Space: the coolest discoveries

From the pillars of creation to the first asteroid, man has made extraordinary discoveries in the field of space research over time. Here are a few.

Planets TRAPPIST-1

© NASA / JPL-Caltech

NASA revealed on Feb. 22 that the Spitzer Space Telescope discovered a system of seven Earth-sized planets revolving around a single star. Three of these planets are located in a habitable zone where water could be found. This is a new record for the largest number of planets orbiting a primary object in a habitable area outside our solar system. The planetary system, called TRAPPIST-1, is located about 39 light-years from our solar system.
Photo: This illustration shows the possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of the new discovered planets that is part of the TRAPPIST-1 system.

Keplar's Laws

© JACOPIN / BSIP / Getty Images

In 1609, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler discovered that the planets were moving around the sun in an elliptical rather than circular path, as was believed at the time. This revelation helped astronomers predict the movement of planets more accurately than before.

Pillars of creation

© Space Frontiers / Getty Images / Getty Images

On April 1, 1995, NASA's Hubble Telescope took a breathtaking picture of the space that has been dubbed the Pillars of Creation. There are three gigantic columns of gas and interstellar dust bathing in the ultraviolet radiation of a cluster of massive stars freshly formed in the small region of the Eagle Nebula, or M16. Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen are to thank for this image that has been used in movies and TV series, as well as on pillows and postage stamps.

Kepler-452b Exoplanet

© NASA / REUTERS / Reuters

An exoplanet is a celestial body that orbits a star rather than our sun. On February 15, 2017, astronomers identified more than 3,500 such planets in 2,687 solar systems and 602 multiple planetary systems. In July 2015, NASA's Kepler telescope identified the Kepler-452b exoplanet, often described as the cousin of the Earth because of their similarities.

Black holes

© Pool / Getty Images / Getty Images

Although the term was coined by Princeton physicist John Wheeler in 1967, black holes have always been a mystery to space enthusiasts. The gravitational force of black holes, which are considered dead stars having collapsed because of their weight, is so great that even light can not escape. As a result, they are not visible and can only be detected by observing their effect on the matter around them.
Photo: This image of NASA / ESA illustrates a quasar. NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope revealed millions of potential black holes during its review of the sky in 2011.

Halley's Comet

© Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

Halley's Comet, named after the English astronomer who established his periodicity, Edmond Halley, is visible from Earth every 76 years. Several interplanetary spacecraft have captured the image of the comet, which would be composed of volatile ice and dust. Halley's comet, which leaves a luminous trail behind her when she passes over the Earth, appeared for the last time in 1986 and will be able to be observed again from Earth in 2061.
Photo: Halley's comet as seen from the Ford Observatory in California in 1986.

Tail of Mira

© NASA / JPL-Caltech / PA

In 1662, the German-Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius named this star Mira, which means wonderful in Latin. The brightness of this star in the constellation of the whale varies over a period of about eleven months. This variability was discovered by the Dutch astronomer Johannes Holwarda in 1638. In 2007, NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer's small telescope (GALEX) revealed that Mira's luminous gas tail stretches for more than twelve light-years. . This is matter lost by Mira in its trajectory because of its very fast movement, about 130 kilometers per second.

Discovery of the first asteroid

© Shutterstock

Ceres is the largest object of the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This celestial body discovered by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi on January 1, 1801 was first considered a planet, but when other similar objects were discovered in the belt, it was reclassified asteroid. In February 2017, NASA's Dawn spacecraft found evidence of organic matter on Ceres.

Discovering Uranus

© Science & Society Picture Library / SSPL via Getty Images / Getty Images

Uranus was identified in 1781 by German-British astronomer William Herschel. The bluish tint of the gaseous planet comes from tiny crystals of ammonia ice on its surface. Its atmosphere consists of hydrogen and helium. To date, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft is the only spacecraft to have visited the planet.
Photo: This image of the Hubble telescope shows Uranus surrounded by its four rings and satellites.

Enceladus and his geysers

© NASA / REUTERS / Reuters

In 2005, the NASA Cassini spacecraft observed jets of water vapor and geyser-like material at the south pole of Saturn's moon, Enceladus. The observation of the ice-covered surface of the satellite demonstrated its geological activity, as well as the presence of an ocean under its crust, making it an ideal target in the search for life elsewhere in the world. solar system.
Photo: This artist's view presents the Cassini probe flying over Encelade to study the egrets of its geysers.

Great red spot of Jupiter

© Science & Society Picture Library / SSPL via Getty Images / Getty Images

It is a huge raging anticyclone in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter that is about three and a half times the size of the Earth. This feature of the gas giant planet was first observed by the British scientist Robert Hooke in 1664. According to research published in the Nature Journal in July 206, this hurricane is largely responsible for warming the upper atmosphere of the planet, which can reach 1,500 ° C.

Rings of Saturn

© Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images / Getty Images

In 1655, the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens was the first person to observe the discs around Saturn. These rings of billions of ice and dust particles are about 270,000 kilometers in diameter, but are relatively thin, a maximum of one kilometer. NASA's Voyager space probe has established that the rings of the planet are made of a multitude of furrows, but also to discover the existence of the nine moons of the planet.
Photo: The rings of the planet Saturn photographed by Voyager 1 at a distance of 717 000 kilometers in 1980.

Water on Mars

© NASA

Several space probes have provided an abundance of evidence confirming the presence of water on Mars, starting with NASA's Mariner 9 mission in the 1970s. The astronomer Opportunity noted in 2004 the first signs that the rocks of the one of the martian craters has been exposed to water and may have come from a salt lake or ocean. In September 2015, findings from NASA's Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) probe provided the most tangible evidence that liquid water is circulating intermittently on Mars today.
Photo: These narrow trails 100 meters long on the surface of Mars would have been formed in our time by flows of water.