- Yeah Scotty, there's something on the wing.
Don't know what it is, kind of a mystery.
Humans have been studying space
for as long as technology has allowed us.
We know more now than ever before,
but that doesn't mean that we know everything.
In fact, there are still some big mysteries
that astronomers and scientists have questions about
to this day that remain unanswered.
(dramatic music)
Here are 10 Mysteries of Space
that Scientists Can't Explain.
Number 10 are total eclipses.
Now you probably think, oh, we know everything
about eclipses, it's pretty straightforward,
but believe it or not, they still hold mystery even today.
Eclipses occur when the moon moves in front of the sun,
obscuring its view, that we know.
One minute you're going about your business
in broad daylight and suddenly it's nighttime.
Well, one mystery that still surrounds the total eclipse
is a phenomenon known as shadow bands.
Just before the moon covers the sun completely,
strange shadowy ripples occur.
They move over everything below on earth
in hypnotic patterns, like waves from the sea,
and there's a huge debate about what exactly
these strange patterns are.
One theory is that they're caused by turbulence
in the atmosphere and that the shadows that we see
are simply light bending in the air currents above.
Another theory is that shadow bands are supersonic
shock waves created by the moon's shadow,
but the truth is nobody even really knows what causes them.
Personally, I like to call them moon farts.
I'm a simple man, I like simple terms.
Number nine is what happened to Venus?
The planet Venus is truly mysterious.
It's a similar size to Earth,
and orbits at just the right distance from the sun
to have liquid water on its surface.
So it should be similar to our planet, but it's not.
Venus is one of the most inhospitable places
in our solar system,
with crushing atmospheric pressure due to its
carbon dioxide atmosphere and clouds of sulfuric acid,
this is not the sort of place you want to go
on a family vacation.
Daddy, can I go swimming?
No son, your skin will melt off.
It's believed that Venus was once covered
in habitable oceans, so what changed?
Well, the truth is, nobody knows.
One possible reason is due to its slow spin.
A single day on Venus is as long as 243 days here on Earth.
Because of this, Venus generates no magnetic field
like Earth does, and therefore has far less protection
against the sun's heat.
But the real question remains,
what caused the planet to spin so slowly in the first place?
Hey, hey there, no, I see you Earth, I see you,
you're moving fast, but I just don't live my life that way,
like to take it slow.
Number eight is is there a planet 9?
Some astronomers have suggested that the number of planets
in our solar system is actually a mystery.
We know now that there are many dwarf planets out there,
such as Pluto, but is there anything bigger?
Could there be a full-sized planet waiting to be discovered?
Rumors persisted for many years of another planet,
simply referred to as Planet 9 being out there somewhere,
but until recently, the evidence has been contradictory.
But just in the last few years, however,
more evidence supporting the existence of ninth planet
has been discovered.
Mathematical models suggest that there may be
a large planet out there exerting influence
on smaller objects near it.
And if it does exist, it could be as much as
four times the size of Earth.
Now, scientists say that there's no chance
that such a planet could spin towards us out of the void,
but if it does, well, say your prayers, 'cause you dead.
Number seven is a monolith on Mars.
There are several theories that mysterious alien structures
exist on the Martian surface.
Now most have been debunked, but that doesn't mean
that there aren't still strange things out there.
Once in a while, NASA will take a picture of an object
in space which fires up the imaginations of everyone.
One such object is called The Monolith.
It was first photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
as it orbited the planet.
The object is rectangular and is about five meters wide,
standing distinct from its environment,
but that is nothing compared to a similar object
that was discovered on the Martian moon of Phobos.
The Phobos Monolith is about 85 meters across
and has been described as the size of a building.
Now most people believe that these strange objects
are just huge boulders, but when Buzz Aldrin himself
asks the question, and I quote,
"who put that there?" it certainly makes you wonder.
Number six are the Blades of Pluto.
When the New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto in 2015,
humanity received its closest ever view
of the icy dwarf planet, and some of the resulting images
left scientists scratching their heads.
Pluto appeared to be a far more mysterious place
than previously thought.
In some startling photographs, New Horizons observed
what looked to be strange, gigantic forests
of ice on the surface.
These huge fields of jagged ice are massive,
with individual blades of ice as tall as some skyscrapers.
Now, similar structures do in fact exist here on Earth,
but they're no bigger than a person.
Some have suggested that the jagged ice fields
formed because on Pluto, methane jumps between
a solid and gas without becoming a liquid when melting.
Now this could result in the bizarre frozen structures,
but this has yet to be verified.
But until this can be verified, scientists use
the technical term chilly chilly ice fields.
It's an interesting mystery.
Number five are the Glowing Eyes of Ceres.
Another fascinating mystery was discovered in 2015.
As the Dawn spacecraft approached Ceres,
the largest object in the asteroid belt,
it photographed a bizarre surface feature.
At first, it looked like a single large glowing white spot,
but then as the spacecraft drew nearer,
scientists observed several others.
Of course, much was made of this at the time,
with most hoping for some sort of alien explanation.
Them spots, they's aliens, I told you,
they're aliens, the spots, the spots.
While leading theories suggest that the lights
are caused by a type of salt-reflecting light,
nobody really knows for sure.
One possible explanation is that a large impact,
probably an asteroid, hit Ceres.
In the aftermath, a sort of salty brine bubbled up
from beneath the surface.
This in turn turned into a solid, reflective material,
creating the eerie bright spots.
But personally, I'm still holding out for aliens.
Call me old fashioned.
Number four is what is Oumuamua?
There are countless objects in our solar system,
planets, minor planets, dwarf planets, comets,
asteroids, moons, basically you name it, we've got it.
We understand what these objects are,
but in 2017, astronomers discovered a mysterious object in
our solar system unlike anything they've ever seen before.
Named Oumuamua, this strange elongated object
was traveling so fast it could only mean one thing,
that it was the first object from another solar system
entering our own ever discovered.
Cigar-shaped, reddish in color, and probably a piece
of metal or rock, Oumuamua came from somewhere
vastly different from our own solar system.
How it got here, we don't know yet.
All we do know is that it took millions of years
to get here and as we speak, it's headed back
out of the solar system to another unknown destination.
Alien time capsule, get your tin hats, I'm out, that's it.
Number three is where did the moon come from?
The moon isn't just a helpful light in the sky at night,
it creates the tides that stabilizes the Earth's spin.
Now we've stepped foot on the lunar surface
and sent several probes to investigate
our solitary companion, but despite knowing all of this,
the moon's origin is still a mystery.
No one is sure where it came from, however,
the most popular explanation is that a Mars-sized planet
smashed into Earth about 4.5 billion years ago.
The resulting debris then pulled together,
creating the moon that we see today.
Other theories claim that the moon was birthed by the Earth
itself, splitting apart from it at an early stage,
while another popular theory argues that the moon
was just passing by at the right time
and Earth's gravitational pull held it in place.
Whoa, Mr. Moon, you look kinda fun, orbit me forever.
Thank you.
Number two is what's happening to Saturn's rings?
Saturn is famous for the impressive rings which surround it,
but something mysterious is happening to them.
Saturn's rings are largely comprised
of ice and rock orbiting the planet.
As Saturn's 62 moons travel close by,
the gravitational pull creates huge waves
across this material, moving in the direction of the moons,
much like our moon does to our oceans.
Now this is to be expected, but there's another
mysterious ripple which moves in towards the planet.
Something inside Saturn is causing these disturbances,
and as of yet, no one knows what it is.
One theory is that there's a large stable sphere inside
the atmosphere, which rotates about once every seven hours,
but as of right now, no one knows what's causing
these massive waves, and for that reason,
I wouldn't recommend surfing on them.
You hear me, Silver Surfer, it's dangerous.
And number one is is there life somewhere else?
Probably the biggest and oldest mystery that mankind
has ever had about space is whether or not there's life
inside or outside of our solar system.
The understanding that we have of our solar system,
as well as our ability to detect telltale signs of life
have vastly improved, and while there's no definitive
evidence yet, there are some tantalizing clues
out there to be found.
The Curiosity robot on Mars has detected
methane anomalies which are yet to be explained.
One possible explanation is that the methane is produced
by alien bacteria under the surface of the planet.
Other prime locations for life include
some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn,
which appear to have liquid oceans under their surfaces,
some of them perhaps kilometers deep.
On Earth, life has evolved to live without sunlight
and feed on thermal vents deep in the ocean,
so if this is possible here,
who knows what lurks under the ice of the distant moons.
So those were the 10 biggest mysteries of space
that scientists can't explain,
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Thank you guys for watching and I'll see you in space.
(giggles) Bye.