[CRUNCH] The Strangest Space Discoveries in History!
Space is being explored at a faster rate than ever before and some of the
discoveries that are being made are downright insane. Welcome to CRUNCH,
and in this video, we’ll be going through some of the strangest space discoveries in history!
10. Haumea
Some time in the mid-2000s, after several large objects were found on Neptune’s Kuiper Belt,
some rivaling the size of the then-9th planet from the sun, Pluto, it was decided by researchers at
the International Astronomical Union to declassify Pluto as a planet and create a new category called
“dwarf planets''. There are quite a few dwarf planets that have been discovered so far,
but probably none is more unique than the dwarf planet Haumea.
Its shape alone is quite mysterious, it looks more like an oval egg rather than
a sphere planet, it has two moons and one day on this planet lasts about 4 hours,
which means it's the fastest spinning object in the entire solar system.
There is also a unique ring around this dwarf planet, much like Saturn’s. The ring suggests
that this dwarf planet might have been the site of a major collision millions of years ago.
9. Oumuamua
There’s plenty of weird shapes floating around in space, but this one is truly something special. In
2017, this strange floating object was observed from the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakalā
Observatory, Hawaii. It had a long length, about a kilometer long, yet was quite thin at about 150
meters, resembling a giant cucumber rather than some sort of space rock. It was named ‘Oumuamua,
after the Hawaiian word for “scout”. The object was found within our Solar System, but it probably
isn’t from here, as it was traveling at insanely high speeds before it made its way into the
solar system. When it was first found, even scientists tried to see if it was some sort of
alien spaceship or not, as it didn’t resemble an asteroid or a meteor. Some of the evidence points
towards it being a comet, but this object hasn’t really been spotted since, so we may never know.
8. Strange Radio Signals
Humans have been trying to find life outside of the earth since space exploration has been
a thing. The results haven’t been great so far, obviously, and so far, no indication of
any life outside of the earth has been found yet, except this one phenomenon.
While radio was one of the most effective communication tools in human history,
there’s evidence that the “aliens” might have developed radio signals before us.
First picked up in 2007, fast radio bursts have been detected by numerous scientists
who are constantly observing space, and to this day, no one knows where they come from and how
they’re formed. They usually last for a few milliseconds, making them very hard to spot,
and some of these radio bursts will actually repeat up to hundreds of times. This is truly one
of space’s most amazing mysteries, but we might never get to the bottom of it in our lifetime.
7. Moon Orbiting Another Moon
Although there’s only one moon called “the moon”, in reality, every planet in our solar system,
with the exception of Mercury and Venus, have their own moon or even multiple moons.
In fact, even a dwarf planet like Pluto has multiple moons of its own.
But what’s truly strange about all these moons is that some of them can have a moon of their own!
That’s right, there have been instances, such as with one of Saturn’s moon Rhea,
where a planet’s external satellite has its own external satellite. To make things simpler,
these moons were called Subsatellite by scientists, but the internet took it one step
further and called them moonmoons, which is a term that now that even scientists have begun using.
No such subsatellite has ever actually been discovered by scientists yet, but there are
strong indications that there are plenty of them outside the solar system and even some within.
6. Exoplanets
An exoplanet, or an extrasolar planet, is a planet that is outside the solar system.
There have been hints of such exoplanets having existed since the early 20th century, but it
wasn’t ever taken that seriously by astronomers until in 1992, when Dale Frail and Aleksander
Wolszczan, two radio astronomers, finally discovered two planets outside the solar system,
shocking the scientific community. After this amazing discovery,
more and more funding and research went into discovering exoplanets with remarkable success.
As of 2021, scientists have discovered at least 4000 exoplanets. There was a time when
the possibility of an exoplanet was considered unlikely and even laughable, with so many attempts
to do so ending up in complete failure. As for the exoplanets themselves, some insane
discoveries have been made on them, including some exoplanets with hints of life on them.
5. Galactic Cannibalism
One of the strangest phenomena currently occurring in the universe as we speak
is galactic cannibalism. Just the thought of a cannibal here on earth
is strange enough to give us all chills but in space? Well, it’s downright terrifying.
There have been instances where some galaxies slowly start to merge with one another.
This is actually quite common, and it’s believed that the milky way we know today is also the
result of a lot of mergers and cannibalism. One of the most violent forms of merging is
galactic cannibalism, in which a large galaxy that’s interacting with a smaller galaxy ends
up eating the smaller galaxy as a whole until the two are indistinguishable from each other. This
can result in some crazy visuals and universal disturbances. In the end, there are usually some
features of the smaller galaxies incorporated into the larger one that cannibalized it.
4. Rogue Planets
While at this point, you probably know a lot about exoplanets outside the solar system,
but there is something much scarier about some of these exoplanets.
While most planets orbit around a large object, such as the sun, there are some planets that
slowly stray away from their natural orbit, and eventually, they go rogue. Planets of all
shapes and sizes have the ability or tendency to go rogue, this can be extremely destructive.
A planet on planet collision would be astronomically huge. When you consider
the fact that tiny asteroid collisions on earth in the past have caused mass extinction events,
such as the one with the dinosaurs, it’s crazy to think about what would happen if something the
size of a planet would come crashing to the Earth. Thankfully, there are no potential rogue planets
that are going to hit the earth in our lifetime, but space is unpredictable, so you never know.
3. Planet Nine
In a strange category between exoplanets and planets within our solar system lies
this probable planet. While this planet hasn’t been discovered yet, it’s almost
universally considered to be the potential 9th planet from the sun in our solar system.
The size of this planet is expected to be as much as 5 times as big as the earth and
its existence could explain many of the anomalies we see around the Neptune area.
Do you think we’ll ever discover planet nine? Let us know in the comments below!
2. The Red Rectangle Nebula
Nebulas are already some of the most fascinating things about space,
and most of them are very unique asymmetrical shapes that resemble clouds or smoke,
however, this Nebula is something that has blown everyone’s mind, the red rectangle
nebula is actually somewhat symmetrical and looks geometric. It’s believed that the nebula gets its
shape because there are two central stars sitting in the middle of it, and when shock waves hit
these stars, it leads to this incredible nebula being formed. This nebula is also known for its
unique red color, which is something that isn’t too common for nebulas like this one.
1. 101955 Bennu
Out of all the things that could potentially kill us all, this one is probably at the top
of the list. The 101955 Bennu is an asteroid that was discovered in 1999,
it’s classified as a potentially dangerous object by Sentry Risk Table and is ranked as one of the
deadliest objects that could ever potentially hit the earth. It has a diameter of about 490
meters and is expected to hit the earth, if it does, it’ll probably hit it some time in the 22nd
century, so we don’t really have to worry about that, but people in the future should probably be
on guard for that 1 in 2,700 chance that it does. Bennu is also one of the few asteroids where a
man-made object successfully made a landing when the OSIRIS-Rex landed on it in December of 2018.
That’s a wrap for the strangest space discoveries in history! If you enjoyed this video, make sure
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