Exploring the universe has always been a human desire to understand the world beyond Earth. In this journey, humans have discovered remarkable objects in space that mark the pinnacle of intelligence and go far beyond human imagination.
The Miniature Exoplanet
In early 2013, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope discovered a star system with three planets, one of which was considered the smallest exoplanet outside our solar system at the time. This tiny exoplanet was named Kepler-37b and is smaller than Earth’s moon, with a diameter only 200 km larger.
It orbits a star similar to our Sun, located 210 light-years away from Earth. With surface temperatures reaching up to 420°C, Kepler-37b is too hot to sustain water or life.
Due to its tiny size and scorching surface, astronomers believe that Kepler-37b lacks a substantial atmosphere. It takes only 13 days for Kepler-37b to complete one orbit around its parent star.
The Fermi Giant Bubbles of the Milky Way
When you look at the Milky Way horizontally, you’ll notice the immense Fermi bubbles stretching across the Northern and Southern planes of our galaxy. These Fermi bubbles are two enormous spherical structures, each with a diameter of up to 50,000 light-years, equivalent to half the Milky Way’s diameter. A beam of light traveling at over 1 million km/h would take around 50,000 years to move from one Fermi bubble to the other. To this day, NASA astronomers have not identified the origin of the Fermi bubbles. According to hypotheses, these bubbles may have formed from the outflow of gas from supermassive black holes in our galaxy’s core.
Theia
Over 4 billion years ago, our young solar system appeared chaotic and extremely hazardous. During that time, the solar system contained scattered rock and ice fragments, making collisions frequent. One common theory about the birth of the Moon suggests it originated from one of these major collisions. According to scientists, in Earth’s early days, it collided with a planet about the size of Mars, called Theia. The remnants of this impactor remained in Earth’s orbit and eventually formed the Moon as we know it today. If the collision had occurred more directly, closer to either of Earth’s poles, or along the equator, the outcome might have been entirely different, potentially leading to Earth’s complete destruction.
The Sloan Great Wall
The Sloan Great Wall is a supermassive cosmic structure, comprising hundreds of millions of various-sized galaxies. It is considered one of the largest structures in the universe to date, with a diameter spanning 1.4 billion light-years. According to scientists, the Sloan Great Wall is a direct result of the Big Bang and can be observed at short wavelengths.
These astonishing discoveries in space continue to expand our knowledge of the cosmos, revealing its immense complexity and grandeur.
Tiny Black Hole
There’s nothing more intimidating and perilous in the cosmos than black holes, often referred to as “the abyss of doom” or “the terrifying murderers” of the vast universe. Astronomers have discovered numerous supermassive black holes, each with a mass billions of times that of the Sun. In contrast, the miniature black hole IGR, located in the Scorpio constellation within the Milky Way, may be small but can easily capture wandering planets in space.
Ultra-Minor Galaxy
Galaxies are known for their vast structures, each containing billions of stars intertwined with dust, gas, and dark matter. In 2009, American scientists discovered an extremely small galaxy named Segue 2. This dwarf galaxy contains only around 1,000 stars, making it one of the faintest and smallest satellites in our Milky Way galaxy. The discovery of Segue 2 holds great significance for mathematics and astronomy, offering insights into the formation of galaxies and adding evidence to the existence of black holes.
Largest Impact Basin in the Solar System
Since our comprehensive study of Mars began, there has been much debate about the cause of the planet’s uneven and pockmarked surface. Scientists have identified the largest impact basin in the solar system, located in the Borealis Basin of Mars’s northern hemisphere. This vast basin covers a stunning 8,500 kilometers, equivalent to 40% of Mars’s surface area. The second-largest impact basin, also on Mars, is only about a quarter of this size. Researchers have concluded that to create such a massive crater, the impacting object must have been significantly larger than the planet Mercury.
Closest Point to the Sun in the Solar System
Scientists have discovered an asteroid named 2000 BD19, which is the closest celestial body to the Sun among all planets, especially Mercury, in the solar system. Due to its close proximity to the Sun, this asteroid experiences extreme temperatures. The heat on 2000 BD19 is intense enough to melt zinc and lead. This discovery has allowed scientists to make strides in understanding the factors that can alter a planet’s orbit. As a result, they can conduct more detailed research on objects near Earth.
The Oldest Quasar
Quasars are the brightest and most distant objects visible in the universe, also known as “quasi-stellar radio sources.” Astronomers have discovered a quasar named ULAS J1120+0641, considered the oldest quasar in the universe. It appeared approximately 800 million years after the Big Bang. These quasars originate from supermassive black holes, traveling through space at speeds of 240,000 km/s, equivalent to 80% of the speed of light.
Saturn’s Moon Titan
The Cassini spacecraft once sent back stunning images of Saturn’s moon Titan to Earth. A 1000 km-long region in Titan’s northern polar region, although lacking liquid water, is filled with methane and ethane in liquid form. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon, with a diameter more than 50% larger than Earth’s moon. With its unique atmosphere, primarily composed of nitrogen, scientists are investing a significant amount of time to understand its origin.