Few Space Theories That Are Mistaken For Mysteries

It’s no more a mystery that our universe is full of mysteries! Our species has barely gone past our planet’s moon and only one of our probes Voyager 1 has even left the solar system- still we know things beyond that. The intelligence of our scientists has made assumptions like multiverse or dark matters that are so much beyond a normal person’s imagination. Much of what we’ve learned about space has been pieced together from falling objects and views from telescopes.

Space is a patricianly explained and partially unexplained phenomenon, inspiring scientists to make discoveries joining the dots of physics. Thus, it’s no wonder that people have questions about space asking since we first looked up into the night sky.

How do scientists learn about space beyond our reach? NASA astronomers use several kinds of telescopes in space and on the ground with each observes targets like stars, planets, and galaxies, but captures different wavelengths of light using various techniques to add to our understanding of this cosmic phenomenon.

Our attempts to locate aliens or earth-like planets

In 1977, NASA sent Voyager 1 and 2 across space with each containing a disc recording of important information. The project was proposed in the hope, that if there’s any extraterrestrial being out in the universe, we can get a response. Both the Voyagers carried small metal plaques known as the Golden Recordings identifying their time and place of origin. The golden recording includes a variety of natural sounds like wind, animals, water with music from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings in fifty-five languages along with several photographs of life on earth. The disc also had encrypted messages along with directions of the earth. The voyagers were launched in 1977 and had traveled almost trillions of kilometers.

NASA on 23 July 2015 announced that they have located earth-like planet Kepler-452b that exhibits similar traits of atmosphere and surface. NASA called it Earth 2.0. In February 2017, NASA once again found seven more Earth-like planets.

Proxima Centauri b: Proxima Centauri b is an exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun and part of the triple star system Alpha Centauri. It is approximately from Earth in the constellation Centaurus, making it, Proxima c, and Proxima d the nearest known exoplanets to the Solar System. It orbits an M-type star and takes 11.2 days to complete one orbit. It was discovered back in 2016. The discovery was made by observing temperatures of the exoplanet which might allow liquid water to exist on its surface, however, it’s still a theory. Thus, it could be habitable however still unknown the details of habitability for exo-worlds.

What lies on the other side of the moon?

The moon completed one rotation in the same time as it takes to orbit the earth which is known as tidal locking meaning that we view only one side of the moon all the time. The other side of the moon which is not visible to us is referred to as a ‘dark side of the moon.

If we trace the history, it is believed that the moon was formed at the same time when earth collided with the planet creating debris that later amalgamated to form what we know as the moon today. The earth’s gravitational force soon captured the moon into a tidal lock. The other side of the moon cooled off however the bright side of the moon was constantly exposed to earth’s heat resulting in a much thinner crust. Whereas the other side of the moon had a thick surface much rougher and more pock-marked with craters.

The other side of the moon is also known as the far side of the moon. It was once mysterious however today it’s no more a hidden place. The first images we saw of the far side of the moon were during USSR’s Luna 3 mission in 1959. The whole moon has been explored by humans and spacecraft from several countries since the Luna 3 mission. The far side of the moon has a few large basins called maria as well as mountains. One of the largest craters in the entire solar system is on the moon called as South Pole-Aitken Basin. This area has hidden water ice in a permanently shadowed crater. 

The pencil-shaped asteroid- Oumuamua

Oumuamua is the first known interstellar object to visit our solar system, it was discovered on Oct. 19, 2017, by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope, which finds and tracks asteroids and comets in Earth’s neighborhood. It passed the sun on Sept. 9, 2017, at a blistering speed of 196,000 miles per hour. Originally it was not classified as a comet but later the scientists declared it to be a comet. The comet was unusually different, it was oddly elongated and almost 10 to 12 times longer than the wide. This aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system until today. Oumuamua was the first to witness an elongated comet from outer space pass through us.

According to astronomers, an interstellar object much similar to Oumuamua passes through the inner solar system about once per year. However, they are faint and hard to spot until today. Today such types of comets and asteroids can be easily discovered through the high-powered telescopes of NASA.

Why did Apollo Missions stop?

If we go by theory, the Apollo missions were specially designed to land humans on the moon and bring them back to earth. A total of six missions were conducted respectively as Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Apollos 7 and 9 were Earth-orbiting missions to test the Command and Lunar Modules and did not return lunar data. But there is only one particular mission that grabbed the title of mystery- Apollo 13, a mission considered a successful failure.

Apollo 13 was planned as a lunar landing mission but was later aborted on the way to the moon after 56 hours of the launch. The mission was aborted due to the loss of service module cryogenic oxygen and the loss of electrical power to produce water. The crew was forced to orbit the moon and return to Earth without landing.

But this was initially misunderstood, as a rumor started of a weird moon sighting. People were spreading stories that the crew spotted a possible threat on the moon which NASA wants to keep hidden from us.