet that never matured to full size) called Ceres,
the volcanoes shoot ice!
This was discovered by NASA via their Dawn Spacecraft in 2015, which was observing Ceres
(which orbits between Mars and Jupiter).
The technical term for these is “Cryovolcanoes” because rather than fire and ash, they might
potentially shoot out ice and mud.
This is supported the very fact that Ceres is roofed with ice both above and below its surface.
To that end, should these structures “erupt”, the sole thing it can shoot is ice.
Ralf Jaumann of the German Aerospace Center says“The members of the (Dawn science) team
expected a lot of things, but not what we finally got!
He says “I was completely surprised, and ‘completely’ means ‘completely.’
” Though obviously unproven in terms of the
“eruption’ aspect of the cryovolcanoes, it does add up as long as the temperature
in the craters of Ceres can reach 350 degrees below zero.
But how would an ice volcano form?
And what would cause it to shoot ice?
Fun fact: the invention via the Dawn spacecraft was actually the primary time Ceres had even
been explored by such a device.
Reaching Thule 4 billion miles faraway from Earth, there is
an object is known as Ultima Thule.
This “celestial body” is really two round objects made from an unknown composition that
are actually fused together.
NASA has released the primary up-close stereo images of this heavenly body via the New
Horizons spacecraft, making this the foremost distant object that a spacecraft from Earth
has ever explored.
The New Horizons spacecraft was ready to get within 2200 miles of the mysterious “body”,
and through its scans and pictures, were able to find some very interesting information
about the formation.
First, both “lobes” of Ultima Thule were similar in shape and in color, inferring that this
was actually formed from the same ‘source’.
Despite the thing being 21 miles at max length, it doesn’t have an environment, neither is its
gravitational force strong enough to pull in other objects.
Ultima Thule resides in what is known as the Kuiper Belt, also known as the “Twilight Zone”,
and the New Horizons spacecraft isn’t only very deep into it now, but it’ll continue
to explore it and continue to make new discoveries.
Thanks for watching!
What did you think about these amazing discoveries from NASA?
Which one is your favorite?
Let me know in the comments below, be sure to subscribe, and I’ll see you next time!
Published on Jan 30, 2019
Check out the foremost MYSTERIOUS Recent Discoveries By NASA! From strange unexplained planets found in space to possible life on Mars, this top 10 list of unsolved mysteries have a number of the good things discovered by NASA in recent years!
