From the potential of more "Earth's" being out there, to the potential for new space
colonies, join me as I reveal to you recent discoveries from space!
8.
Water On Mars The idea of "water on Mars" is not new, in
fact, there have been finds that said that Mars used to have water, and that gave us
hope for new chances to explore Mars and be on Mars one day.
Which is why scans from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbital in 2018 were so important.
For it discovered that formations on the planet were 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.
“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water,’ in our search for life in the
universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected,”
said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission
Directorate in Washington.
“This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water -- albeit briny
-- is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”
That's huge, because water on Mars right now means that it could be changed and altered
to support ingestion, which is the endgame goal here in regards to colonizing the planet.
“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 in
Washington.
“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.”
This was one big step for man for sure, but it wasn't the only discovery on Mars in the
last year..
6.
Organic Matter On Mars Life on Mars...something that many people
have thought about, talked about, dreamed about, and most importantly, imagined about
via TV shows, movies, and more.
But in June of 2018, proof that there might be life on Mars, or that there was life on
Mars, was found.
As one of the Mars rovers was researching a 3 billion year old mud stone...and found
organic matter.
As in, it found life...in part.
"With these new findings, Mars is telling us to stay the course and keep searching for
evidence of life," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission
Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
"I'm confident that our ongoing and planned missions will unlock even more breathtaking
discoveries on the Red Planet."
Add this to the fact that there has now been confirmed findings of Methane in the Martian
atmosphere (meaning that it can from an organic construct), and it would seem to indicate
that life on Mars isn't as impossible as once believed.
And now, the hunt is on for even more material, and even more proof that life either is, or
was on, the red planet, and whether we can use what we find to help get humanity there
one day.
5.
Death Of Saturn's Rings When you think of the planet Saturn, your
mind likely goes right to its rings, right?
After all, they're a defining feature, and they're something that really helps make the
planet stand out.
Not to mention, the rings are both massive and beautiful, making it a planet many want
to study.
Yet, it's because of these studies that it's been discovered that the rings of Saturn...are
dying.
How does that happen?
How can rings of a massive size die?
Well according to NASA, the rings are losing the moisture in the rocks that form the rings.
The moisture itself is being pulled into the planet itself.
So because of the loss of moisture, the rocks are breaking down, and when they break down
far enough, they'll cease to exist.
"We are lucky to be around to see Saturn's ring system, which appears to be in the middle
of its lifetime," lead author James O'Donoghue, a space physicist at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center, said in a statement.
"However, 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!"
But if you're worried about the rings suddenly vanishing overnight, you have nothing to fear.
It is believed it will take another 300 million years for the rings to fully "vanish".
However, NASA has said that while their prediction is accurate based on various figures, should
the rate of moisture absorption continue to grow, it would accelerate the process.
4.
Getting Into Jupiter's Orbit NASA has long tried to get a space craft into
Jupiter's orbit and it's not hard to see why given the unique nature of Jupiter, as well
as its massive size.
However, because of conditions in the planet's atmosphere, it's very difficult.
Not to mention, getting a craft near the planet in terms of its position in space is also
hard given its distance from Earth and the time it would take to get there.
Thankfully though, on July 4th, 2016, the Juno was the first spacecraft to make it into
Jupiter's orbit.
An accomplishment so grand even NASA said it was hard for them to pull off.
If you're curious about the craft that made this journey, the Juno is a solar-powered
spacecraft, and it was sent to Jupiter to learn more about the planet through pictures,
videos and scans.
Already, it has sent back video of storms taking place on the surface of Jupiter, as
well as a volcanic eruption happening on the nearby moon of Io.
Now, should these scans and studies continue without incident, it's very possible that
we'll learn more about Jupiter than we ever have before, and that could lead to some very
interesting discoveries.
But only time will tell if that'll happen in good time.
3.
Comet Soup NASA sent their Deep Impact space craft into
a comet called Tempei 1 in 2005.
You heard that right, NASA actually made one of their craft collide with an actual comet.
Pretty weird huh?
But I promise, there was a purpose.
They did it because they wanted to analyze the content and particles that were released
from the impact.
The comet itself was thought to have existed since near the beginning of our solar system,
and thus, NASA wanted to see what the comet was made of.
As it would give clues as to what was "out there" during the beginning, or the perceived
beginning at least.
So, what did the craft reveal about the "comet soup"?
The scans revealed that it was filled with things like silicates, clay, carbonates, iron-bearing
compounds and "aromatic hydrocarbons".
Some of which are things that we use to this day on Earth.
So does this paint a better picture about our Earth?
Yes and no.
We do have a slightly more filled in picture, but it's still something that needs to be
investigated further to understand truly what was out there in the beginning.
Still, it's a step, and a good one at that.
2.
Ice Volcanoes And you thought the volcanoes on Earth were
bad?
Well on the dwarf planet (a planet that never matured to full size) called Ceres, it may
have Ice Volcanoes.
Yeah, that's right, Ice Volcanoes, that could well and truly be a thing!
This was discovered by NASA via their Dawn Spacecraft in 2015, which was observing Ceres
(which orbits between Mars and Jupiter for the record).
These are called Cryovolcanoes" because instead of fire and ash, they could potentially shoot
out ice and mud.
How do we know this?
Observation of Ceres helped prove that the planet is covered with ice both above and
below its surface.
To that end, should these structures "erupt", the only thing it can shoot is ice and mud,
because that's the only thing around it.
“The members of the (Dawn science) team expected a lot of things, but not what we
finally got,” says Ralf Jaumann of the German Aerospace Center.
“I was completely surprised, and ‘completely’ means ‘completely.’
” At present, one of these Cryovolcanoes haven't
had an eruption in view of the craft, but given all the other weird things that are
out there (such as a planet that rains glass, no joke), it's not so far of a stretch to
think that an ice volcano could be out there.
1.
Black Holes and Imagery Of Them Black holes are a very curious thing in our
universe, because they are one of the most destructive forces ever made, and yet, it's
still a bit unclear how they exist.
How they work is very well known though.
They're entities with such heavy gravitational field that even light can't escape them, which
is why they're literal black holes, because you can't see into them via the light not
being able to project out of them.
In the last year, there have been two rather big discoveries in terms of black holes.
First, that there is indeed a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way
galaxy (called Sagittarius A), and that it's apparently surrounded by a bunch of other
black holes, up to 10,000 apparently, which would make that part of our universe one of
the most deadly in the world.
Then, in April 2019, scientist Katie Bouman was about to actually get the first visible
picture of a black hole.
This stunned the community because of its beauty and intensity (and how it looks like
the eye of Sauron from Lord of the RIngs, but I digress".
All of this points to how we're slowly but surely growing in our knowledge of these entities.
1.
Other "Earths" One of the biggest wishes of man is to find
another planet like Earth where we can go and settle should we need to leave our own
planet.
And should we actually have the technology to do so...but let's not dwell on that right
now.
Well, it was discovered by NASA in February 2017 that there might be 7 Earth-like planets
in a place just outside our own galaxy.
In fact, all seven planets inhabit one galaxy.
As you hopefully known, Earth is a very special planet, it has an atmosphere that has oxygen
(amongst other gasses) and thus allows life to breath and grow.
It is orbiting a sun that doesn't bombard our planet with too much heat, nor does it
give it too little.
This is why finding another "Class-M" planet as they are called has been so rare, because
what we need to survive is very specific.
Yet, they seem to have found seven of these kinds of planets that are orbiting a dwarf
star called TRAPPIST-1.
According to images they are about the same size as Earth, and some of them (based on
pictures and scans) do appear to have water on their own.
Should this be true, and should we be able to reach them, this could be a major colonization
option for Earth.
Plus, should this water be like ours, it is reasonable to expect there to be life within
that water, and in that's true, it'll be the first life outside of Earth to be discovered.
The possibilities here are very interesting, not just because we might have found another
planet to live on, but we might have found a bunch to live on in a very short area.
Which means that could be heading to a place where we could inhabit lots of planets...and
yet not be that far from each other.
Sure, it's still a pipe dream right now...but it may not be later...
What did you think about these new discoveries that NASA and others have found over the last
few years?
Which ones do you think will truly change things for us in regards to how we view space
and its possibilities?
Let me know in the comments below, be sure to subscribe, and I'll see you next time!