Just because we don’t have a new planet to colonize does not mean 2014 was a failure for space exploration. There are plenty of things to be excited about regarding space, and that’s not even counting the movie Interstellar. More planets, something called a black-hole triplet, and stars merging into one humongous star–not bad for one trip around the sun.
10199 Chariklo
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An 154-mile-wide asteroid-like object with its own ring system that orbits between Saturn and Uranus. It’s like a miniature Saturn. Yes, miniature.
Siding Spring Comet
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This comet came within 87,000 miles of Mars. While that might sound like plenty of room, it’s the closet an observed comet has ever come to a planet without crashing into it.
Gas Escaping a Black Hole
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Scientists were amazed to see G2 get swallowed up by a black hole and then, like bad Tilapia on a rickety roller coaster, escape digestion.
Black Hole Triplet
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Some scientists believe that they have discovered three black holes within the galaxy NGC 1275. Others believe it’s just two massive ones. Either way, it’s at least one more black hole than most other galaxies are thought to have.
A Black Hole That’s Too Big For its Galaxy
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Scientists spotted a black hole in the M60-UCD1 galaxy that appears to be much too big for it. It should be very interesting to see how this plays out.
Baby Planetary System
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The ALMA Telescope of Chile discovered a relatively tiny planetary system in November.
Crumbling Asteroid
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Scientists observed the P/2013 R3 asteroid falling apart and crumbling into smaller pieces over the span of four months.
2012 VP113
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A dwarf planet named 2012 VP113 was discovered orbiting the sun from somewhere between 7 billion miles and 42 billion miles away. It’s nickname is “Biden” in honor of the Vice President of the United States.
Watery Plumes on Ceres
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Ceres, a dwarf planet, was seen shooting watery plumes this year. This is something that is thought to happen when it gets close enough to the sun that its ice is sublimated. Despite being much smaller than Earth, Ceres is thought to have even more fresh water on it.
White Dwarf Diamond
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A star that is so cold, its carbon atoms have crystallized into diamonds. Despite the bling, this star hardly shines at all.
MY Camelopardalis
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These two stars were discovered orbiting so close to each other that they were actually touching. Someday, they will merge into one star and be 60x heavier than the sun.
Kepler-186f
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An Earth-like planet that’s within the habitable zone of a star, Kepler-186f was quite an exciting discovery. While it might not be exactly like Earth, it is 1.1x bigger, so there’s more space. Hooray! We all get bigger rooms.
67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
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While this comet was discovered in 1969, it became the first one any human has ever landed a spacecraft on in 2014. Now that their equipment is on board, scientists will monitor its activity as it continues toward the sun.
(via Wired)
Great work up there, you guys! Now let’s keep it going into 2015. If I’m not colonizing a new planet and riding around in jet packs by 2016, I’m going to be steamed. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
