While we are about to start a new year, 2018 has been a great year for science, especially for astronomy and space engineering. Experts and scientists have made many space discoveries and advances, some of which have attracted worldwide attention.

However, many other discoveries have gone largely unnoticed by the public, although they are no less spectacular. From cryovolcanoes to extragalactic planets, we will see some of the best celestial findings and inventions that this year has left us.

10 The Largest Star Map Ever Made

In April 2018, the European Space Agency (ESA) publicly released the largest sky map ever created to date. The map is a three-dimensional reconstruction of the sky seen from Earth, thanks to data obtained by the Gaia spacecraft.

This space probe was launched in 2013 by the same agency and is located 1.6 million kilometers (1 million mi) away from Earth. With two telescopes and a one-billion-pixel camera, Gaia’s mission is to photograph the entire sky every two months.

With the information obtained, ESA’s star map contains the brightness and position of 1.7 billion stars. This makes the map 700 million times larger than its preliminary version in 2016. At the same time, it stores data about the color and movement of 1.3 billion stars. As if that were not enough, the image shows the location of half a million other galaxies as well as 14,000 asteroids in our solar system.

This map, which will remain under construction for the next few years, is a gold mine for astronomers around the world. With such a detailed model, scientists will be able to better understand the formation and structure of our galaxy as well as find evidence of new exoplanets.^[1]

9 Water Ice Found On The Moon

For a long time, there has been evidence pointing to the existence of ice on the Moon, but the proof has never been conclusive. There were signs of ice at the lunar south pole, for example, but these observations could be explained with phenomena other than the presence of water.

That changed on August 20 when NASA first confirmed the existence of water ice on both poles of the Moon. The definitive evidence was obtained through observations made by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), an instrument aboard an Indian spacecraft. These observations showed significant amounts of ice deposited at the bottom of several craters at the south pole. Meanwhile, the ice is more dispersed in thinner layers at the north pole.

Although the Moon’s surface reaches 100 degrees Celsius (212 °F), making the presence of liquid water impossible, the temperature in the polar craters drops to -157 degrees Celsius (-251 °F). This allows the water there to remain frozen for long periods.

This great discovery may encourage attempts to return to the Moon. Several uses for lunar water have already been planned. In some cases, it could be filtered and used for astronauts’ consumption. It could also be split into hydrogen and oxygen to provide air to humans there or for use as rocket fuel. This last option would allow the Moon to be used as a refueling stop for spaceflights to more distant places.^[2]

8 We Have Learned To Remove Space Junk

With the help of rockets, space stations, and satellites, humans have made great advances that have improved the lives of many people. But when these inventions stop working, their parts just keep floating in space as useless waste. We call this “space junk,” and there is a lot of it. Since there are millions of pieces of space debris around the Earth and a collision with these would be catastrophic, space exploration is becoming more difficult.

For that reason, scientists have struggled to find a way to eliminate space junk. This year, it seems they have found it. Researchers at the University of Surrey in England sent a satellite called RemoveDEBRIS into space.

This satellite has the mission to test four built-in technologies to try to deorbit space debris: a net, a smaller satellite, a harpoon, and a dragsail. In September, the first experiment involving the net was conducted, and the results were successful.

First, the satellite launched a piece of metal—to imitate real space junk—whose speed was around 27,359 kilometers per hour (17,000 mph). Moments later, RemoveDEBRIS also fired the net in the trajectory of the object. The cobweb-like net quickly opened and engulfed the debris without difficulty.^[3]

Scientists hope that both the net and the debris will burn in the atmosphere in a couple of months. Although the novel experiment shows how promising this technology is in removing space debris, one concern is the potentially higher cost of having to clean up larger space junk.

7 Dozens Of Cryovolcanoes On Ceres

Volcanoes are not limited to being hot. We are used to seeing big mountains on Earth spitting fire and molten rock, but volcanoes on other worlds may throw exactly the opposite: ice. This type of volcano, appropriately called a cryovolcano, releases a frozen mineral substance called cryolava.

We have already shown you that Pluto has cryovolcanoes on its surface. Titan, Saturn’s moon, also has this type of volcano. But it was not until recently that we learned about the abundance of these formations in the solar system.

In 2015, the space probe Dawn began to orbit the dwarf planet Ceres in the asteroid belt while taking numerous photos of its surface. Thanks to this, scientists confirmed the discovery of a cryovolcano on the surface of Ceres in 2016. This was incredible because it was believed that the planet was geologically dead.

But that was just the beginning. In September 2018, a team of researchers published a report stating that Ceres has around 22 cryovolcanoes on its surface. Most of these volcanoes are currently inactive, although they are estimated to be less than a billion years old.

While the composition of the cryolava in Ceres remains uncertain, the cryovolcanoes in other planets expel liquid nitrogen, dust, and methane. September’s finding is extremely important because it proves that Ceres is still geologically active.

How these cryovolcanoes work exactly is a question that remains to be solved. While volcanoes on Earth act by the internal heat of the planet, Ceres does not have such energy to power its cryovolcanoes.^[4]

6 The Strongest Material In The Universe

Graphene is 200 times stronger than steel. Meanwhile, a substance called carbyne is twice as strong as graphene and is considered the most resistant material on Earth. But what is the strongest material in the universe?

Well, in July 2018, scientists investigated such material inside a peculiar celestial body and carbyne pales in comparison to its hardness. At least for now, its name is “nuclear pasta.”^[5]

Nuclear pasta is the substance that makes up the core of a neutron star. When a star explodes in a supernova and becomes a neutron star, its core collapses inward and stores the mass of several suns in a few kilometers in diameter. The superdense material that forms such a core takes several shapes according to its location.

Through computer simulations, scientists from several US institutions tested the strength of nuclear pasta. As the material was pushed to the limit, it was concluded that this nuclear pasta is up to 10 billion times stronger than steel. Without any other element capable of demonstrating similar properties, nuclear pasta is now the strongest material in the universe.

These results have created more questions than answers for scientists—from the necessary means to observe such material to the way in which nuclear pasta generates gravitational waves.

5 Origin Of Super-Neutrinos Discovered

Neutrinos are subatomic particles formed in almost the entire universe through nuclear fusion processes. Due to their negligible mass and neutral charge, neutrinos can traverse almost anything without being affected at all. In fact, it is estimated that trillions of neutrinos go through a person’s body every second. Until some time ago, scientists knew that neutrinos can come from places like the Sun, supernovae, or our own atmosphere.

However, in September 2017, astronomers at an observatory called IceCube detected a high-energy neutrino that collided with the Antarctic ice. It was clear that this particle did not come from known places because it was estimated that this type of neutrino was millions of times more energetic than a normal neutrino. And if we just talked about how common the normal neutrinos are, only 10 of these new “super-neutrinos” are detected every year.

Astronomers asked to point numerous telescopes around the world to a specific portion of the sky from where they believed the super-neutrino had come. Two NASA telescopes observed that there was a blazar—a type of galaxy with a huge black hole in the center—emitting large doses of energy.^[6]

In a report issued in July 2018, the researchers who made the discovery confirmed that the source of the neutrino was the blazar galaxy located four billion light-years away from Earth. This finding not only establishes the first known source of such particles but also helps scientists better understand cosmic rays, which are created along with neutrinos.

4 One Step Closer To Space Tourism

With the companies SpaceX and Blue Origin as its main competitors, Virgin Galactic was founded with the mission of making outer space accessible to tourists. However, since its creation in 2004, the private company has had many problems to overcome to reach space.

It has been about 10 years since the firm promised tourist space flights. There have been numerous delays and a fatal accident in 2014. But after all, it seems that the time has come for Virgin Galactic to finally achieve its goals.

On December 13, 2018, Virgin Galactic completed the first spaceflight of its history using its VSS Unity spaceplane. This was also the first manned spaceflight launched from American soil since the last flight of NASA’s space shuttle in 2011.

The spaceplane—an aircraft capable of going to space, returning to Earth, and landing like an airplane—was carried by another aircraft called WhiteKnightTwo to a height of 13 kilometers (8 mi). From there, the VSS Unity separated, ignited its engines, and flew to a height of 82.7 kilometers (51.4 mi) at a speed of Mach 2.9.^[7]

At that point, the spacecraft exceeded the 80-kilometer (50 mi) limit that NASA considers to be the beginning of outer space. For this reason, Mark Stucky and Frederick Sturckow, the pilots of the VSS Unity, will receive their private astronaut wings next year.

However, others argue that the aircraft did not reach space by not exceeding the Karman Line at 100 kilometers (62 mi) high, which was internationally established as the edge of space. Either way, this achievement gives Virgin Galactic the confidence it needs to continue with the tests before its first commercial flights.

3 The First Planets Found In Another Galaxy

To date, we have found almost 4,000 planets outside our solar system. Even so, all these exoplanets have been located within the confines of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Until now. Early in 2018, astronomers at the University of Oklahoma detected for the first time in history a group of exoplanets in a galaxy far, far away.

To achieve this finding, scientists used a method that involves a physical phenomenon called “gravitational microlensing.” It happens that celestial bodies of large mass like black holes and galaxies have the capacity to bend light around them.

In this case, a galaxy located 3.8 billion light-years away from Earth magnified the light of four distant quasars located directly behind the structure. Thus, the “background light” of the quasars allowed astronomers to observe dark objects such as planets inside that galaxy.

The researchers were able to detect around 2,000 planets, ranging from the mass of the Moon to that of Jupiter. Until that moment, there was no real evidence of exoplanets outside our galaxy.

Researcher Eduardo Guerras said that not even the best telescope we could imagine would be able to directly see such planets. That is why the “microlensing technique” is an invaluable resource for many astronomers around the world.^[8]

2 The Creation Of The Coldest Object In Space

The states of matter that people know well are solid, liquid, and gas. Some others may know the fourth state, which is plasma. But there is a fifth state in which matter can be found, and it is known as Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC).

BEC occurs when atoms are cooled to extremely low temperatures which cause them to stop moving and begin to group together as if they were a single “super atom.” This exotic state was first theoretically formulated in the early 20th century, but it was not until 1995 that scientists could artificially recreate it in a laboratory.

Due to the peculiar physical characteristics of Bose-Einstein condensate, scientists can use it to study quantum effects on a large scale. However, on Earth, the BEC must be suspended with lasers or magnets. Otherwise, the atoms disperse and change state.

But that is no longer a problem. In July 2018, scientists on the International Space Station (ISS) cooled rubidium atoms until they reached the BEC state. As gravity is negligible at that height in space, it is easier to manipulate such matter up there, even for a longer time.

To perform the experiment, NASA sent a machine called Cold Atom Lab to the ISS. This device, which is the size of a small refrigerator, can contain the Bose-Einstein condensate inside it as well as be controlled directly from Earth. It is interesting to note that this exotic matter has also become the coldest object in outer space, although not the coldest in the universe.^[9]

1 A Lake Of Water On Mars

For decades, scientists have debated about the possibility of large reservoirs of water existing somewhere on Mars. Due to the extreme conditions of the Red Planet, the scientific community is focusing on searching for underground water deposits because they could be the only places capable of sustaining life on that planet.

With hostile temperatures of -62 degrees Celsius (-80 °F) on the surface of Mars, astronomers have been able to notice only some flows of super-salty water in a liquid state. Meanwhile, the rest of the water seemed to be frozen in layers of ice as in the polar ice caps.^[10]

To the surprise of many, scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) detected for the first time a large body of liquid water beneath the Martian surface in July 2018. Using a radar instrument from the Mars Express orbiter probe, the team found strong evidence of a water lake 20 kilometers (12.4 mi) long near the south pole. This lake is buried under 1.5 kilometers (0.9 mi) of ice and would be at least 1 meter (3 ft) deep.

It is still unknown why water is liquid in that reservoir, where temperatures could be as low as -68 degrees Celsius (-90 °F). But it could be a combination of the enormous pressure at that depth, underground air pockets that retain the planet’s internal heat, and large amounts of dissolved salt in the water. In any case, this finding increases the hope of scientists being able to find life on Mars.

Brian is an economy student, passionate about graphic design, and an avid enthusiast of the art of writing.

A meteor is the fireball that occurs when a space rock (called a meteoroid) burns during its entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.^[1] For this reason, every space rock that falls naturally to Earth inevitably becomes a meteor, be it of greater or lesser intensity. This concept serves as a starting point for the following list.

But it happens that sometimes an alien rock falls to Earth, becomes a meteor, and then, for some reason, decides to leave our atmosphere to continue its journey through space. Below, we will see ten examples of meteors that exhibited this behavior, some of which even became awe-inspiring spectacles.

10 Japan Earth-Grazer
2006

As stated in the introduction, meteors generally occur when space rocks burn and disintegrate upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere. But on some occasions, such meteoroids fall to Earth in a trajectory almost parallel to its surface and “bounce” in the upper atmosphere. So after becoming bright meteors for a moment, these rocks just keep going and return to outer space. We call these meteors “Earth-grazers.”

An Earth-grazer event occurred in Japan on March 29, 2006. A bright fireball crossed the sky over several Japanese cities, allowing several stations to accurately measure its trajectory and characteristics. The cause of the fireball was a meteoroid of approximately 100 kilograms (220 lb) that entered the atmosphere at a height of 87 kilometers (54 mi). From there, the meteor traveled about 1,000 kilometers (621 mi) over Japan, lasting 35 seconds before leaving Earth.^[2]

This was the third Earth-grazing meteor scientifically observed and measured accurately. Photographs, recordings by TV cameras, telescopic observations, and a special software were used to determine its characteristics. Even with all this equipment available, there are very few documented cases of Earth-grazers around the world, although most of the items on this list fit the category.

9 Fast-Moving Fireball
1990

On October 13, 1990, two astronomical stations detected the passage of an Earth-grazer meteor over Czechoslovakia and Poland. Three other independent observers in Czechoslovakia and a fourth person in Denmark also confirmed the sighting. The fireball was caused by a 44-kilogram (97 lb) meteoroid, which descended into the Earth’s atmosphere to a minimum height of 98 kilometers (61 mi). It was moving at a speed of around 42 kilometers per second (26 miles per second), about 20 times faster than the fastest manned aircraft in the world.

For the nearly ten seconds it was visible in the night sky, the Earth-grazer traveled a distance of 409 kilometers (254 mi).^[3] After that, the meteor left the atmosphere and returned to space, now with a reduced speed. Its mass was also reduced; after burning a little in the atmosphere, it lost 350 grams (0.77 lb) of material. To verify the object’s trajectory, NASA ran computer simulations, whose results were similar to direct observations and confirmed that the meteor left the Earth. A Czech camera station that is part of the “European Fireball Network” program photographed the Earth-grazer in mid-flight. The image shows the bright object moving across the visible sky near its highest point.

8 The Great Meteor
1860

On some occasions, an Earth-grazer meteor can fall low enough into the atmosphere to end up breaking into pieces. When that happens, the Earth-grazer becomes multiple, smaller fireballs that travel horizontally across the sky in the same direction. Some fragments disintegrate in the atmosphere, while others return to space. Because the lights move in a seemingly organized way and at a lower speed, this phenomenon is known as a “meteor procession.” This type of Earth-grazer is even stranger, with only four known cases to date.

One of these cases occurred on July 20, 1860. It was 9:49 PM when the American painter Frederic Church and his wife (who were on their honeymoon in Catskill, New York) saw a row of bright orange meteors that crossed the entire sky. Not far from there, the famous writer Walt Whitman also saw the same lights. In his poem “Year of Meteors (1859–60),” he described them as “the strange huge meteor-procession dazzling and clear shooting over our heads.” Hundreds of people across the United States witnessed the fireballs, and numerous newspapers of the time also described the event.

What all these people saw was a rare meteor procession involving several meteors that crossed the North American sky from west to east.^[4] The fragmented Earth-grazer descended on the Great Lakes between the United States and Canada, reached its minimum height above the Hudson River in New York, and continued moving toward the Atlantic Ocean. After a journey of more than 1,600 kilometers (994 mi), the meteors escaped the atmosphere and left Earth behind.

7 Cometary Fragment
2012

20,000 years ago, a large comet in our solar system shattered and gave birth to Comet Encke (officially called 2P/Encke), famous for approaching Earth frequently. On June 10, 2012, a meteoroid from this comet came to visit our planet and then resumed its journey through space. The rock weighed 16 kilograms (35 lb) and entered our atmosphere about 100 kilometers (62 mi) above the east of Spain.

The Earth-grazer moved at an astounding speed of 105,000 kilometers per hour (65,244 mph) while advancing toward the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. After descending to around 98 kilometers (61 mi) above sea level, the meteor began to regain altitude. While still being over Spain and 32 kilometers (20 mi) away from the Atlantic Ocean, the fireball said goodbye to us and went into space again, with only a minimal change of speed. However, our planet did leave marks on it. The scorched meteoroid lost 260 grams (0.57 lb) in the atmosphere and returned to its orbit with a fusion crust, the external layer of melted rock typical of meteorites.

In total, the fireball traveled 510 kilometers (317 mi) in the atmosphere for 17 seconds. This former meteor has several particular characteristics that differentiate it from the rest. On the one hand, it is the faintest Earth-grazer meteor scientifically observed, with a brightness similar to that of the planet Venus. And in addition, it is the first of such events that comes from a meteor shower. It came specifically from the Zeta Perseid meteor shower that occurs in June each year, which, in turn, comes from the same space debris field as Comet Encke.^[5]

6 Christmas Eve Meteor
2014

On the night of December 24, 2014, while everyone was busy on Christmas Eve, a meteor decided to come to Earth to observe us. Then, for some reason, it left. A total of 13 observation stations in Spain and Portugal detected an Earth-grazing fireball moving slowly—for a meteor—from southeast to northwest over Europe. The object was a rock of 100 kilograms (220 lb) and 1 meter (3.3 ft) in diameter, flying at a speed of 68,400 kilometers per hour (42,500 mph).

The meteor entered the atmosphere over North Africa, beginning to glow 105 kilometers (65 mi) high. Then, the Earth-grazer continued to move and descend down to a height of 75 kilometers (47 mi) over Spain. There, the fireball was moving so slowly that some drivers had time to park to get out and see it pass. The meteor continued its journey, now over Portugal, as it began to ascend again. Finally, the Earth-grazer reached the Atlantic Ocean, and about 100 kilometers (62 mi) away from the coast of Galicia (Spain), it returned to space.

The meteoroid, whose code name is SPMN241214, is a rock that came from the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. After its close encounter with the Earth, the rock had its trajectory modified, although it still orbits around the Sun as before. Footage from the University of Huelva shows that the object was very bright, leaving a short and thin trail behind. Another recording from the Spanish province of Guadalajara (shown above) reaffirms the slowness of the meteor. Although in this video, the light lasts about half a minute before leaving the camera’s field of view, the total duration of the fireball was one minute.^[6]

5 Zagami Meteorite
1996

Not all shooting stars return to space on their own. Some rocks that were once meteors have flown back into outer space thanks to human intervention. In October 1962, a farmer was working in his fields in Zagami, Nigeria, when he suddenly heard a loud explosion. When he looked up at the sky, he saw a meteor fall and hit the ground only 3 meters (10 ft) away from him. The farmer noticed that now there was a crater 0.6 meters (2 ft) deep, with a black rock inside. This rock was nothing less than an 18-kilogram (40 lb) meteorite from Mars. The rock was ejected from the Martian surface after a comet impact 2.5 million years ago.

In November 1996, NASA began its first successful mission to the Red Planet after two decades—the Mars Global Surveyor. This mission consisted of launching a spacecraft destined to orbit Mars and photograph its surface for several years. But it turns out that the space probe did not fly alone: Inside, it was carrying a small piece of the Zagami meteorite, covered by a resin bubble. In September 1997, the NASA spacecraft began its orbit around Mars, thus returning the Zagami meteorite to where it belongs. That’s right, the rock left Mars millions of years ago, fell to us like a shooting star almost 60 years ago, and then finally returned to its home planet. Although Mars Global Surveyor is currently inactive, it is still orbiting our neighboring planet and is expected to collide with the Martian surface in the future.^[7] So the Zagami meteorite will become a meteor for the second time, now in its own world.

4 Unconfirmed Earth-Grazers
1996/2012

Meteors are so brief and unpredictable that it is difficult to determine where the next one will occur. And it is even more difficult to know if some particular sightings really were meteors that fell and returned to space. On October 3, 1996, an unusual shooting star crossed the night sky of New Mexico, after which it vanished. But 100 minutes later, the same fireball flew over California and exploded. It is believed that the meteor was a rock that bounced in the atmosphere and almost completed a full orbit before falling back over Southern California. However, the reports remain unconfirmed.

Meanwhile, at 11:00 PM on September 21, 2012, thousands of people across England, Scotland, and Ireland witnessed a fireball (shown above) flying through the skies. The light moved slowly and lasted about 40 seconds before disappearing. Two and a half hours later, another shooting star with the same characteristics crossed the sky over Canada and the United States.^[8] In several countries, the emergency lines were saturated with hundreds of phone calls from people frightened by the fireball they had just seen.

Soon, mathematician Esko Lyytinen, a member of the Ursa Astronomical Association (Finland), entered the scene and stated that the meteors of September 21 were related. Both were the result of a single space rock that began to burn in the sky over Ireland at a height of 53 kilometers (33 mi) but had enough speed to fly back into space. However, that entry into the atmosphere caused the rock to lose speed. So, 155 minutes and a full orbit around the Earth later, the remnants of the meteoroid reentered the atmosphere over North America and ended their crazy flight there. With limited information about the speed and angle of the meteors, some experts doubted this claim, but the possibility of a new Earth-grazer is still there.

3 Rare Aten Asteroid
2007

Information about the following Earth-grazer meteor, called EN070807, is scarce. All available references to it come from a single public access article from the Ondrejov Observatory, which is part of the European Fireball Network in the Czech Republic. Since the European Fireball Network names meteoric events with an abbreviation of the date they occurred, the code name of this Earth-grazer indicates that it visited Earth on August 7, 2007.

EN070807 is actually an Aten-type asteroid. Aten asteroids are rocky fragments that orbit the Sun at short distances, and it is believed that most of them come from the main asteroid belt. Many Aten asteroids occasionally intersect Earth’s orbit, which makes them a possible danger to our planet. In the case of EN070807, although its initial orbit was of the Aten type, its encounter with the Earth could have changed its trajectory.

While EN070807 was descending over the European sky, several stations in the Czech Republic photographed the event. This allowed the European Fireball Network to include the Earth-grazer in the aforementioned biannual report, along with 44 other conventional fireballs.^[9] Like the other meteors on this list, EN070807 lost material during its brief passage through the Earth’s atmosphere, but the rest of its body is still floating out there.

2 Campo Del Cielo Meteorite
2014

The Zagami meteorite is not the only alien rock that humans have sent back to space. For 4.5 billion years, a large iron body roamed outer space until it collided with Earth 4,000 years ago. The meteorite fell in Argentina, and locals call the impact zone “Campo del Cielo” (Field of the Sky).

In 2012, Scottish artist Katie Paterson acquired a small meteorite from Campo del Cielo, melted it at 1,700 degrees Celsius (3,092 °F), and reshaped it to its original form. The old-new meteorite, weighing 680 grams (1.5 lb), was then transferred to a European Space Agency facility in the Netherlands. And in July 2014, it was launched to the International Space Station, aboard the spacecraft Georges Lemaitre.

The meteorite was unpacked and prepared for its return to Earth in the same spacecraft that took it up there. Finally, in February 2015, the meteorite had a destructive reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.^[10] So it differs from the Zagami meteorite in at least two things. First, the Campo del Cielo meteorite was a meteor twice. And second, it was a meteor twice in our own atmosphere. This is why Paterson’s work was internationally recognized, and it proved that a meteor which falls to Earth does not have to do it only once.

1 The Great Daylight Fireball
1972

While all the other Earth-grazing meteors we have seen on this list occurred at night or under poorly studied conditions, the following case occurred in broad daylight and in front of thousands of people. For this reason, it is the best-known Earth-grazer, and it is widely remembered as the Great Daylight Fireball. It was 2:30 PM on August 10, 1972, when a space rock entered the atmosphere above the state of Utah. And for more than a minute and a half, it crossed the sky in a northward direction. The meteor ended up leaving Earth over Alberta (Canada).

The Earth-grazer generated enough heat during its passage through the atmosphere for a US Air Force satellite to be able to detect it, obtaining data on its speed and trajectory. After several investigations, it was determined that the object entered our planet at a speed of approximately 54,100 kilometers per hour (33,616 mph). The meteoroid would have had a maximum mass of 570 tons and a length of 14 meters (46 ft)—roughly the size of a truck (but much heavier). When the object escaped the atmosphere at a height of approximately 102 kilometers (63 mi), its size became 10 meters (33 ft) at the most.

Its closest approach to the Earth’s surface occurred 58 kilometers (36 mi) above Montana. Due to its low altitude, people near the site could hear sonic booms coming from the meteor in the sky. There are multiple recordings of the fireball, such as a 20-second video showing its path or a photograph in which the Earth-grazer flies over the Teton Mountains in the state of Wyoming. Now, we all know the outcome of this story, but it is estimated that if the object had impacted the Earth, it would have had the destructive force of an atomic bomb.^[11] So we can thank the meteor for being in a good mood that day.

Economy student, passionate about Graphic Design, an avid enthusiast of the art of writing.

For many of us, the question of what happens to us after we die is a complex spiritual matter regarding the eternal state of our souls. But the more immediate, tangible question should be: Where do our bodies go once we no longer have need of them?

The answer should be obvious—graveyards. Except for most of us city dwellers, that option is quickly running out. Limited underground grave space is swiftly becoming an international issue, one for which many cities have had to find creative and preemptive solutions.

10 New York City, New York

With an overwhelming population of over eight million people spread across five boroughs, New York is easily the largest city in the United States. With such a dense population, one can imagine how lively the city must be. It seems that the only place left for quiet reflection is its cemeteries.

But soon enough, these cemeteries will no longer serve as places where reverence of the past meets nostalgia for those who just walked among us. Instead, they will serve as relics of an increasingly distant past as the gravestone dates fail to keep up with the present.

For Manhattanites seeking a final resting place in their home borough, they only have one option left: Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum. Established in 1697, the original churchyard is the final home to Alexander Hamilton and his wife, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, son Philip Hamilton, and sister-in-law Angelica Schuyler Church. The Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum is the only active gravesite left in Manhattan, and it can only accommodate aboveground burials.^[1]

If you live in any other borough or are unable to secure a spot at Trinity, then your options are limited to New Jersey, the Green-Wood Cemetery, or the Cypress Hills Cemetery. The last two are both in historic Brooklyn.

At Cypress Hills, cemetery management is looking between graves to find new in-ground burial options. They have begun to dig new graves perpendicular to the road and old graves in order to use up every last inch of burial space available. At Canarsie Cemetery, also located in Brooklyn, management plans to build a whole new “town” of mausoleums to accommodate the steady demand for burial sites.

9 Hong Kong, China

Hong Kong has always been a bustling city with trade and popular tourist attractions. So naturally, the population has climbed to a steady 7.4 million residents. While this adds to the excitement of the city, it does not leave much room for residents who wish to reside in Hong Kong after death.

Hong Kong has been struggling to find adequate burial space since the 1980s—after using some available land on the city’s hillsides to create towering step cemeteries such as the Pok Fu Lam cemetery. These cemeteries, which are already nearly full, are a common host for the Qingming (“tomb sweeping”) festival in early April.

Descendants congregate at their ancestors’ tombs and pay their respects by cleaning and maintaining their families’ tombs. In fact, family members can pay upward of $30,000 for a private grave at Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O cemetery, for example, because space is so limited and descendants are so willing to accommodate the final wishes of their loved ones.^[2]

But for those who hope to find space in a public burial vault, the wait can be up to five years for cremated remains that sit in bags in funeral homes. By then, there may be no space left.

For those future generations wondering what options will be available to them? Well, Hong Kong’s government has proposed a rather creative solution: a floating cemetery with room for nearly 370,000 urns. This “Floating Eternity” would also provide green space for families to picnic during their visits and plenty of bamboo gardens in which to celebrate the city’s many festivals.

8 London, England

In London, posthumous realty is quickly becoming a hot commodity. Two of London’s boroughs—Tower Hamlets and Hackney—simply stopped offering burial services because they cannot accommodate any more graves. In fact, Tower Hamlets has not had any new burials since 1966.

Many cemeteries, like Tower Hamlets, have considered recycling graves. In fact, the City of London Cemetery in east London has already begun this process. After posting notices on the appropriate graves at least six months beforehand, the city exhumes coffins from graves that are 75 years or older and digs deeper graves. Then they place the old coffins at the bottom and bury new individuals on top.

In 2017, Parliament passed a law that allows cemeteries to legally reclaim and reuse one of these graves. While this solution has created considerable backlash, the alternative—clearing out woodland areas and other limited green space—is just as difficult to support. For many Londoners, this decision comes down to the preservation of family history or the preservation of vital green space.^[3]

7 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Back on American shores, the historic city of Philadelphia has run into an unusual architectural problem: Many construction sites are forced to delay progress due to the discovery of miscellaneous human remains. Shockingly, this is not a new problem for Philly construction. Newspapers reported this occurrence as early as 1851.

The city, which is home to many defunct and forgotten gravesites, has had to combat this recurring issue by creating a map of every cemetery, burial ground, and graveyard that the city has known. With the help of the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum, the city has been able to create a comprehensive map of current and past burial sites.

As for current and future burials, Philadelphia residents have been forced to look to the suburbs for grave space. Laurel Hill, the city’s largest and most historic cemetery, has fought to preserve their vast green space.^[4]

Built in the Victorian era, Laurel Hill has steadily expanded to become a 78-acre site that is popular among both the living and the dead. However, the cemetery has been forced to slow down the rate at which they host burials due to being at 99 percent capacity.

Now Laurel Hill Cemetery only hosts about 25 in-ground burials per year and has opened new accommodations such as private and community mausoleums, a columbarium (a space specifically built for housing urns), and a ceremonial scattering garden.

6 Venice, Italy

Perhaps surprisingly, this world-famous lagoon city—known for scenic gondola rides and epic bridges—is a popular final resting place for both residents and tourists. One might think, how would a city known for its waterways host a cemetery?

Well, in 1837, Isola di San Michele, an island located just off Venice’s northeast shore, was decreed the only Venetian space where burials were allowed. However, San Michele Island Cemetery is less than 2.6 square kilometers (1 mi²) in size and can only accommodate a very limited number of burials.

As such, the cemetery is traditionally only used as a temporary resting place. After 12 years, the bodies are exhumed and cremated or placed in an ossuary within the Venice city limits.

In recent years, the Venice city council passed a law allowing individuals to charter a boat 700 meters (2,300 ft) out from shore to scatter the ashes of their loved ones. For individuals wishing to scatter ashes on the land, the city has also allotted a small garden on San Michele where this is sanctioned.^[5]

5 Singapore

In Singapore, land for burial sites is becoming harder to obtain for vastly different reasons. In search of available land for new highways and shopping centers, Singapore has begun exhuming graves to clear space for such infrastructure developments.

In the city-state’s Bukit Brown Cemetery, nearly half of the existing 100,000 graves have been exhumed for a new eight-lane highway passing through the center of the cemetery. But the construction does not stop there. Singapore’s Ministry of National Development plans to devote the remaining land of Bukit Brown Cemetery to housing and apartment complexes for the city-state’s increasing population.

A similar process, which met with public discontent, began in the early 2000s in Singapore’s historic Bidadari Cemetery. Bodies were exhumed, and remains were either relocated or cremated. For Muslim graves, a new underground crypt was built that would accommodate religious practices while also using as much available space as possible.^[6]

Both the Bukit Brown and the Bidadari cemeteries closed for in-ground burials in the mid- to late 1900s but remained available for cremations and columbarium burials. Even in one of Singapore’s active cemeteries, Choa Chu Kang, space is being cleared for the creation of public buildings and roadways. As a result, Singaporeans are looking to cremation and columbarium burials in hopes of preserving the permanence of their final resting places.

4 Tel Aviv, Israel

According to Jewish religious practices and Halachah, any out-of-ground burial, including cremation, is banned due to the belief that God created our bodies as sacred. Therefore, we must return our bodies to the Earth and the Creator.

As a result, burial space in Israel—already near capacity—is doubly hard to come by because any possible solutions are limited. To combat this, Israeli officials have suggested that the nation look at “high-density burials.” This has manifested in the Kiryat Shaul Cemetery in Tel Aviv with the creation of a four-story burial complex.

But why doesn’t this complex violate the in-ground burial stipulation?

Simple. The architects designed the building to look like rolling hills with flowers and shrubbery growing along its outer walls. To further abide by Halachah, each story has a dirt floor with a column of dirt connecting it to the subsequent floor below until that column reaches to the very ground upon which the structure is built.

Also observing the Jewish law that the dead be buried as individuals, each burial chamber is separated by cement walls. While risky, this practice was received well by the public.^[7]

3 Netherlands

With the Netherlands known for its water usage innovations and eco-friendly waste management practices, it is no surprise to find that the country has extended its recycling policies to its graveyards. Due to poor soil conditions and high underground water tables, the Netherlands already had limited options when it came to cemetery building.

As a result, they have only allowed citizens to rent out gravesites for 20 years. At that point, relatives can decide to extend the lease or to give up the space. If no relatives reach out within six months of a notice posted to the gravestone, then cemetery management relocates the deceased to a communal plot.

The only exceptions to this law are Jewish cemeteries where Jewish law does not allow graves to be exhumed or relocated. However, tracking down next of kin can be tricky for “general graves” that have up to three unrelated individuals buried in the same plot. Due to this and a general disdain for disturbing the dead, exhuming the graves with expired leases is more difficult to enforce in practice.^[8]

2 Australia

In the Land Down Under, it is increasingly difficult to find space 1.8 meters (6 ft) under. A controversial 2018 law stated that relatives of the deceased could rent burial plots for 25–99 year periods. Once the leases are up, if the relatives cannot be reached or do not contact the cemetery within two years of lease expiration, then the cemetery is legally allowed to reclaim the graves by exhuming the bodies and moving the bones to a communal ossuary.^[9]

Another less controversial but less common option is that of a natural “green” burial in Bunurong Memorial Park, a cemetery near Dandenong. Within the park lies Murrun Naroon, or “Life Spirit”—a heavily wooded area set aside for natural burials without coffins or headstones.

A “green” burial consists of the body of the deceased being wrapped in a decomposable shroud with a plastic GPS tracker attached. Over time, the body and shroud will naturally decay in the earth to provide nutrients and new life for the native Australian flora.

However, the GPS tracker will remain behind—buried in the ground—so that descendants can visit their ancestor’s final resting place and soak up the new life left in his stead.

1 Tokyo, Japan

The cemeteries of Tokyo have been combating limited grave space for two generations. In the 1970s, Tokyo built its only locker cinerarium to preserve in-ground burial space. This type of burial is not common due to Japan’s long tradition of honoring ancestors in family burial spaces surrounding beautiful Buddhist temples.

However, by the mid-1960s, available burial space within Tokyo’s Buddhist temples was nonexistent. As a result, Tokyo’s inhabitants resorted to faraway gravesites, such as Kamakura and Mount Fuji, which still offered serene spaces perfect for reflection. However, this solution was a temporary one that ended up being far too expensive for the average Tokyo family.

As a result, the Ruriden columbarium was built to meld centuries-old tradition with modern Japanese culture. The Ruriden, which allows relatives of the deceased to access their loved one’s urns via an electric card, preserved the burial urns upon a small alter next to a Buddha statue.^[10]

Situated behind glass, these urns light up when the electric card is swiped so that family members can easily locate their loved one’s remains. After 33 years, the urns are relocated to a crypt beneath the structure’s floor.

On June 5, 2024, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams left the Earth for the International Space Station. The mission had been delayed for seven long years thanks to various technical setbacks and other problems. The length of the mission was to be 8 days. Then something happened. 

The astronauts were using something called the Starliner capsule, made by Boeing, to get them to and from the ISS. Except the capsule has been suffering from issues like helium leaks and thruster issues. Boeing has been suffering numerous failures with its aircraft for years now.

The return of the astronauts has been delayed while the capsule is assessed to see if it’s safe for them to use. If not, they may not return to Earth until February 2025 with the crew from the next SpaceX mission. 

Everyone’s hoping it works out for the best, but that could mean these two astronauts, scheduled for just over a week, will end up spending 7 or 8 months in space. And long term stays in space come with side effects.

Space has no shielding from cosmic radiation the way Earth does. Our atmosphere protects us from a hell of a lot, but galactic cosmic radiation in space can pass right through spacecraft walls and human bodies. A normal stay in a shuttle or the ISS is not too dangerous as they are meant to be short trips, but the longer someone stays in orbit, the longer they’re going to be exposed. It’s just one of the issues that they’ll have to deal with.

When you’re not on Earth, it’s hard to get access to the things the rest of us take for granted. While it’s easy for us to go to a 7-11 to get a Slurpee, that’s not an option for an astronaut. And, in their cases, it’s less frivolous things than Slurpees they might need like medicine, food, water, and even air. None of these are just lying around up there. 

Imagine something happens to your supply of food, air, or water just as you reach Mars. It takes 9 months to get there, so turning around to pick up something you need is not an option. 

Mental health is a concern that NASA has in regard to astronauts isolated away from Earth for so long. In the case of the two astronauts stranded on the ISS, it’s likely to be worse since this was never planned. But even when it is a planned mission, or when we look ahead to extended missions to Mars, this is going to be a real concern.

Another major concern is how space physically affects the human body. We’re not designed to live in a gravity-free environment. This affects organs, bone density, vision, and more. Astronauts who come back after extended stays in space have had some pretty concerning health issues as a result. 

There are even a few sci-fi-sounding issues that astronauts need to deal with on extended missions. The current US record for time in space is 371 days, while a Russian cosmonaut made it 437 days. All of that resulted in changes in everything from the astronaut’s brain to the bacteria in their stomach. NASA has identified 30 health risks associated with missions in space. Let’s dive into a few more closely.

Cosmic Radiation Dangers

It’s estimated that, on a three-year Mars mission, astronauts could be bombarded by enough ionizing cosmic radiation to cause serious cellular and DNA damage. Right now we have no idea just how much radiation, what kind of radiation, or how damaging it could potentially be since no one has traveled that far for that long.

Potential side effects could be cancer, infertility, cataracts, and more. Research into exposure to cosmic radiation has concluded that cancer and degenerative diseases are to be expected, as in they aren’t just maybe unlucky potential side effects. They’re going to happen. 

Astronauts will be in contact with ionizing radiation between 50 and 2000 millisieverts (mSv.) One mSv is what you’d get from three chest X-rays. One thousand causes radiation sickness like vomiting and hemorrhaging. 

Isolation and Mental Health

As if radiation wasn’t bad enough, space also wreaks havoc on the mental health of astronauts. Imagine being trapped in a place you literally cannot leave, for months at a time, and you’re all alone. Or you’re stuck with one other person who you didn’t even know before it started. How long before you start to lose your cool?

Astronauts have been diagnosed with a condition psychologists call the “break-off effect.” It’s characterized by a sensation of feeling detached from the earth, like you’re no longer a part of it, and was identified as far back as the 1950s with high-altitude pilots.

Some astronauts find themselves feeling attached to the craft they are in instead of the Earth. Alan Shepherd, the first American in space, said that when he looked out at the Earth, he felt nothing. He thought it was underwhelming and insignificant but lied and said it looked beautiful because he knew that’s what everyone wanted to hear.  

Shepherd lied about his experience, and it’s something that astronauts are known to do. Psychologists have noted that astronauts are fearful of expressing their true feelings because they don’t want to be considered mentally unwell. In truth, many of them feel loneliness and disconnection from the Earth and are more interested in their vehicle than the planet they just came from.

Beyond these unique problems associated with space, astronauts are also subject to the same feelings that anyone on Earth would have if they were stuck in an isolated situation. Anxiety, depression, sadness, and more. The problem is that they often don’t have anyone else to talk to about it, and nowhere to go to change their surroundings.

The Dangers of a Lack of Gravity

Back when space flight was first being considered, one of the chief concerns about how we would adapt to zero gravity situations was the ability to eat and drink. To this day you can find lots of articles and videos about the novel ways NASA has come up with to ensure an astronaut can enjoy Tang in space. Turns out, eating and drinking were one of our least concerns.

In a zero-gravity environment, the human body suffers from a loss of bone mineral density. On Earth, your bones, like all your other cells, are constantly changing and growing. They react to the stress that they’re under all the time. The problem is, in space, they’re not under that stress anymore. Because gravity isn’t putting strain on your bones, as they grow and change while you’re in space they don’t need to be as strong. Your bones begin to grow weaker the longer you’re up there because nothing is stressing them out anymore.

After too long in space, your bones can become exceptionally weak. That means, if you do endure some kind of stress, you’re more prone to breaks and fractures. When you return to Earth, the stress of gravity weakens you a lot. It’s not just your bones either, it’s your muscles that have degraded because they’re not working against the force of gravity. There’s fear that, after a mission to Mars, an astronaut in their 30s would feel as weak as a person in their 80s when they got off the craft, even after exercising regularly.

Once astronauts get to Mars they have to deal with that shift in gravity from their module to the planet itself. Coming from Earth and returning to Earth means that there are three different gravities that their bodies are going to have to adapt to you. This can cause space motion sickness on top of muscle and blood pressure issues.

When Frank Rubio returned to Earth after his 371 days in space, he had to be lifted out of the capsule because he didn’t have the strength to get out on his own. 

In space, astronauts have to exercise up to 2 hours a day, every day, to prevent their muscles from atrophying. This includes their hearts which all diminish due to the lack of gravity. Astronauts who have returned from zero gravity have shown an inability to maintain blood pressure when they sit up and insufficient blood flow to the brain. 

Another issue astronauts face is fluid pooling behind their eyes, the eyeball flattening out, and swelling of the optic disc. The lack of gravity leads to serious vision issues dubbed Space-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome. Astronauts on extended missions have had to get glasses with stronger prescriptions as their vision begins to fail them. Some of these changes are permanent.

Stomach bacteria suffer in zero gravity. After returning to Earth it’s been observed in astronauts that the amount of helpful stomach bacteria has decreased while more pathogenic bacteria increased. This one needs more study to figure out what’s happening and if it’s a potential danger, however. It’s not the weirdest side effect of being in space, though.

Time Dilation and Aging 

Time dilation is a real thing, not just something cooked up by Star Trek writers. It’s also something that has affected real astronauts here in the present. It’s not nearly so dramatic as anything you’ll find in a cool space travel story but it’s not nothing, either. Specifically, astronaut Scott Kelly went to space while his twin brother Mark stayed on Earth. Thanks to time dilation, the gap between their ages increased, and Mark aged a little more than Scott did.

The numbers here are extremely insignificant because we have not mastered exceptionally fast space flight yet and can’t do any of that “almost light speed” stuff that would allow someone to travel for a month while years pass on Earth. That said, Mark Kelly is now 5 milliseconds older than Scott compared to before he went to space. 

As Einstein once explained, the closer you get to the speed of light, the slower time goes. Scott Kelly was not going anywhere near light speed, but he was orbiting the earth at 17,500 miles per hour which is faster than most of us will ever go and he was not as close to the gravitational pull. After a year in space, he shaved off 5 milliseconds. 

If we could travel at light speed, the time difference would be far more significant. Light speed itself can never be achieved according to physics, as time would then stop entirely and that seems counterproductive. But what if we got close? At 99% of the speed of light, if you went on a 5-year trip in space, 36 years would pass on Earth. At 99.99999999% light speed, one second of travel equals 19.6 hours on Earth. One month at that speed would mean 5,876 years passed on Earth.

For long-term space travel, the time dilation would clearly leave the entire world behind. Imagine Star Trek’s five-year mission if they could achieve near-light speeds which their warp engines supposedly do. That 5-year mission at warp one would pass while 352,000 years passed on Earth. 

Back in reality, time dilation can still have curious side effects. Because of how gravity affects time, an astronaut on Mars could live there for 80 years but die 12 seconds earlier than they would if they lived the exact same 80 years on Earth. 

It’s not your speed that affects time dilation, but gravity as well. That means, if you were away from the gravitational pull of a planet and traveling through space at a normal speed, that is something well below the speed of light, time would end up moving slower for you than it would for people on Earth. That’s why high-orbit satellites age faster than those closer to Earth’s gravitational pull. 

More gravity means slower time. On a planet with high gravity, or like in the movie Interstellar where the planet is near a black hole, time would seem to slow down compared to time on earth.

As bizarre as all of this sounds, and it seems like it doesn’t make sense, it’s been proven many times over. Experiments with atomic clocks have shown time does slow down if you move away from a source of gravity. You can set up two precise clocks at the exact same time, lined up perfectly down to the microsecond, and the one that travels around the world will come back at a different time. 

Will time dilation be a big deal for any astronauts in our lifetime? Probably not. Maybe one day, if we develop an engine capable of near-light speed or somehow faster than lightspeed travel. Until then, we’re just dealing with fractions of seconds. Not the end of the world, but certainly interesting nonetheless.

Given all the horrible things that extended space travel can do, it’s nice to know that there’s at least one that’s just a little bit goofy but not dangerous.

Rockets are our only option of traveling or sending payload to space today. However, that could change in the future. There are plans to develop alternative methods of travel. And they are truly weird.

Inventors have proposed traveling or sending payload into space with elevators, underwater space guns, catapults, and even balloons. While some of these could be unrealistic and will probably remain a pipe dream, others could appear within the next few decades. Only time will tell.

10 Space Elevators

A space elevator is exactly what you think it is—an elevator that goes all the way from the ground into space. The idea was first proposed by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895.

Four to six cables would be connected to a single elevator system. Each cable would be connected to an electromagnetic vehicle (which is practically an elevator) that leads to different platforms in space or the upper atmosphere. The elevators would travel at speeds reaching thousands of kilometers an hour.^[1]

The upper ends of the cables would be connected to a large mass like a space station or even an asteroid. The bottom of the cables would be connected to a 50-kilometer-tall (31 mi) tower on the ground. Most designs indicate that the ground tower would be built along the equator because areas outside that region are vulnerable to hurricanes and tornadoes.

NASA believes that the elevator will replace or reduce our dependence on rockets one day. Although we haven’t managed to make a space elevator yet, China and Obayashi Corporation of Japan have separate plans to finish one by 2045 and 2050, respectively. If completed, it may reduce the cost of sending 0.5 kilograms (1 lb) of payload into space from $3,500 to $25.

9 Skyhook

Imagine a giant fishing hook extending from outside space and stopping somewhere in the skies. Yes, that is exactly what a skyhook is. It is also called the beanstalk as in “Jack and the Beanstalk” or Jacob’s ladder after a Bible verse where a ladder was released from the heavens down to Earth.

A skyhook is often promoted as a smaller version of the space elevator. Both follow the same principle except that the cable on the skyhook does not reach all the way to the ground. There is no ground station, either.^[2]

The payload is first transported on a rocket or other propelling unit and attached to the end of the cable of the skyhook, which sends the payload into outer space. It has been suggested that a skyhook could also work the other way around to transport minerals mined from asteroids and other planets to Earth.

8 Space Gun

A large space gun is capable of shooting payloads into space. It cannot be used to launch humans there because the force would instantly compress a person by half, leading to death. While we haven’t managed to make one, several inventors are still trying to create one.

One inventor is John Hunter. He proposed a 1,100-meter (3,600 ft) space gun, called the QuickLauncher, to get the job done. Hunter began working on the QuickLauncher in 1992 and even tested a 130-meter (425 ft) prototype. When completed, the QuickLauncher would be installed 490 meters (1,600 ft) below the sea somewhere around the equator.

Only the top of the barrel would be visible along with a rig holding the upper part of the gun above the water. Hunter said that the QuickLauncher would reduce the cost of sending payload into space to a mere $113 per kilogram ($250/lb). He believed that the gun could be completed within seven years if he was able to get the $500 million in funding.^[3]

7 Mass Driver

The mass driver (or electromagnetic catapult) works like a giant catapult. We could just think of it as a train. In 2012, aerospace engineer Dr. George Maise and Dr. James Powell, one of the inventors of the maglev train, worked on building a mass driver that they called the StarTram.

The StarTram would operate with magnetic levitation (maglev) technology, which is used by many high-speed trains today. Maglev trains do not have wheels. Instead, they depend on magnets to send them sliding over the rail. The StarTram would resemble a maglev train running inside a tube.

One end of the tube would be on the ground while the other would be in the upper atmosphere. However, the end at the upper atmosphere would still be held securely to the ground with steel beams or something similar. The payload would be magnetically accelerated until it reaches the other end where it would be expelled and continue its journey into space.

The inventors planned to create two mass drivers—one for cargo and the other for humans. They said that the cargo mass driver would cost $20 billion to build and be ready in about 10 years. The passenger version has a cost estimate of $60 billion and would be ready in approximately 20 years.

According to Powell and Maise, the StarTram is expected to transport 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) of cargo into space at just $50 (in 2012 dollars). Using similar calculations, it would cost just $5,000 instead of $20 million (again, in 2012 dollars) to send humans to the International Space Station.

The duo also believe that StarTram could be used to protect Earth from large asteroids, to capture solar energy, and to allow us to mine raw materials from asteroids.^[4]

6 Launch Loop

The launch loop would consist of magnetic cables covered by a protective material. It has been described as an advanced version of the mass driver we just discussed. However, instead of having one end high up in the atmosphere, both ends of the launch loop would be on the ground.^[5]

The center of the track would rise into the skies, just like a roller coaster. The spacecraft, or train, would start off from one end of the track and shoot into space at the center of the track. While the idea sounds promising, it’s doubtful that we will see one anytime soon because it would cost a fortune to build.

5 Catapults

A space start-up called SpinLaunch is considering sending payload into space with catapults. The catapult is actually a centrifuge that spins at a high speed. In fact, it spins so fast that it swings an attached payload into space at speeds up to 4,800 kilometers per hour (3,000 mph).^[6]

Curiously, NASA had tested similar technology, even though it was with rail tracks and not centrifuges. NASA abandoned the project because it was less reliable than rockets. Nevertheless, SpinLaunch believes that the technology will work. Its major challenge is the air resistance that could stop the payload from getting into space.

4 Balloons

A company called World View prefers to do things the old way. Instead of trying to invent something new to get us into space, they’ve settled for helium balloons. They will fly to the stratosphere, the second layer of Earth’s atmosphere as you move higher toward space.

A flight will carry two pilots and six tourists. A seat on the balloon is expected to cost around $75,000 for a six-hour flight. While World View completed a successful test flight with a prototype on June 18, 2014, it missed a 2016 deadline for its first paid flight.

One downside of the balloon is speed. Balloons will reach space in two hours, which is very slow. Rockets reach space in less than four minutes. However, the balloon will offer a more breathtaking view for the tourists. Also, passengers will not have to deal with the explosive takeoffs and g-forces experienced with rockets.^[7]

As another downside, the balloon could end up 480 kilometers (300 mi) from its takeoff point due to the wind. However, World View has this covered by offering return flights to its passengers. The company also mentioned that it has precautions and safety measures against the balloon falling back to Earth or flying off into space.

3 Airplanes

Charles Bombardier and Juan Garcia Mansilla have suggested using special airplanes for space travel. The proposed Paradoxal is a supersonic or hypersonic airplane with a jet engine that converts to a rocket to escape into space. The engine converts back to a jet engine when it returns to Earth.

The jet engine becomes a rocket when liquid oxygen is injected into the exhaust. This increases its speed as it reaches the velocity to escape the Earth’s atmosphere. However, Bombardier and Mansilla are not really concerned with space travel. They actually want their airplane to be used for business travel.

This airplane would go into space to exploit the curvature of the Earth to shorten flight time. For instance, the Paradoxal would cover the 12,200 kilometers (7,600 mi) between Los Angeles and Sydney in less than three hours. Conventional aircraft complete it in around 14 hours.

However, cameras outside the airplane would allow passengers to see the exterior of the airplane. If that isn’t enough, they would experience the weightlessness of space for just one minute before the airplane begins its descent to Earth.^[8]

2 Orbital Ring

The orbital ring is closely related to the space elevator. However, unlike the elevator, it is a huge ring that goes around the Earth. Several points along the ring would be connected to ground stations here on Earth. Elevators would be installed in the ground stations to allow us to travel into space.

The orbital ring was first suggested by Nikola Tesla in the 1870s. However, Paul Birch is credited as the inventor after he proposed the modern orbital ring in 1982. Birch suggested that we manufacture the orbital ring in space with minerals tapped from space.^[9]

Unfortunately, nobody is keen on creating the ring because Birch was misquoted and misunderstood. One unending rumor is that he claimed the ring would cost $31 trillion dollars. While an orbital ring around the Earth remains a pipe dream, there are suggestions to install it around the Moon and other planets, allowing us to enter and leave them with much ease.

1 Space Fountain

Space fountains are considered an alternative to the space elevator. They have the ground and space stations but without the elevators. The idea was promoted by a six-man team including Robert L. Forward, who explained the idea in his book Indistinguishable from Magic.

The proposed invention is called a space fountain because it works like a water fountain. A ball could remain atop the water from a water fountain if the force of the water remains constant. At the same time, the water that falls back into the fountain is reused to keep the ball up. And the process continues.

The ground station of a space fountain is a sort of U-shaped chamber while the space station is an upside-down, U-shaped chamber. Using the logic of the ball we just mentioned, the space station remains in space because the ground station shoots millions of small magnetic pellets at it. The space station shoots the pellets back to the ground station, and the cycle goes on.

However, the walls of the ground chamber would be lined with electromagnetic accelerators that would fire any payload into space. The space fountain remains unfeasible due to the unbelievable amounts of energy it would require. A space fountain with a space chamber 2,000 kilometers (1,240 mi) away from the ground chamber would require the same amount of energy as an entire city.^[10]

Space is unbelievably large and mysterious. It is unlikely that we will completely explore it before the end of humanity. Every once in a while, we discover some mysterious celestial body or observe some unexplainable anomalies.

We rarely have answers to these mysteries. All we do is brainstorm over what they could or could not be. Nevertheless, some are so weird that we have considered them as evidence of the existence of some intelligent life out there.

10 Oumuamua

In October 2017, astronomers detected a mysterious object floating through our solar system. They named it Oumuamua. It flew close to the Sun—reaching one-fourth the distance between the Sun and the Earth—before suddenly accelerating and escaping from our solar system.

Astronomers do not know what Oumuamua is or the cause of its sudden acceleration. Some astronomers have suggested that it is an abnormal comet. Others think it is an asteroid, a less than fully formed planet, a solar sail, or a large body of ice that broke off from a destroyed planet.

Shmuel Bialy and Avi Loeb of Harvard University suspect that Oumuamua is a solar sail, which is a solar-powered spacecraft. Bialy and Loeb think that the sail was built by aliens to explore our solar system.

However, other astronomers disagree. Zdenek Sekanina of NASA believes that Oumuamua is an icy comet without a tail. He suggested that Oumuamua lost the water and gases that would have formed its tail when it strayed too close to the Sun.

Gregory Laughlin and his team at Yale University agree that Oumuamua is made of ice even though they do not think it is a comet. They believe that it used to be part of an icy planet that was destroyed after straying close to a larger planet.^[1]

Amaya Moro-Martin of the Space Telescope Science Institute thinks that Oumuamua is the remnant of a partly formed planet. He and his team suspect that the planet was still forming at the time it was flung out of its star system. If this is true, Oumuamua is the first less than fully formed planet we have found.

9 Tabby’s Star

In 2011, scientists studying data captured by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft discovered that a star named KIC 8462852 frequently dimmed before brightening up again. The star is also known as Boyajian’s star or Tabby’s star.

Scientists proposed several causes for this bizarre behavior. Some suggested that the dimming was caused by a group of comets orbiting the star or some other unconfirmed materials in our solar system. Others think that it is caused by the dust around a black hole between Tabby’s star and Earth.

One group of astronomers believed that this effect was generated by a megastructure built by some intelligent life. They think that the star dimmed when the orbiting megastructure passed between the star and the Kepler space telescope. This suggestion generated the most curiosity, causing other scientists to try to determine the real cause of the dimming event.

Dozens of telescopes observed the star when it dimmed again in May 2017. Scientists soon discovered that this was not caused by a megastructure because such an object would block all colors of the star’s light from reaching the telescopes rather than simply dimming it. Scientists concluded that the dimming effect happened due to space dust orbiting the star.

However, they could not decide on the origin of the dust or confirm whether it is really dust. It also seems like the dust is being blown away from the star. This is why some scientists think that an undiscovered celestial body is creating more dust to orbit the star.

In 2016, Brian Metzger of Columbia University suggested that the dust was released from a planet or moon destroyed after straying too close to Tabby’s star.^[2]

8 FRB 121102

Fast radio bursts (FRB) are strong radio signals we sparingly receive from space. Although scientists cannot confirm the origin of these signals, researchers think that they are emitted by exploding stars or neutron stars getting consumed by black holes. FRBs often disappear as soon as they appear. However, not FRB 121102.

Scientists have received over 150 signals from FRB 121102 since they received the first signal on November 2, 2012. Scientists have traced these FRBs to a distant galaxy three billion light-years away even though they cannot confirm the specific source.^[3]

According to one theory, the signals are from a neutron star. However, another theory says that the FRBs could be emitted by technology used by aliens to power their spacecraft. Scientists do not believe that aliens deliberately sent these signals to contact us because they were released three billion years ago. Humans didn’t exist at the time, and Earth was filled with single-celled organisms.

7 The Dark Flow

Astronomers have identified a group of distant galaxies traveling at a speed of over 1.6 million kilometers per hour (1 million mph). They do not know how or why the galaxies are moving that fast or where they are heading. Nevertheless, they have decided to call the mysterious motion “the dark flow.”^[4]

Astronomers suspect that the dark flow is caused by some massive but undiscovered celestial body pulling the group of galaxies toward itself. The galaxies are moving away from Earth for now, but scientists do not rule out the possibility of this phenomenon reversing direction and moving toward Earth in the future.

6 The Cow

In June 2018, a bright flash suddenly appeared somewhere in the Hercules constellation 200 million light-years away. The flash was so bright that it was equivalent to the light emitted by 10–100 supernovae. Scientists called it AT2018cow or “The Cow.” It remained bright for two weeks before it started to fade.^[5]

Scientists analyzed X-ray and ultraviolet waves emitted by the flash and concluded that it was caused by a black hole consuming a white dwarf. (A white dwarf is what is left when a small star dies.) However, others think that The Cow was actually caused by a black hole or neutron star formed after the death of a star.

5 A Mysterious Signal From A Sunlike Star

On May 15, 2015, astronomers operating the Russian telescope RATAN–600 detected a strange radio signal from a Sunlike star 94 light-years away. The star is called HD 164595 and is almost like our Sun. Both stars have similar chemical properties and temperatures. However, HD 164595 is 1 percent lighter and 100 million years younger.

Some astronomers suspect that the mysterious signal was released by aliens because the star system containing HD 164595 also has a Neptune-like planet called HD 164595 b. Scientists think the star system could contain other undiscovered planets, including an Earth look-alike.

However, other experts doubt that the signals are from aliens. First, the astronomers who detected the signals did not inform anyone for a whole year. Also, the mode of construction of the RATAN–600 telescope makes it difficult for it to pinpoint the exact location of a signal. So, the HD 164595 star system might not even be the source of the signal.

Besides, the aliens would have needed at least 50 trillion watts of energy to direct the signal to Earth. This is more than what the whole of humanity uses at any time, and it is unlikely that aliens would have rallied such massive energy just to direct a signal at us.^[6]

4 A Mysterious Supervoid That Is One Of The Largest Objects In Space

Space is filled with empty areas called voids. Some voids are so large that they are called supervoids. The average supervoid could contain 10,000 galaxies. However, they do not because they are usually not dense enough.

One of these supervoids is the one of the largest discovered objects in space. Located three billion light-years away, the supervoid is so large that objects will take hundreds of millions of years to travel through it—even if the object is traveling at the speed of light. Scientists required three-dimensional maps to locate and study this supervoid.

Curiously, scientists have discovered that the supervoid could also drain energy from lights traveling through it. It will also continue to get bigger as the universe expands.^[7]

3 Mysterious Radio Signals From The M82 Galaxy

In May 2009, British astronomers detected strange radio signals while monitoring an exploding star in the M82 galaxy. Radio signals from space often become stronger over several weeks before they begin to weaken. However, the signals from the M82 galaxy remained the same even though the source of the emission was moving incredibly fast.

Some scientists believe that the radio signals were released by a supermassive black hole in the M82 galaxy. This is plausible because most galaxies have supermassive black holes that emit radio waves right in their centers. However, the signals did not originate from the middle of the M82 galaxy.

Other scientists have suggested that the radio waves were actually emitted by a microquasar, a black hole that is formed when a huge star explodes. Microquasars are much smaller than the supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies, although they still have masses between 10 and 20 times the mass of our Sun.^[8]

Some scientists believe that the mysterious waves, which do not contain X-rays, could not be emitted by microquasars, which send out both radio waves and X-rays. However, there are suggestions that the microquasar could be located in an unusual environment that eliminates the X-ray.

2 CMB Cold Spots

Our universe is filled with leftover energy from the big bang which is called cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB). It covers every part of the universe except some areas called CMB cold spots. Scientists do not know how or why CMB cold spots exist. Some experts even think that the cold spots are actually one of the supervoids we mentioned earlier.

However, two astronomers from Durham University in England disagree. Tom Shanks and Ruari Mackenzie suggest that a CMB cold spot is the point of collision between our universe and an alternate universe. Shanks and Mackenzie made the claims after analyzing light emitted from thousands of galaxies in our universe.

They discovered that CMB cold spots were surrounded by several small voids instead of one huge supervoid. The small voids themselves were surrounded by small galaxies. While Shanks and Mackenzie agree that these could be caused by something explainable with physics, they believe that another plausible reason may be a collision between our universe and an alternate universe.^[9]

1 The Zombie Star

A supernova is the massive explosion that occurs when a star runs out of fuel. It often denotes the beginning of the end of a star’s life. However, scientists have discovered that this is not always so.

In 1954, astronomers observed the massive iPTF14hls star, which is 500 million light-years away, explode into a bright supernova. In 2014, they observed the same iPTF14hls star explode into a supernova again. Initially, astronomer Iair Arcavi thought that the 2014 supernova was caused by a different star that had somehow managed to travel to the location of the star that exploded in 1954.

However, he was surprised when he realized that it was the same star. Later, iPTF14hls was nicknamed the “zombie star” because it seemed to have returned from death. While iPTF14hls remains the only star to have ever been observed exploding twice, scientists believe that multiple explosions are common in stars with masses of at least 100 Suns.

Nevertheless, astronomers believe that iPTF14hls is dead for good this time. They could be wrong, though. Supernovae shine very brightly for three months before gradually becoming black. iPTF14hls shone brightly for over two years. We may need to wait a few decades before it explodes again.^[10]

No one is saying that Homo sapiens climbed out of their spaceships fully formed on planet Earth one day. We obviously spent a lot of time evolving on Earth.

However, scientists have difficulty tracing our most distant origins—that is, our basic building blocks. Even though it sounds straight out of a science fiction movie, it’s hypothesized that life, including human life, initially came from outer space. That’s right, aliens may be our ancestors.

Panspermia, the transfer of viable organisms between planets, is considered a serious hypothesis by planetary scientists. It seems utterly bizarre, but this idea is so highly regarded in the scientific community that it’s being funded by NASA, MIT, and Harvard, to name a few.

There are many subsets of belief within this general hypothesis, like the purposeful planting of intelligent life by aliens, which is called directed panspermia. However, the most widely accepted notion is called ballistic, or interplanetary, panspermia. It’s the idea of life being exchanged between planets within a solar system.

There are many reasons to believe we may not be Earthlings after all.

10 Fossil Evidence

Currently, the earliest sign of life on Earth is from 3.83 billion years ago. During this period, a series of formidable meteor showers occurred. This heavy barrage of comets colliding into Earth suggests that any life that was forming at that time would have certainly faced extinction.

Remember the dinosaurs? Meteors are no joke. That was just one meteor the size of Mount Everest, but it made the Earth’s surface hotter than the Sun after crashing “20 times faster than a bullet.” While it seems apparent that these fireballs of fury snuffed out any life on Earth, they may have also been vessels for the life to come.

Evolution is agonizingly slow. It took several billion years for single-cell life to become multicellular, for example. So, how is it that directly after the most epic meteor shower our planet has ever seen, Earth was ripe and ready to spontaneously spawn DNA-based life? The planet hardly had time to cool down enough to support life, let alone create it.

The period of meteor showers ended sometime earlier than approximately 3.8 billion years ago. Evidence of life shows up in the fossil records from 3.83 billion years ago. If Earth was cooling down then, life evolved in the blink of an eye from an evolutionary standpoint. Unless, of course, life had already arrived. Many scientists hold these ancient fossil records as evidence of panspermia.^[1]

9 We Are Not Alone

In our lifetime, space experts predict that we will discover alien life. The more we learn, the more unlikely that we are all alone on our tiny blue marble in the vastness of space. NASA astronomer Kevin Hand even said, “I think in the next 20 years, we will find out we are not alone in the universe.”^[2]

Extrasolar planets (aka exoplanets) are those that orbit around a star like our Sun. The first one was discovered in 1995. Today, we’ve observed around 4,000 exoplanets. More than 50 are Earth-sized planets.

In 2014, NASA observed a planet the size of Earth orbiting a sun just like ours right in the sweet spot of the habitable zone. We are getting closer every year to fundamentally shifting how humanity sees itself in the universe. It’s just a matter of waiting.

8 Life Can Survive On An Asteroid

There have been a lot of studies about life enduring the journey through space on an asteroid’s back. It appears to be possible. Gerda Horneck, a microbiologist for the German Aerospace Center, discovered that bacteria can survive in space for years.

In the 1980s, she sent living organisms to live on a NASA satellite. Without nutrients, the bacteria formed resilient spores that acted as a defensive shell. Intense ultraviolet rays killed the top layer of spores, but the dead spores only strengthened the outer layer to shield the life within. After six years, those stubborn bacteria had survived the frigid vacuum of space—to everyone’s disbelief.^[3]

Tardigrades (aka “water bears”) can also survive UV exposure with no problem. But if a microorganism was shielded from the UV rays, as it would be inside, say, a meteor, it would be even easier to survive. Some studies suggest that microbes hitching a ride deep within a meteor could even survive hundreds of millions of years in a dormant state.

7 Surviving Impact Is Possible

Dina Pasini, a researcher at the University of Kent, has already learned that algae spores could hypothetically survive a meteor crash. Her team decided to use a single-celled, ocean-dwelling algae to mimic the conditions of early life.

First, they constructed pellets made of rock and ice embedded with the algae. Then they used a two-stage light gas gun to accelerate objects to incredible speeds.

They shot the pellets through the water at 6.93 kilometers per second (4.31 mps). Miraculously, not all the spores were killed off. The higher the speed, though, the more that died. Still, there were survivors.

Pasini asks, “If we find life on another planet, will it be truly alien or will it be related to us? And if so, did it spawn us or did we spawn it? We cannot answer these questions just now, but the questions are not as far-fetched as one might assume.”^[4]

6 Martian Contamination

Mars is the best contender for ballistic panspermia—that is, the spreading of life from planet to planet within our solar system. In their youth, Mars and Earth were both watery worlds with the potential for harboring life. It’s perfectly plausible that Mars just did it first. Then the building blocks of life hitched a ride to Earth. Technically speaking, that would make us “Martians.”

In 1984, a meteorite was discovered in Antarctica that had broken apart from Mars about four billion years ago. Some astrobiologists claim that it contains the ingredients of ancient life in the form of fossilized microbes. MIT is funding research to explore the possibility that life on Earth came from Mars. They invented a detection tool to sample the surface of Mars in search of DNA and RNA, the building blocks of life.

Getting Martian material to Earth is actually pretty darn easy. At NASA’s Ames Research Center, scientists who are working on the question of ballistic panspermia estimate that up to 5 percent of the rocks launched from Mars land on Earth within 10 million years. Some rocks can even arrive in just several years.

In the first 500 million years of our solar system, 50 billion Martian rocks landed on Earth. Four billion years later, five billion more Martian meteorites collided with Earth. Long story short, if life did exist on Mars first, it would’ve had ample opportunity to repeatedly contaminate Earth. Cue the song: “Is There Life On Mars?”^[5]

5 A Recent Interstellar Visitor

A short time ago, there was an uproar about the first known interstellar visitor to the solar system. They called the cigar-shaped object “Oumuamua.” It was estimated to be about 800 meters (2,600 ft) long.

It looked eerily like Stanley Kubrick’s monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it didn’t help matters that it appeared to move at “nongravitational acceleration.” Rumors of an alien spacecraft couldn’t be avoided, but researchers speculated that its weird movements were actually due to a phenomenon called outgassing.

Researchers could also tell that the object was made of ice. Karen Meech, an astrobiologist for the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, said, “This tells us that ices can survive over these interstellar distances.” Not to mention, the object is assumed to have thermal insulation and act as a radiation shield.

So Meech suggests that the idea of an interstellar object containing some living organism isn’t out of the realm of possibility. She said, “Some living organism . . . could be preserved in a cold deep freeze.”^[6]

Oumuamua serves as a shining example that perhaps life could have traveled to Earth a long time ago from a galaxy far, far away.

4 Genetic Material Found In Meteorite

In 1969, a meteorite that crashed into Earth was found to contain the raw genetic materials of life. That’s not even the craziest part. These carbon-based components, like sugars and amino acids, are thought to have formed in outer space while tethered to the meteor.

Zita Martins, a chemist and astrobiologist at Imperial College London, said, “It really clarifies at least that the building blocks of genetic material, the nucleobases, were available [in early Earth]. We are not saying that only meteorites contributed to the building blocks of life, but it’s a very great contribution.”^[7]

The finding increases the likelihood that the epic meteor shower of four billion years ago seeded ancient Earth with DNA building blocks. What’s more, life may have originally taken shape while traveling through space instead of on another planet. Then the ingredients landed on Earth on the back of a shooting star.

3 Organic Molecules And Amino Acid Discovered In Space Cloud

“The Stardust” is the name that scientists gave the samples that were taken from the dusty, gaseous cloud surrounding a comet. Impressively, these particular samples contained complex organic molecules and phosphorus as well as an amino acid.

Amino acids are the basis of proteins, which are essential to life. This crucial discovery supports the panspermia theory. Kathrin Altwegg, the principal investigator for this space mission, said:

With all the organics, amino acid, and phosphorus, we can say that the comet really contains everything to produce life—except energy. [ . . . ] But once you have the comet in a warm place—let’s say it drops into the ocean—then these molecules get free, they get mobile, they can react, and maybe that’s how life starts.^[8]

It seems likely that the molecular building blocks of life are as common in space as stardust.

2 The Bubble Pattern Clue

Jeffrey Moore, a planetary geologist for the NASA Ames Research Center, described panspermia as “reasonable by virtually everybody. Say you have several places in the solar system where organisms could multiply. Once one gets it, all the planets and moons with suitable environments come down with life. [ . . . ] They infect each other.”

Henry Lin and Abraham Loeb of Harvard University are avid supporters of the panspermia hypothesis. They even developed a testable model to prove the theory.

According to their model, if life shows up on a few planets and hops over to others, then the life-bearing planets form clumpy patterns. Spherical regions would appear as voids between the bubble patterns of life. This distribution would be a “smoking gun” for panspermia.

If life is spreading between planets, the populated worlds would cluster together in the vastness of space like colonies of bacteria in a Petri dish. Lin Loeb said:

It’s not that different from an epidemic. If there’s a virus, you have a good idea that one of your neighbors will have a virus, too. If the Earth is seeding life, or vice versa, there’s a good chance immediate neighbors will also have signs of life.^[9]

So, if life appears in these clusters of solar systems, we’ll have the panspermia hypothesis confirmed. All we need to do is keeping looking toward the skies.

1 Stephen Hawking Endorsed Panspermia

Panspermia isn’t a new concept. It was first discussed by the ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras in 500 BC. In 1903, it was dubbed “panspermia” by Nobel laureate Svante Arrhenius. His poetic vision was of plants and germs gently drifting through space by the mere pressure of starlight, so panspermia is Greek for “seeds everywhere.”

Today, the definition of panspermia as life spreading from planet to planet or even stellar system to stellar system continues to be a viable hypothesis supported by some of the greatest modern minds.

Prominent scientists at MIT, Harvard, and NASA are convinced enough that they’ve invested a decade of research and funding into the possibility. Even Stephen Hawking held the belief that life on Earth did not begin on this planet.

Hawking suspected that ballistic panspermia was the answer. In a lecture, he touched on some of the points given above, but his belief seemed to stem from the timing of life’s origin. The earliest fossil evidence of life appears a mere 500 million years after the Earth’s temperatures became stable enough to support life.

Hawking said, “Life could have taken seven billion years to develop, and still have left time to evolve to beings like us. [ . . . ] If the probability of life developing on a given planet is very small, why did it happen on Earth in about one-fourteenth of the time available?”^[10]

Basically, the evolutionary timeline just doesn’t add up. As technology develops at a breakneck pace, the hypothesis of panspermia may be confirmed sooner than we think.

Even after humans fought for centuries to escape the restrictions of this world and thus be able to venture into the cosmos, we finally decided to look back. So, ironically, Earth has been the primary focus of our observations from space.

Although scientists have obtained hundreds of thousands of photographs of planets, galaxies, and other places in the universe, pictures of Earth from space are counted in the millions. Thanks to space technologies, we have photographed and analyzed every corner of our planet from a celestial perspective, ultimately expanding our understanding of the world in which we live to an unprecedented level.

But among so many images of Earth, only a handful have been able to remain in the collective memory until today. The spectacular landscapes contained in these images, as well as the peculiar situations that led to their creation, can sometimes be the factors that have given them such recognition.

In the list below, we will cover 10 of the best space pictures of Earth—some iconic, others little-known, but each with an amazing story to tell.

10 A Shooting Star Seen From Above

When we try to remember what a shooting star looks like, it is almost intuitive to imagine ourselves looking up at the night sky while a bright fireball flies overhead. It is natural as we have become accustomed to seeing shooting stars only from down here on the Earth’s surface.

But this is not the case for everyone. On August 13, 2011, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) took a photograph of Earth while the station was over China. What makes this image special is that it shows a small light streak crossing the Earth’s atmosphere.^[1]

The astronaut tweeted the photograph along with a caption that said: “What a ‘Shooting Star’ looks like from space, taken yesterday during Perseid Meteor Shower.” Indeed, the light was actually a bright meteor seen from above. As the tweet indicates, the shooting star was part of the Perseid meteor shower, an event that occurs every year in August.

Due to the interest of scientists to see such a meteor shower from space, a camera installed on the ISS has been recording the event since 2016 and producing some breathtaking videos. Now that it is possible to see meteors from space without any atmospheric distortion, the scientific community has a better understanding of the composition of meteorites that hit our planet.

9 Floating With The Whole World Below

The following story not only involves an amazing image of the Earth but also a peculiar feat of the human race. In 1984, NASA conducted a mission to test a prototype space jetpack for astronauts. It was called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).

In February of that year, astronaut Bruce McCandless flew into space for the first time aboard the space shuttle Challenger to test the jetpack. After some tests inside the spacecraft, McCandless ventured into the void of space with the MMU on his back. Thus, on February 7, 1984, McCandless became the first human to make a spacewalk completely free of anchors to his ship.^[2]

The moment was immortalized in a panoramic image taken from Challenger while Bruce was floating about 98 meters (320 ft) away from the shuttle. The photo speaks for itself: It was only him and his jetpack in the middle of the blackness of outer space and with the blue vastness of the Earth under his feet.

Before his death in December 2017, McCandless confessed to National Geographic that he did not stop to look down at Earth during his untethered flight. Nevertheless, he did notice that he was flying over the state of Florida at one point.

But McCandless also said that being able to observe the entire Earth from space definitely changes an astronaut’s perception of the world and our ephemeral divisions as a species.

8 Light And Darkness

After the Korean War ended in 1953, both South Korea and North Korea had similar economic levels. But while South Korea’s economy continued to grow in the following decades, North Korea sank into poverty.

In the 1990s, the Soviet Union collapsed and stopped supplying fuel to North Korea, one of its “spoiled” countries. Added to a devastating famine in North Korea around the same time, this fuel stoppage caused the energy supply in the country to be drastically reduced.

There is no better way to see the precarious energy infrastructure of North Korea than through images taken from space. In January 2014, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) photographed the Korean peninsula during nighttime.

In the upper section of the picture, we can see China, while the brilliant South Korea stands out in the lower right corner. Between both countries, there is an almost completely dark hole which blends in perfectly with the blackness of the surrounding seas. But that is actually North Korea.

The most remarkable spot of light in North Korea comes from its capital, Pyongyang, which a decade ago had more than three million inhabitants. However, the light from Pyongyang is barely comparable to the glow of the smaller towns in South Korea.

When the image from the ISS was publicly released, North Korea promptly made some statements, claiming that “the essence of [its] society is not on flashy lights.” Despite that, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, told his citizens to work hard to restore electricity in the country.^[3]

7 The First Space Selfie

Almost everyone sees taking selfies as a common practice. In fact, it is estimated that people around the world take a total of more than one million selfies per day. Usually, many of these pictures are taken in some special, nice-looking place around Earth.

But taking a selfie in outer space and having the entire Earth in the background is a privilege granted only to a few. This type of photograph, by the way, is known as a “space selfie.”

In November 1966, NASA carried out a space mission called Gemini 12 to test the ability of astronauts to dock with another orbiting spacecraft. One of the crew members was Buzz Aldrin, who would later become the second man to step on the Moon.

Gemini 12 was the first space flight for Aldrin, and he spent a record-breaking five and a half hours outside his ship. The astronauts had a camera to record facts related to the mission. But Buzz had the idea to test the camera on himself.^[4]

To do so, the astronauts had to change the direction of the spacecraft. As the camera was mounted on the ship itself, the crew rotated it to the right angle and shut off the thrusters so that they did not flash in the photo.

With the hatch of the spaceship open, Buzz stood in his seat and clicked the camera in front of him. In that way, one of the first humans to step on the Moon also ended up being the first person to take a space selfie. As an interesting fact, the picture was sold for $9,200 at an auction in 2015.

6 Blue Marbles

In what would end up being the last manned mission to the Moon until this day, the crew of Apollo 17 took off from Earth on the night of December 7, 1972. Throughout the journey, the astronauts Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ron Evans had to stick to a complex routine to maneuver the huge Saturn V rocket that took them to our natural satellite. For that reason, they could not take pictures or get distracted by looking out the window.

But when they were about 45,000 kilometers (28,000 mi) away from Earth, one of the astronauts could not help looking back at our world. With the only camera he had within reach at that moment, he decided to photograph such a unique view of Earth. Indeed, it turned out to be the first color image in which the entire planet can be seen.

The image was an international sensation, appearing on the front page of countless newspapers around the world. In fact, as the picture—now known as “The Blue Marble Shot”—is in the public domain, it is even believed to be the most reproduced image in history. The astronauts of Apollo 17 never agreed on which one of them took the photograph.

During the following decades, NASA published other images of Earth similar to the one from 1972. But all those were composite images made with multiple pictures taken at different times. It was not until 43 years later that we were once again able to get a genuine Blue Marble shot, thanks to an observation satellite known as DSCOVR.

The satellite was launched in 2015 as a joint effort between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As its orbit gives us a continuous view of the sunlit face of the Earth, a new full-view picture of our world was possible.^[5]

5 Eclipses As Seen From Space

As total solar eclipses occur about once every 18 months at some given place on Earth, humans have recorded such phenomena from space several times. For example, astronauts on the now-destroyed Mir space station took a spectacular photograph of a total solar eclipse darkening the Earth in August 1999. But if we must highlight a recent solar eclipse, let’s look at the one that occurred on August 21, 2017, over North America.

The eclipse was partial in the entire United States and total in 14 states. Besides having been greatly anticipated by scientists because of the opportunity to study such a phenomenon, the eclipse was also one of the most watched events in US history.

Making good use of its technology, NASA recorded this eclipse in great detail. From about 1.6 million kilometers (1 million mi) away from us and through the DSCOVR satellite previously mentioned, the agency obtained 12 images of the path of the Moon’s shadow on the surface of the Earth.

The result is a video sequence of a few seconds that shows the eclipse as seen from space crossing the entire visible hemisphere of our planet. DSCOVR usually takes about 20 pictures of Earth per day. But in view of the occasion—and for research purposes—the scientists decided to configure the instruments to take more images that day. Even so, the video shows the movement of the eclipse at a faster speed than what actually occurred.^[6]

4 A Pale Blue Dot

In 1977, NASA launched two spacecraft called Voyager to explore the planets beyond Earth. Thirteen years later, the probe called Voyager 1 was already approaching the confines of our solar system.

It was then—on February 14, 1990—that the engineers decided to turn the spacecraft’s camera to take a last look back at our planetary neighborhood. From about 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion mi) away from us, farther than any other human machine had flown before, Voyager 1 took 60 photographs to create the first “portrait” of the solar system.

In one of the images, several bands of color can be seen. They are light rays because the Sun was close to the shot. Near the center of the picture in the middle zone of one of the stripes, we can see Earth. Our planet, shown there as a small dot 0.12 pixels in size, has no visible features beyond its brightness and is almost indistinguishable from the darkness of space.

In 1994, the famous astronomer Carl Sagan published a book in which he commented on this image of our world, which he called a “Pale Blue Dot.” About it, Sagan said: “[E]veryone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of . . . lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”^[7]

3 When A Satellite Discovered A Deadly Island

As part of NASA’s Landsat program, the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS-1) was launched into space in 1972 to photograph the Earth’s features and landmasses for the first time. In 1973, researcher Elizabeth Fleming was analyzing the new images transmitted by ERTS-1 to find uncharted islands off the coasts of Canada. Among the less explored regions were the northern coasts of the province of Labrador, which had been charted for the last time in 1911.

When Fleming studied the images, she noticed some white spots scattered in the ocean which she thought were icebergs. But she soon realized that they were small portions of dry land. One land patch, located about 20 kilometers (12.4 mi) away from the Labrador coast, caught her attention.

It was larger than the rest, measuring 25 meters (82 ft) by 45 meters (148 ft). So it was legally an island—a newly discovered one. In 1976, Dr. Frank Hall from the Canadian Hydrographic Service was given the task of confirming the existence of the small island.

Using a harness, Hall was lowered from a helicopter to the island, which was covered in ice. Suddenly, when Hall was about to touch the ground, a polar bear tried to bring him down and have him for lunch. The bear was in the highest part of the island and unnoticeable due to its white fur.

Immediately, Hall pulled the cable and got back into the helicopter by himself. According to his words, he almost became the first person to die on that island. After the experience, Hall suggested that the site be called Polar Island.

But it was finally called Landsat Island in 1979 when its discoverer satellite, ERTS-1, was renamed Landsat 1. Satellite images are inherently amazing, but the story behind this one makes it even more impressive.^[8]

2 The First Photo Taken From Space

During the first half of the 20th century, people did not really know what the Earth looked like from space. Until then, the highest we had been to take pictures of our own world was about 22 kilometers (13.7 mi) high in giant balloons. But that changed in 1946 when we acquired a way to travel higher.

After the end of World War II, the Americans had captured V-2 rockets originally developed by the Nazis. The destructive weapons that were once responsible for thousands of deaths were now in the hands of scientists in the United States, who replaced the explosives of the missiles with observation instruments.

One V-2 rocket was equipped with cameras designed to take pictures every second and a half. On October 24, 1946, the former missile flew to a height of 105 kilometers (65 mi). From there, it took what would be the first photograph of Earth from space.

In the image, we can see the southwest of North America under some cloud formations as well as the detail of the curvature of the Earth. Once its mission was completed, the rocket fell back to Earth. What was left of it, including the camera, crashed to the ground at about 550 kilometers per hour (342 mph).

But the recording tape survived intact because it was protected in a steel can. So the researchers retrieved the images and analyzed them. The enthusiasm of the scientists for this achievement was remarkable. In 1950, an article from National Geographic stated that the images showed “how our Earth would look to visitors from another planet coming in on a space ship.”^[9]

1 Earthrise

The first manned mission to the Moon, Apollo 8, took place on December 21, 1968. Its crew of three astronauts—Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and James Lovell—became the first humans to leave Earth’s orbit and reach another planetary body. Apollo 8’s goal was to orbit the Moon and search for potential landing sites for future lunar missions.

As the astronauts emerged from the far side of the Moon during their fourth orbit on December 24, they noticed a blue sphere rising over the lunar horizon. It was Earth, shining through one of the spaceship’s windows.

As it was a reconnaissance mission, the crew was not supposed to take pictures of Earth. Moreover, at that time, they were preparing to recite passages from the Bible’s Book of Genesis during a live broadcast. But the astronauts were so amazed at such a view of the little crescent Earth that they felt compelled to photograph it.

For a moment, they believed that they had lost sight of Earth. But as soon as Lovell saw it again in another window, Anders managed to take a color photograph of it. After that, the astronauts continued with their routine and read from Genesis to end the broadcast as planned.

The photo, which we now know as “Earthrise,” became one of the most famous images in history and served as inspiration for the creation of environmental movements such as Earth Day. After the flight, Anders said, “We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.”^[10]

Brian Molinari is an economy student who is passionate about graphic design as well as an avid enthusiast of the art of writing.

Everyone is excited about the possibility of a manned mission to Mars. There is even speculation that the first humans will land on Mars in the 2030s. Well! That could be true. But it is actually harder than it looks. A manned mission to Mars could remain a pipe dream considering current technology and political trends, especially in the United States.

There are also several problems over which we have no control. This often involves our bodies and the conditions on Mars itself. It seems like Mars is out to kill the first humans who set foot on it—an opinion shared by several people including Elon Musk, who may revolutionize space travel. Nevertheless, we will keep our fingers crossed.

10 Money

NASA cannot afford a manned mission to Mars. This was revealed in July 2017 when William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s chief of human spaceflight, revealed that the agency does not receive enough funding from the US government to make NASA’s first Mars landing scheduled for the 2030s realistic.

NASA, private space agencies, and nonprofits give vastly different figures when estimating the cost of a manned mission to Mars. This ranges from $1 trillion spread over 25 years (as proposed by the nonprofit Mars Institute) to $100 billion spread over 30–40 years (as proposed by NASA). However, NASA cannot afford their estimate.

NASA received $19.5 billion in funding for the 2017 fiscal year. That amount seems like a lot until we realize that the agency splits this money between several space missions, programs, and research. Considering current trends, NASA’s funding drought is unlikely to end anytime soon. Its budget has only grown by a measly 2 percent a year within the past few years.^[1]

9 Loneliness

Humans are social creatures and often require interaction. Researchers fear this could become a problem during an expedition to Mars. A few years ago, researchers had a group of people live in an isolated habitat in the Arizona desert for a considerable period of time.

They noted that some participants soon suffered from depression and mood swings. Some also became hostile and mostly did not talk to each other for 18 months. Their few interactions were limited to brief conversations about running the facility. Although the team later had psychologists to help them, astronauts on Mars will not have the same privilege.

The results of this test have made some researchers question future plans to send just two astronauts to Mars in a single spacecraft. The astronauts will probably become bored, depressed, and could even start to dislike each other, which could lead to their doom. However, some researchers think this is unlikely to happen if the two astronauts have compatible personalities.^[2]

8 The Dust Storm

In January 2004, the NASA space rover Opportunity landed on Mars for a 90-day mission (in Mars days) to find evidence of water on the Red Planet. Opportunity completed its assignment almost immediately and went on to complete more missions over 15 years. Its surprising survival streak ended in June 2018 when it lost contact with NASA during a dust storm.

Opportunity often hibernated at night because it ran on solar power. However, it probably switched to its backup battery after the dust from the storm covered its solar panels. Opportunity ran on its batteries until it died. NASA fears a repeat incident could happen with the solar-powered stations used by astronauts on Mars.

Mars experiences two types of dust storms. The first and commonest are the regular storms that could cover large swathes of land as wide as a whole continent on Earth. Thankfully, these storms are light and only last for a few weeks. The other type—like the one that killed Opportunity—is the rarer but stronger “global dust storm” that covers the entire planet.

Global dust storms occur every 5.5 Earth years (three Mars years) and could last for months. Besides covering the solar panels, they could also block sunlight from reaching Mars, which could put the stations and astronauts in jeopardy. Thankfully, Mars dust storms are unlikely to cause serious physical damage to the stations. They are more of a breeze than a storm despite the name.^[3]

7 Food

A study by PhD students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) revealed that a human colony on Mars could die of starvation. The group based their study on the manned mission planned by Mars One.

The organization wants to set up a human colony of 25–40 individuals on Mars by 2025. Food will be provided by crops grown inside the habitat of the colonists. An MIT study to simulate that habitat has revealed that the astronauts will need to choose between getting enough food or oxygen.

The food and oxygen levels in the habitat are linked because plants produce oxygen as a by-product. On Mars, that oxygen will be used to sustain the lives of the astronauts. The MIT study revealed that the plants will produce excessive oxygen if they produce enough food to feed everyone in the habitat.

This will clearly be detrimental to the lives of the astronauts because breathing excessive amounts of oxygen could kill them. However, the oxygen levels would be balanced if the plants produce lesser amounts of food, which would not be enough to feed everyone. The researchers say that this problem could be solved by developing an “oxygen removal system,” which does not exist for now.^[4]

6 Spacecraft

The race to land the first human on Mars is currently led by NASA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin. In fact, all three organizations already have spacecraft that could take us to Mars. However, their rockets use dangerous fuels and would take too long to get to Mars from a human safety perspective.

NASA is trying to solve this by developing the Space Launch System that uses liquid hydrogen and some other chemicals for fuel. SpaceX is considering altering its spacecraft to use liquid methane for fuel, while Blue Origin is settling for liquid hydrogen. However, some still doubt whether these new spaceships and fuels will get us to Mars.^[5]

One is Chris Hadfield, a former NASA astronaut, who likened traveling to Mars—in even the latest spaceships in development—to crossing an ocean in a canoe. Hadfield believes that the dangers of space and the unpredictability of the spaceships will kill most astronauts long before they land on Mars.

Curiously, this opinion is shared by SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, who once mentioned that the first manned Mars mission will probably lead to death.

5 Surgery

As the possibility of long-term manned space missions to the Moon and even Mars becomes a reality, scientists have started to grapple with the problems posed by performing surgery in space. The unique environment of space means sick astronauts are likelier to die of minor wounds and infections there than on Earth.

Astronauts sent to the International Space Station (ISS) are often trained to perform certain medical procedures like administering injections, stitching wounds, and even extracting a tooth. However, they would need to quickly return to Earth on a spacecraft permanently docked at the ISS if they have more severe medical issues.

This is because the sick bay on the ISS is no better than a first aid kit. Even if the sick bay rose to the same standard as a hospital and had a permanent doctor (which it does not), the lack of gravity would be a real challenge.

Among other problems, blood from the wound or surgical incision could float and obstruct the view of the doctor. Worse, it could contaminate the entire cabin. Also, anesthesia does not work as well as on Earth, which means lots of pain for the astronaut.

These problems could be worse on long-term space explorations to the Moon and Mars. One suggestion is to use robot surgeons controlled in real time by human doctors on Earth. While this could work on the Moon, it would be impossible on Mars where information takes 20 minutes to reach Earth and vice versa.^[6]

4 Mars Toxic Dust

Mars is filled with toxic dust that could hamper a manned mission to the Red Planet. Mars dust exists as round, fine, electrically charged silicate particles that will stick to astronauts’ suits. The dust will be difficult to remove, raising concerns that it could get into the astronauts’ base and clog crucial instruments and systems including water purifiers and air filters.

This could be deadly because the fine silicate particles could seep into the lungs where it will react with water to form harmful chemicals. The effect of the dust becomes worse when we realize that it contains gypsum and perchlorates. Gypsum is not dangerous on its own, but long-term exposure could cause eye, skin, and lung problems. Perchlorates could cause thyroid gland problems.^[7]

3 Exposure To Space Elements

Space is filled with dangerous cosmic rays and irregular solar storms that could cause intense radiation. Scientists predict that astronauts traveling to Mars will be exposed to radiation levels up to 20 percent more than they will ever receive during their lifetimes on Earth. This intense radiation could cause heart, lung, and eye problems as well as neurological disorders and even cancer.

This could be a huge problem because a one-way trip to Mars could last six months. Solar storms are also unpredictable, which makes the situation worse. One solution is to develop a spacecraft that could get astronauts to Mars much faster. However, astronauts are not free from these radiation risks even when they get to Mars.^[8]

Although Earth’s atmosphere shields us from dangerous radiation, Mars’s atmosphere does not provide the same protection. Scientists propose to solve this by covering the human habitat on Mars with a thick anti–solar storm material just like the shielding on parts of the ISS. Others propose that humans will be protected from the radiation if they live in the any of Mars’s numerous lava tube caves instead.

2 Our Bodies Cannot Cope

Human bodies have a hard time adjusting to the zero gravity levels experienced in the nearby ISS. This would become even worse during and after a trip to faraway Mars. Astronauts would have to cope with three different gravitational fields during a voyage to Mars.

Astronauts will experience the first gravitational field here on Earth (before and after the trip). It is the regular one we are used to. The second is the zero gravity that astronauts experience while traveling the distance between Earth and Mars. The third is the gravitational field on Mars, which is one-third the gravity on Earth.

Moving between gravitational fields causes a distortion in our senses of balance and movement. It also affects the coordination between our eyes, head, and hands. The lower gravity levels outside Earth will cause astronauts to lose valuable bone density. This makes their bones susceptible to breakage when they return to Earth.

The lower gravity level outside Earth will also cause body fluids to escape into the head. This could cause a myriad of problems including kidney stones, dehydration, loss of calcium, and eye problems. Drugs would have reduced the effects except that they work differently in space.^[9]

1 The Return Trip

Using current technology, an expedition to Mars will be a one-way trip because astronauts who travel to Mars will be unable to return to Earth. While NASA is already developing the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) to make a return trip possible, the technology is not without its own problems.

When completed, the MAV will weigh 18 tons and will carry an extra 33 tons of fuel to take off from Mars. This massive weight means that it will be unable to land safely on Mars due to the planet’s thin atmosphere, which could make the MAV burn up in the atmosphere or slam straight into the ground. For comparison, the heaviest thing we have landed on Mars is the Curiosity rover, which weighs just one ton.

NASA intends to solve this by reducing the weight of the MAV and developing an inflatable heat shield that will slow the craft’s speed during its descent to Mars. The MAV will have a minimalist interior and might not even have seats. However, the astronauts will not be standing all the way back to Earth. Instead, they will be transported to the Earth Return Vehicle (ERV), which will orbit Mars and return them to Earth.^[10]

The ERV was also created to reduce weight. Instead of making a single spacecraft that will take off from Mars and bring the astronauts back to Earth, NASA will create a two-part system consisting of the MAV and the ERV. The MAV will take off from Mars’s surface and transport the astronauts to the ERV, which will bring them back to Earth.

Scientists will also reduce the weight of the MAV by having it create its fuel from Mars’s atmosphere. The MAV will extract methane (carbon and hydrogen) and oxygen, which it needs to make its fuel, from the underground water and the abundant carbon dioxide (CO₂) in Mars’s atmosphere.

Neil Armstrong once said, “I think we’re going to the Moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul. We’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.”

Just as powerful as our urge to face challenges, we humans also have the drive to record what we’ve seen. During our earlier ages of exploration, such as the Polynesian exploration of the Pacific or the age of European sailing ships, we recorded our discoveries through stories or the written word or paintings.

But the exploration of space has been unique. During our entire venture into the heavens, we have had access to photography. We can take living pictures for every new boundary broken and every new horizon. These are 10 such images, the first of their kind, taken in and about the infinite expanse of space.

10 The Very First Image Taken From Space

In October 1946, 15 years before humans visited space in person and less than a year after the conclusion of World War II, a team of scientists and soldiers in New Mexico launched a V-2 missile 105 kilometers (65 mi) into the sky. This rocket was equipped with a 35mm camera and snapped a photo every second and a half.

It achieved a height five times higher than the previous highest photo taken. When the V-2 missile’s photos were developed, what appeared on them affected the responsible team powerfully.

“They were ecstatic, they were jumping up and down like kids,” said Fred Rulli, an enlisted man involved in the camera recovery team. “The scientists just went nuts.”

And for good reason. The photos captured a sight that no human had ever seen before—Earth as viewed from beyond our atmosphere, Earth as seen from space. Many such missile launches were conducted in the coming years, and over 1,000 Earth pictures were recorded from space between 1946 and 1950.

But those pictures taken in 1946 would forever be our first view from outside our home.^[1]

9 The First Image Taken Of The Sun

The Sun has been a constant companion for the entirety of human existence, but its very nature limited our understanding of it for much of history. The details of the Sun were often difficult to perceive because even looking at it was a strain. Features such as the corona and sunspots were usually painful to behold with the naked eye.

But in 1845 at the dawn of photography, two French physicists captured the first image of the Sun. Louis Fizeau and Lion Foucault recorded the image on a 12.7-centimeter (5 in) daguerreotype photograph. Though naked eye observations of sunspots date back to as early as 28 BC, this photo clearly depicted that day’s sunspots and allowed for a permanent record of the Sun’s cycles and changes.

In fact, by 1858, a daily record of the Sun was being kept by means of photography. Between 1858 and 1872, over 3,000 images of the Sun were captured and cataloged by Warren de la Rue at England’s Kew Observatory.^[2]

Even a solar eclipse was captured by de la Rue’s team in Spain in 1860. Today, you can check on the Sun whenever you’d like via NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which posts nearly live images of the Sun captured through many different means and wavelengths.

8 The First Image Taken From The Surface Of Our Moon

After a number of failed attempts, the Soviet Union succeeded in landing an unmanned spacecraft, Luna 9, on our Moon. The craft touched down on February 3, 1966, on an area of the Moon called Oceanus Procellarum (“Ocean of Storms”).

Luna 9 used airbags to cushion its rocky landing and was equipped with a turret camera that made history. This camera was the first of all time where a picture was taken on the surface of a celestial body besides Earth.

Luna 9 had limited power provided only through batteries, and it died three days after landing. But that was enough time to take and transmit a panorama from the Moon. The first image transmitted was intercepted and published in England even before the Soviet Union could publicize their success.^[3]

7 First Image Of Auroras And Lightning On Another Planet

Two of the most brilliant and luminous phenomena on planet Earth were captured on a different celestial body for the first time during the historic flyby of Jupiter performed by the Voyager 1 spacecraft on March 5, 1979. The image—a grainy window of black and white—shows the curved horizon of our massive neighbor being lit by the planet’s own powerful auroras.

Caught in the same image, which was a three-minute-and-12-second exposure with a wide-angle lens, are the bright bursts of light from lightning churned into existence by Jupiter’s planetwide storms.^[4]

The Voyager 1 flyby also found the first active volcanoes beyond Earth, the Jovian ring system, and two new moons of Jupiter. However, these images were only the beginning of its discovery.

Voyager 1 went on to visit Saturn and is the most far-flung man-made object. As of this writing, the craft is approximately 21.9 billion kilometers (13.6 billion mi) from our Sun.

6 First Image Of An Interstellar Visitor To Our Solar System

On October 19, 2017, an object (first called 1I/2017 U1) was detected by the Pan-STARRS1 telescope at the University of Hawaii, and this object defied definition. Originally, it was classified as a comet. But when no signs of comet-like activity (for example, no evidence of dust, ice, or water of any sort) were noted, it was reclassified as an asteroid.

However, that didn’t make sense, either. The object was measured to be accelerating as no asteroid would. On top of that, its brightness increased by a factor of 10 as it rotated. This was due to its shape, which was unlike anything ever seen in our solar system. It was long and cylindrical.

What was it?

Further observations determined that this object was not from our solar system. It was the first, and so far only, object confirmed to originate outside the domain of our Sun. A more fitting name was given to it—Oumuamua (pronounced “oh MOO-uh MOO-uh”)—a Hawaiian term meaning “a messenger from afar arriving first.”

Orbital calculations of Oumuamua suggest that it traveled to us by way of what is now the Vega star system. However, when Oumuamua was in that neck of the woods (300,000 years ago), Vega was not there. So its actual point of origin is still a mystery.

The image captured of Oumuamua shows only a tiny glimpse of this visitor. As it passed us, it traveled 315,000 kilometers per hour (196,000 mph), so the telescope capturing its image had to track its movement. This resulted in a picture of a small white dot surrounded by stars that were smeared by the movement of the telescope. An uninspiring picture of a very inspiring traveler.^[5]

5 First Image Of A Comet Hitting A Planet

Shoemaker-Levy 9 was a comet discovered in March 1993 by Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy. This group of veteran trackers had discovered many other comets before this one, but this Shoemaker-Levy comet was something special.

After watching this fuzzy celestial body for some months, it became clear that this was the first comet discovered that did not revolve around our Sun. Instead, it orbited the planet Jupiter. Though it had likely been in orbit there for decades, we found it toward the end of its adventure. A little over a year later, Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with the planet it orbited.

Between July 16 and July 22, 1994, Shoemaker-Levy 9 broke into 21 distinct fragments that slammed into the surface of Jupiter. At that time, the Galileo spacecraft was en route to Jupiter and too far away to observe the event. But astronomers the world over were watching.

Though the collisions occurred on the far side of Jupiter that was facing away from Earth, the impact site spun into view shortly thereafter. Astronomers were able to get a view of the impact site, sometimes mere minutes after the collisions.

Shoemaker-Levy 9 left massive dark smudges painted over the arch of Jupiter’s surface that lasted for at least a month before being consumed by the planet’s ever-turning storms.^[6]

4 First Image Of An Exoplanet

We’ve always known that there must be planets outside our own solar system. Unlike the massive and luminous stars they orbit, however, these exoplanets are small and dark by comparison. They are difficult to see, even with incredibly powerful telescopes. To view an exoplanet, we needed something even better.

Enter the accurately named Very Large Telescope (VLT) array which consists of four main 8.2-meter-diameter (26.9 ft) telescopes (named Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun) and four 1.8-meter-diameter (5.9 ft) auxiliary telescopes which could work independently of each other or in unison.

Independently, these mirrors can perceive light four billion times fainter than the naked human eye can. When the equipment works as a team, astronomers can see details 25 times greater than possible with each individual telescope.

Using this incredible piece of technology, the first image of an exoplanet was captured. The technology allowed this history-making photo, although the exoplanet was primed to be discovered because it was truly gigantic.

This exoplanet, which orbits a brown dwarf 230 light-years from us, is five times the size of Jupiter. Although other exoplanets have been found, this was the first one large enough to be directly imaged. As of this writing, over 4,000 exoplanets have been discovered.^[7]

3 First Image Of An Unborn Exomoon

If exoplanets are difficult to find, you can imagine how difficult it is to see an exomoon. But an exomoon in the process of forming may be significantly easier. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers were able to capture an image of a ring of debris around a planet. This is known as a circumplanetary disk.

Unlike the rings around Saturn, which are icy and formed by comets, a circumplanetary disk is created in the same forge as the planet itself. Similar disks have been observed around stars. Called circumstellar disks, they give rise to planets.

This was the first such disk imaged around an exoplanet (or any planet for that matter as no circumstellar disks are in our own solar system). Given time, this disk will coalesce into one or more moons to accompany this new planet.^[8]

2 First Image Of A Black Hole

Black holes are celestial phenomena that have reached almost mythological status because of their mysterious nature and place in pop culture. These objects have so much mass and gravity that it becomes impossible for anything, including light, to escape from their unrelenting gravitational pull.

To capture an image of a black hole is impossible because no light, radio waves, or anything else can escape from its event horizon. So it is more accurate to say that this is the first image of a black hole’s silhouette—a shadow, as it were, of a black hole in contrast to the glowing hot material that it is consuming.

Capturing this image took a team of telescopes working simultaneously. Earlier, we discussed the VLT array and how its many telescopes worked in unison with each other. Capturing the image of a black hole’s silhouette took the same basic approach on a global basis.

A network of telescopes called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) was put to work. Many telescopes from across the planet were synchronized to look at a single object in space. The two most distant from each other were located in the South Pole and in Spain. The aperture of the EHT was almost the size of the Earth’s diameter.

In total, eight telescopes from around the world were used to capture this image of a supermassive black hole (6.5 billion times more massive than our own Sun) in the center of a galaxy 53 million light-years away.^[9]

1 First Image Of A Survivor After A Supernova

Supernovae are the most powerful explosions known to exist in space. They unleash such terrifying might that a supernova, even at a huge cosmological distance away from us, can still be so bright as to be distinctly visible during daylight.

Recorded in 1054, one such supernova was visible during the day for almost a month and visible at night for almost two years. Sometimes, these explosions happen at the end of a star’s life cycle. Particularly interesting is the Type IIb stripped-envelope supernova which happens when most of a star’s hydrogen is stripped away prior to exploding.

The cause of a Type IIb stripped-envelope supernova?

Many stars exist in pairs or triplets (unlike our Sun which is alone). In such a system, a star can begin eating away at the hydrogen of its partner. This was the case with supernova SN 2001ig, which exploded about 40 million light-years away (and 40 million years ago) in the galaxy NGC 7424.

Over the course of millions of years, a companion star robbed its partner of its outer sheath of hydrogen, which is used to channel energy from the core outward. Without this outer shell, the star became unstable and eventually exploded in a supernova, which scientists on Earth watched.

A decade after the explosion when the light from the blast dimmed, the Hubble Space Telescope was able to capture an image unlike any before it. The picture showed a survivor of a supernova that was also the thief star that had caused its partner to explode in the first place.^[10]