10 INSANE Space Discoveries 2022

2022 has been a wild year for science. Here are 10 new discoveries that have been made throughout space this year. Number 10. Binary black holes generating a colossal blazar. In the first couple months this year, astronomers scanning the cosmos discovered a massive blazar located over 9 billion light-years away from Earth. Blazars are a type of quasar in which the jet of charged particles is directly aimed towards the Earth. Generated in the center of a distant galaxy, this blazar is created by the rare system of two black holes orbiting each other at incredible speeds. Astronomers have caught changes in the brightness of the quasar behave in a sinusoidal fashion which gave them additional information about the structure of this rare system. Number 9. The secrets in the Milky Way's galactic bones. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, commonly called SOFIA, is a project run by both NASA and the German Space Agency, working to take detailed readings of our entire galaxy. One recently completed project was aimed at creating an incredibly detailed map of the magnetic fields that flow through the spiral arms of our galaxy. These arms are called galactic bones and are made up of dense gas and dust that runs straight through the center of the spiral arms. The galactic bones of our galaxy can be massive. One of them, known as G47, measures over five light-years in diameter and stretches for more than 200 light-years long. This research is leading scientists to understand how these powerful magnetic fields play a role in the formation of stars within these arms of the Milky Way. Number 8. The massive radiolobes of Alcyoneus. Located nearly three billion light-years away from Earth, within the constellation of links sits the unique radio galaxy called Alcyoneus. Named for one of the giant Hercules faces in Greek mythology, this galaxy lives up to its namesake by generating the largest structure ever made by one lone galaxy. Alcyoneus is a radio galaxy, which just means the radiation it emits has a frequency within the radio wave range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The emitted radiolobes Alcyoneus produces are impressive due to their sheer size, stretching for over 16.3 million light-years from end to end. Several theories have been put forth trying to explain the system. This includes Alcyoneus having a less dense environment producing less resistance to growth, as well as powerful jet streams coming from the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center, aiding in forcing the lobes far out into space. Number 7. Saving ourselves from an asteroid impact. We have all heard stories of the massive asteroids striking the Earth, leading to the mass extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs millions of years ago. Since the discovery of that event, astronomers have wondered when will this likely happen again. One of their answers come in the form of NASA's new DART project, whose goal is to save the Earth in the event of an imminent asteroid impact. This year, NASA has launched a new project to tackle this possible threat. The Double Asteroid Redirect Test, or DART, is a spacecraft designed to see if asteroids can have an impact on the trajectory of an incoming asteroid. The craft will travel to a small moon orbiting the nearby asteroid Didymos. Once there, the goal is to smash the craft into the moon to see if there's any influence on its trajectory. If the craft can change the trajectory of the moon, it will show that this type of system can be used in the event of the Earth coming into the path of a large asteroid. Impact date is currently scheduled for the 26th of September. Number 6. A star at the edge of the universe. Earlier this year, the Hubble Space Telescope discovered the star WHL 0137LS, also called Arendelle. This star sits inside the Cetus constellation at an insane distance of 28 billion light-years away from Earth. This makes Arendelle the earliest and most distant star ever discovered. The light that Hubble detected was emitted 900 million years after the Big Bang, which means it has traveled 12.9 billion years through space in order to reach us on Earth. What was the universe like all those billions of years ago when this star first ignited into existence? Number 5. Galactic cannibalism and the origin of the Milky Way. Astronomers have long known that the stars and other objects that populate our galaxy did not all originate from our galaxy. They discovered that the Milky Way has eaten up many smaller galaxies over the course of its life, adding to its size starting as far back as 10 billion years ago. Currently, the Gaia mission, run by the European Space Agency, is working to scan as many stars as possible throughout our galaxy to find their origins. By scanning for stars with odd behaviors and looking at the elements present within, as well as their abundance, scientists can begin to determine whether that star originated in our galaxy or joined as the Milky Way assimilated into a smaller one. Number 4. A cosmic antimatter cannon. While astronomers searched the skies using the Chandra telescope, they discovered an extremely rare type of pulsar activity creating antimatter. The more recent look at the pulsar this year confirmed that the massive beam contains several types of high-energy particles located 1,600 light-years away from Earth. The particles detected include electrons as well as its antimatter counterpart positions. But what makes this pulsar so special is that the nearby seven-light-year-long jet actively leaks the high-energy matter and antimatter particles out into deep space. Number 3. A habitable planet orbiting a white dwarf. Earlier this year, scientists noticed fluctuations in the light detected from the relatively cool white dwarf star and decided to investigate it. Upon further study, they discovered that the changes in the emitted light are due to an orbiting object, possibly an exoplanet. Astronomers were thrown for a loop when they found that this object's orbit had some familiar features. They discovered that it orbits its home star every 25 hours and is within the Goldilocks zone of this system, making it the exoplanet orbiting a white dwarf that may be habitable. How many more planets like this may be scattered throughout the cosmos? Number 2. Discovering a galaxy from the early universe. While thousands of galaxies have been discovered and catalogued, only one of them can be the farthest galaxy from Earth. And currently, the galaxy found just this year known as HD1 is the most distant one yet to be identified. Discovered in early 2022, HD1 is the oldest and most distant galaxy ever detected within the observable universe. It was likely formed less than a billion years after the Big Bang and has a redshift of 13.7, which means the galaxy's light has travelled 13.5 billion years to make it to us. Given its redshift, astronomers estimate it is currently sitting over 33.4 billion light-years from us today. Who knows if there are beyond HD1 currently beyond our sights? But new technology is being used that may soon answer that question. Number 1. Explore the universe's past with James Webb. The James Webb telescope was launched just before the beginning of 2022. But it wasn't until March of this year that the first images were sent back from the newest deep space telescope. James Webb has the strength to look back and see what the universe was like just 1 to 200 million years after the Big Bang. In terms of the universe's age, the telescope will see the cosmos still in its infancy. While completing the first few stages of its alignment, the telescope was able to send back its first picture, showing the stunning image of a star set on a dazzling backdrop with dozens of distant galaxies. There is no telling what the most powerful telescope ever produced will be able to find when it begins to scan the skies. 2022 is shaping up to be another great year for scientific achievement and space discovery. If you enjoyed this video, please hit like and subscribe buttons and leave a comment below to let us know if there are any space discoveries you hope to see this year. See you next time on Matter.