Tech

9 epic discoveries scientists made in the solar system this year

Kelly Dickerson
2015-12-31T21:42:00Z
Read in app
mars solar wind
NASA

It was an incredible year for space exploration.

Advertisement

In 2015, we saw the world's first orbital rocket touch back down on the ground. We saw the beloved dwarf planet Pluto in exquisite detail. And an astronaut broke the record for the longest time spent in space. 

We learned a lot about our own solar system this year, too, as NASA outlined in a recent blog post. 

Here's a look at nine of the biggest discoveries we made in our celestial neighborhood in 2015.

Advertisement

We reached Pluto, and the world fell in love from 3 billion miles away. From <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/fly-over-footage-from-new-horizons-of-plutos-mountains-2015-7">mountains that rival the Rockies</a> to <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/pluto-blue-sky-ice-surface-2015-10">frozen water on its surface</a>, the tiny planet seems to have no shortage of surprises.

pluto hi resolution nasa new horizons false color
An false-color image of Pluto, as seen by NASA's New Horizons mission in July 2015. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

And for the first time, we landed a probe on a <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/why-does-comet-67p-look-like-a-duck-2015-9">rubber ducky-shaped comet</a> called 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Scientists discovered a <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/rosetta-finds-oxygen-around-comet-67p-2015-10">shocking amount of oxygen</a>, a <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/scientists-discover-sinkholes-on-comet-67pchuryumov-gerasimenko-2015-7">surface covered in sinkholes</a>, and more.

comet rosetta
ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
Advertisement

A spacecraft sampled a geyser spouting from a tiny moon called Enceladus and confirmed that it <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/cassini-sampled-enceladus-ocean-water-2015-10">holds a vast subsurface ocean</a>. Like Earth's oceans, it appears to have hydrothermal vents that may support life.

enceladus plume
YouTube/NASA

Dwarf planet Ceres captivated scientists with its mysterious bright spots — they'd never seen anything in the universe quite like them. We now know <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/ceres-bright-spots-mystery-solved-2015-12">they're likely patches of salt</a>.

ceres bright spot
NASA/JPL
Advertisement

We found out Mars used to be a <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/what-mars-looked-like-with-water-2015-3">water world with a giant ocean</a> that covered almost 20% of its surface...

mars water
This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about four billion years ago. The young planet Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 140 metres deep, but it is more likely that the liquid would have pooled to form an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’s northern hemisphere, and in some regions reaching depths greater than 1.6 kilometres. ESO/M. Kornmesser/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)

...And that solar winds <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/mars-lost-atmosphere-video-2015-11">swept away Mars' atmosphere and oceans</a>, turning it into the dry, barren wasteland we know today.

mars solar wind
NASA
Advertisement

However, we found convincing evidence that <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/nasa-confirms-liquid-water-on-mars">there's liquid water on Mars right now</a>, reinvigorating the argument that the planet night still be able to support life.

mars announcement
These dark streaks on Mars are evidence of water. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

There was a big underdog story, too. A Japanese space probe finally made it to Venus after it botched the first approach five years ago. It's <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/japanese-akatsuki-spacecraft-venus-2015-12">now in orbit</a> and rounding up all sorts of valuable data.

venus sun eclipse backlit nasa
NASA
Advertisement

After 11 years of flight, the <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/r-mercury-orbiting-us-spacecraft-heading-for-a-crash-landing-2015-4">Messenger spacecraft purposefully nosedived into Mercury</a>, creating a new crater on the surface of the heavily scarred planet. The mission revealed frozen water on Mercury's surface and evidence of previously active volcanoes.

messenger, mercury
NASA

But in all, humanity has only scratched the surface and we're nowhere near through exploring the solar system. Luckily, <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/nasa-budget-increase-congress-2015-12">NASA has a bigger budget than expected for 2016</a>, which gives us hope that next year will be even better than this one.

SLS
NASA/MSFC

Read next

NASA Space
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.