Astro Discoveries & Outstanding Space Events in a Decade

Astro Discoveries & Outstanding Space Events in a Decade.
In last decade, we had Astro Discoveries & Outstanding Space Events. which amazed space enthusiasts and astronomers alike. Here are some of them coming your way now.

Gliese 581 C, Discovery of the First Habitable Exoplanet.. An exoplanet, Gliese 581, was discovered in 2010. The Exoplanet is approximately 20 light years away from the earth and it is Orbiting around the red dwarf star. What makes Gliese 581 C unique, is that it is an Earth-like exoplanet, and, it is three or four times larger than Earth. Gliese 581 C exists in the star’s “habitable zone.” It means that the exoplanet could potentially have an atmosphere, and, liquid water on the surface.

Discovery of the Trappist Family.. 40 light years from the Earth, an ultra-cool red dwarf star, Trappist-1 was discovered in 1999. in 2015 it was discovered that the trappist-1 has a family in form of three exoplanets orbiting it. Till now astronomers have found out that four more planets are orbiting Trappist-1, making it seven exoplanets in total.

First Observation of Gravitational Waves:
Gravitational waves were first time detected in 2015 using LIGO, (laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory). The gravitational waves occur due to colliding of two black holes. gravitational waves are in the form of ripples, and, they travel at the speed of light. LIGO detects gravitational waves as distinctive chirping sound.

Detection of First Binary Neutron Star Collision:
in 2017, about 130 million light years away from Earth, two neutron stars collided, which resulted in creation of gravitational and light waves. The event was picked up by LIGO. The discovery verified, that that elements like gold and Uranium have came to earth from the collisions like that.

Two Detections of interstellar Objects in Solar System..
In 2017, the 1st interstellar object visited our solar system. The object is known as Oumuamua. It is a cigar shaped object and it has the qualities neither of comet nor of meteorite. Object like Oumuamua was never seen before in our solar system.

In 2019 the 2nd interstellar object was seen in our solar system. The object was named as Borisov. It was originally classified as a comet. Borisov is the first interstellar comet which came very close to earth.

Meteorite Landing in Michigan Lake:
February 7, 2017, a 600 pound meteorite crash landed in Lake Michigan. Local astronomers were intrigued by this visitor from stars and tried their best to get the bits and pieces of the crashed meteorite from the bottom of the lake.

A Complete Solar Eclipse..
A complete solar eclipse took place on August 21, 2017. This total solar eclipse was observed in many American states and partially in other countries of the world. Infact, USA won't see other complete solar eclipse until April 2024.

A Black Hole Shot - At Last..
For the first time in the human history, a direct picture of black hole was taken, with the help of Event Horizon Telescope collaboration observations a in galaxy M 87. This Black Hole is supermassive, and, it is almost 6.5 billion times larger than our local sun.

Thinsat in Space – A First of its Kind..
April 17, 2019, the adler planetarium sent its first planetarium to space! The project was a collaboration between Adler Teens, students, scientists, and volunteers. A Thinsat is a very small satellite which was launched into space. It gathered data in space for a week before it landed back to earth's surface.

Female Only Space Walk..
October 2019, Astronauts Jessica Meir, and Christina Koch, sailed into immortality by taking a female only space walk for around 7 hours. They replaced a battery unit outside of International Space Station.