Five of the biggest space science stories from the last year

Somewhat understandably, the world has been focused on a number of other things in recent years. What many people might have potentially missed, though, is that the universe revealed numerous secrets in the last year or so. In fact, science enthusiasts have been incredibly excited about some of the findings in the cosmos that researchers and scientists from around the world have discovered.

From a variety of discoveries to new giant telescopes being developed which can reach space, the findings in recent times have united the space community and given them genuine cause for optimism. Of course, space lovers can’t wait to hear about developments such as new moons and comets, with such discoveries supplementing their space-filled life, which might already consist of pieces of furniture like a moon lamp, an infinite galaxy puzzle, or with a session of space-themed slot games. For scientists and astronomers, though, some of the recent space-related stories have helped put age-old theories to rest and give them a new lease of life as they continue to look for answers with exploratory missions and their cutting-edge instruments.

With a range of fascinating space-themed news stories coming out in the last year or so, below is a recap of five of the best of them.

NASA have plans to return to Venus this decade

While most of the science news away from earth tends to be dominated by Mars, interest has been reignited in Venus thanks to recent research, which managed to find traces of phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere. Given the potential on offer, NASA has announced that it will launch two missions to the planet by 2030.

NASA’s Perseverance rover starts studying rocks on Mars

NASA’s mission to discover traces of ancient martian life on Mars kicked off in February last year, with NASA’s Perseverance rover leading the mission thanks to its powerful cameras, which enable scientists to study any rocks they find intriguing. So far, there have been plenty of interesting discoveries too, perhaps best summed up by the Harbor Seal Rock, a curiously-shaped rock that has potentially been carved by winds from over the years.

Scientists have found the closest-known black hole to earth

(Image via https://twitter.com/thehill)

Being just 1,500 light-years from earth, the closest-known black hole to our planet was spotted by scientists and has been given the name of “The Unicorn”. Black holes are notoriously difficult to spot, but scientists found this particular black hole after following rather strange patterns of behaviour from its companion star called a red giant.

The amazing discovery of comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein

Two researchers, without initially having the intention of doing so, discovered the largest ever comet to date. Pedro Bernardinelli, a graduate student, and his advisor, cosmologist Gary Bernstein, were looking through the Dark Energy Survey data in an attempt to find objects which might live beyond Neptune’s orbit. To their surprise, the pair spotted something which was significantly further from the sun than the objects which they initially planned to look at and study. The comet they discovered is believed to be 1,000 times larger than a typical comet and is potentially much larger than any of the other comets which have already been recorded.

An amateur astronomer discovers a new moon

Kai Ly, an amateur astronomer, couldn’t believe what he was seeing when he managed to spot a previously-unknown moon around Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter already has 79 moons, with more potentially to be discovered, too. The moon which Kai spotted has since been named EJc0061 and is said to belong to the Carme group of Jovian moons.