93. FERMI-MENT Filler
Year Found: 2010
Who Found It: NASA
Location: The Center of the Milky Way Galaxy
In November of 2010, NASA astronomers using the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope discovered that, emanating from the middle of the Milky Way, were two bubbles made up of powerful gamma rays. The bubbles were expanding at 2.2 million miles per hour, and these enormous spheres hovered in empty space both above and below the black hole in the Milky Way’s nucleus.
FERMI-MENT FILLER @SpaceAndBeyondBox/Pinterest
Basically, the two bubbles together look like an infinity symbol, which only adds to their strangeness. The entire figure-eight extends 25,000 light years from the galactic plane. The bubbles’ energy is the same as 100,000 supernovae explosions, and scientists still don’t know what created them.
94. Antimatter
Year Found: 1928
Who Found It: Paul Dirac
Location: Cosmic Ray Collisions
Antimatter, as a theory, was discovered a century ago, and research has continued to learn more about this unique substance. Antimatter is matter that is composed of the anti-particles of ordinary matter. Antimatter is the most expensive substance on Earth, costing $2,700 trillion per gram.
Antimatter ©NASA/MSFC/Wikimedia
In space, antimatter is also rare, as almost none exists in space anymore. When antimatter comes in contact with matter, it annihilates both, leaving behind nothing but pure energy. In space, the process occurs naturally, though rarely, during cosmic ray collisions. Scientists are not only trying to discover more about antimatter, they also want to know why it is disappearing from space so mysteriously.
95. Gravity Waves
Year Found: 1916
Who Found It: Albert Einstein
Location: Violent, Energetic Universal Processes
In 1916, Albert Einstein, perhaps one of the most famous geniuses in history, predicted that gravitational waves would exist in his Theory of Relativity. He has been proven correct over the past century, and there are even detectors, known as LIGO and LISA, designed to spot these elusive waves.
Gravity Waves @Georgia Tech/Youtube
Gravity waves are distortions in space and time, and they travel at the speed of light. They are very weak, so scientists can only detect those created through major cosmic events, like black hole mergers. The first direct observation of a gravitational wave occurred on September 14, 2015, thrilling the astronomical community.
96. Galactic Cannibalism
Year Found: 2003
Who Found It: UCSC, UCLA
Location: Andromeda Galaxy
Much like life on Earth, galaxies have the ability to eat one another and evolve over time. Andromeda, the neighbor to the Milky Way, is currently consuming one of its satellites. There are over a dozen star clusters throughout Andromeda that are the cosmic remnants of past meals. Essentially, these star clusters are akin to chicken bones.
Galactic Cannibalism ©Outer Space/Shutterstock
One day, Andromeda will eat us too. This violent galaxy is larger than the Milky Way, and researchers predict that it will come for us, in the end. Don’t worry, as the merger is slated to occur five billion years from now. Still, the thought is pretty unnerving.
97. Neutrinos
Year Found: 1956
Who Found It: Fred Reines, George Cowan
Location: Everywhere
Neutrinos are nearly-massless, neutral particles that can pass through miles and miles of lead without stopping. Neutrinos are likely passing through your body as you read this. These phantom particles are produced in space, as well as on Earth. They are created through inner fires of healthy, burning stars.
Neutrinos @theguardian/Pinterest
These “phantom” particles also occur during more violent supernova explosions. Currently, IceCube, a huge neutrino detection project, is underway. IceCube will place neutrino detectors beneath the sea, into a large chunk of ice, and in other underground locations to learn more about these electrically neutral ghost particles.
98. Vacuum Energy
Year Found: 1973
Who Found It: Edward Tryon
Location: Throughout the Universe
Vacuum energy is the idea of zero-point energy, which is the lowest possible energy state in the field of quantum mechanics. Vacuum energy has been a theory for decades, and it references the fluctuations that quantum fields experience in the “absolute zero” vacuum of space.
Vacuum Energy ©NASA/Wikimedia
This vacuum energy is not empty space—it’s a bubbling stew of virtual subatomic particles that are being created and destroyed constantly. These particles produce an anti-gravitational force that pries space apart. Vacuum energy has no known cause, and researchers are trying to find out why the universe is expanding at such an accelerated rate.
99. Globular Clusters
Year Found: 166 5
Who Found It: Abraham Ihle
Location: Milky Way & Other Galaxies
The first globular cluster ever found was discovered by a German amateur astronomer named Abraham Ihle. Since that 1665 discovery, many more of these clusters have been unveiled throughout the Milky Way and other galaxies.
Globular Clusters ©NASA/Wikimedia
These clusters are a spherical conglomeration of stars bound together through gravity. They can be made up of millions of stars or just a few thousand. There are more than 150 globular clusters in the Milky Way now, and those are just the ones that have been discovered. Though they are numerous, the history of these clusters and what they mean for galactic evolution are both unknowns for now.
100. Ganymede
Year Found: 1610
Who Found It: Galileo Galilei, Simon Marius
Location: Orbiting Jupiter
Named after the divine hero from mythology, Ganymede is a satellite of Jupiter, and it is the most massive of all of the moons of the Solar System. Ganymede was discovered in the 1600s by Galileo Galilei and Simon Marius, two of the most famous astronomers of the past.
Ganymede ©NASA/Wikimedia
Ganymede is significant because it was the first time that a moon was discovered orbiting a planet that wasn’t Earth. This moon is also the largest object in the Solar System without a substantial atmosphere. It has a radius of 1,636.8 miles, and its orbital period is just 172 hours.
101. A Total Solar Eclipse
Year Found: 1851
Who Found It: Julius Berkowski
Location: The Sun
The first-ever useful photograph of a solar eclipse was taken by Julius Berkowski at Prussia’s Royal Observatory. That said, eclipses have been occurring on Earth since before humans even existed. Throughout time, humans have had different reactions to and interpretations of these stunning celestial events.
A Total Solar Eclipse ©Lutfar Rahman Nirjhar/Wikimedia
The oldest-recorded eclipse in the history of humanity took place on November 30, 3340 B.C.E. The most recent one took place in 2017. When a total eclipse occurs, the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, totally blocking out the face of the Sun. The sky darkens as though it is dusk or dawn during an eclipse, but you should still never stare directly at it.
102. 5.0 Magnitude Earthquake On Mars
Year Found: 2021
Who Found It: Thomas Zurbuchen
Location: Planet Mars
On May 4, a magnitude 5 earthquake struck the surface of Mars, making it the biggest earthquake ever recorded on any planet apart from Earth, surpassing the previous earthquake record holder of a 4.2 magnitude, which took place in August 2021.
5.0 Magnitude Earthquake On Mars @spacedotcom/Pinterest
Even though such earthquakes don’t create any major issues on our planet and happen very frequently— things are somewhat different when such a thing happens on the planet Mars. In a tectonic sense, scientists have discovered that Mars is in a general sense a very peaceful planet, especially compared to the planet Earth.
103. Phosphine On Venus
Year Found: 2020
Who Found It: Jane Greaves
Location: Planet Venus
Trace gas measurements in planetary atmospheres allow us to investigate chemical conditions that are distinct from those on Earth. Venus, being planet Earth’s nearest neighbor, features cloud decks that are slightly acidic, and even though this discovery had seemed somewhat controversial, the newly acquired data is of large importance.
Phosphine On Venus ©ESO / M. KORNMESSER / L. CALÇADA & NASA / JPL / CALTECH
Something that we do know is that phosphine on Earth is produced only by life. So when they found it on Venus, this kind of information has rocked the world of science, especially the world of astronomers. The data has been met with a lot of criticism, though, at the end of the day.
104. The Synestia Theory
Year Found: 2019
Who Found It: Sarah T. Stuart
Location: Planet Venus
Synestia gives us the idea about the possibility that the Earth may have been a short-lived hot mass that can be donut-shaped, according to a 2017 study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. It is believed that these celestial objects have been formed after two bodies of the size of large planets collide, which may be how the moon was formed.
The Synestia Theory ©vadik4444/Shutterstock
According to studies, Synestia was a preliminary stage of the giant-impact current theories model for the formation of the Earth and Moon. Based on this theory, Synestia developed after a collision with a high-energy, high-angular-momentum item.
105. Three Merging Supermassive Black Holes
Year Found: 2019
Who Found It: Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Location: N/A
Although twin and triple gigantic black holes are indeed incredibly uncommon to see, they are not impossible. In this scenario, three distinct galaxies are observed to be revolving closely around a supermassive black hole with the potential to merge with it and maybe collide.
Three Merging Supermassive Black Holes ©NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center/flickr
According to various studies, the system is extremely brilliant and a special sight when it is being viewed in the infrared spectrum. This could potentially represent a possible sign of one or more black holes that are quickly moving, and rotating, but also likely to be feeding.
106. The Universe’s First Type Of Molecule
Year Found: 2012
Who Found It: Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy – SOFIA
Location: N/A
After many years of research, the first type of molecule to ever form in the universe has been discovered in space. With the aid of the largest airborne observatory in the world, researchers have found its signal within our galaxy in this case.
The Universe’s First Type Of Molecule @irenebassil11/Pinterest
There must have been relatively few specific sorts of atoms in the beginnings of the Universe as we know it. Helium, as well as hydrogen, were thought to have initially interacted to form the chemical known as helium hydride around 100,000 years after the big bang. Even though helium hydride would need to exist in some regions of the universe today, it has never yet been discovered in space.
107. The Recipe For Cosmic Soup
Year Found: 2005
Who Found It: Spitzer
Location: N/A
On July 4, 2005, NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft deliberately collided with comet Tempel 1, at which point it had ejected a shower of debris that carried the constituent parts of the solar system’s basic “soup.” Astronomers analyzed that specific soup and started to pinpoint the elements that eventually gave rise to planets, comets, as well as other bodies in our solar system utilizing data from Deep Impact and images from Spitzer.
The Recipe For Cosmic Soup @nasa/JPL-Caltech/Pinterest
Numerous elements found in that very comet dust were very well comet ingredients, including silicates or sand. Nonetheless, there were also unexpected components such as clay, carbonates (found in seashells), compounds containing iron, and aromatic hydrocarbons, which are found in common and ordinary places on Earth.