8 Strangest Things Scientists Have Discovered In Space
6. Planet with CO2
A while back, stargazers stumbled upon a Saturn-sized planet, some 700 light years away, that has CO2 in its atmosphere. That’s the first time we’ve spotted CO2 outside our solar neighborhood! The James Webb Space Telescope also caught faint whiffs of methane, water vapor, and more CO2 around a couple of other planets. It’s like a cosmic sniff test for potential life on those exoplanets.
7. Birth of a New Moon
Ever seen a new moon pop into existence? Probably not, right? This process usually takes millions of years to complete, but seeing just a glimpse is more than enough for a species like us. So the Cassini spacecraft snagged some mind-blowing pics on its way to Saturn and found what seems to be a fresh moon in the making, dubbed “Peggy.” It’s still an infant, like 0.8 km small, and it’s doing its thing just outside Saturn’s rings. Scientists think these moons happen when icy bits in the rings get shoved to the outer edges. Space is wild!
8. Space Butterfly
These awesome pics snapped by the Hubble Space Telescope have become legendary. The astronomers call it the Twin Jet Nebula, or PN M2-9 if you hate fun. But honestly, the name Space Butterfly is a perfect fit for this phenomenon. I mean, just look at it! This nebula’s got a double star system, making it a bipolar planetary nebula. The glowy shells in the pics? That’s the last hurrah of a dying star, shedding its outer layers.
