9 epic space discoveries you may have missed in 2020

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Medical discoveries dominated the news in 2020, but even under pandemic conditions, astronomers continued their work. They hunted radio waves in search of mysterious signals, discovered new galaxies, and even discovered which alien star systems could detect Earth.

Radio broadcasts from an extraterrestrial world

An artist's depiction of the exoplanet Tau Boötes b shows a magnetic field, which can cause the radio broadcasts scientists believe they have detected. — An artist’s depiction of the exoplanet Tau Boötes b shows a magnetic field, which can cause the radio broadcasts scientists believe they have detected. (Image credit: Jack Madden / Cornell University)

The planets of the solar system emit radio waves, especially Jupiter with its intense magnetic fields. But no one had ever detected radio waves from a planet beyond the solar system until this year, when researchers picked up a signal from a gas giant in the Tau Boötes system, just 51 light years from Earth. This signal could help them learn more about the magnetic field of this exoplanet, which could offer clues to what is going on in its atmosphere.

X-ray blobs bursting out of the Milky Way

This false color map shows the new X-ray bubbles (yellow and red) dominating the galactic center. (Image credit: MPE / IKI)

Millions of years ago, an explosion in the center of the Milky Way blew up energized material above and below the galactic disk. This material is still visible, shining in the gamma ray spectrum in two clusters discovered in 2010, known as Fermi bubbles. In 2020, researchers found another pair of spots in the same region, visible in the x-ray spectrum. Likely related to Fermi bubbles, these dark and gargantuan features of the Milky Way stand on 25 Fermi bubbles. 000 light years, over a width of 45,000 light years end to end. The researchers called them the “eROSITA bubbles”.

A long lost rocket thruster

This animation shows the accelerated orbit of 2020 SW, which was captured by Earth's gravity on November 8, 2020. The space oddity will escape in March 2021. — This animation shows the accelerated orbit of 2020 SW, which was captured by Earth’s gravity on November 8, 2020. The space oddity will escape in March 2021. (Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech)

The Earth acquired a new “minimoon” in 2020, one of the many objects that the planet encounters from time to time in space and that end up in orbit around our planet. But closer examination by amateur and professional space observers revealed that this minimoon was not a natural object at all, but rather a rocket thruster launched by NASA in the 1960s.

Ghostly Radio Circles

The ghostly ORC1 (blue / green fuzz), against a backdrop of galaxies at optical wavelengths. There is an orange galaxy at the center of the ORC, but we don't know if it's part of the ORC, or just a fortuitous coincidence. — The ghostly ORC1 (blue / green fuzz), against a backdrop of galaxies at optical wavelengths. There is an orange galaxy at the center of the ORC, but we don’t know if it’s part of the ORC, or just a fortuitous coincidence. (Image credit: Bärbel Koribalski, based on ASKAP data, with optical image of the [Dark Energy Survey](https://www.darkenergysurvey.org))

Scientists frequently find things in space that look like blurry spots, but the new Odd Radio Circles (ORCs), discovered in 2019 and reported in 2020, are special. The round drops, visible in the radio telescope data, do not look like any known objects. These are not supernova remnants or optical effects known as Einstein’s rings. Some scientists have even suggested that it could be wormhole gorges. But no one really knows what these newly discovered things are.

A million new galaxies

The ASKAP telescope looks like a group of large satellite dishes pointed towards the night sky. — The Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) (Image credit: Alex Cherney / CSIRO)

A radio telescope in the Australian outback has mapped 83% of the observable universe during 300 hours of observations. And it revealed a large amount of data: 3 million galaxies, one million of which had never been seen before. The Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) relies on 36 antennas to record the sky, but this was the first time the 36 had been used for a single project at a time.

A hint of life on Venus?

NASA took this image of Venus using its Mariner 10 probe during a flyby in 1974. (Image credit: NASA)

Venus is perhaps the most inhospitable place in the solar system, with bubbling acid clouds and hellish temperatures. That’s why astronomers preparing to search for phosphine, a smelly gas believed to be a possible signature of life on alien planets, first trained their phosphine hunting telescope on Venus: they wanted an image of reference of a surely dead world. But in a shocking twist, they found the compound in the clouds of Venus.

However, other researchers have called for caution before suggesting that there is really life on Venus.

A newborn magnetar

An image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the part of the sky from which the unusual light pattern originates, indicating the birth of a magnetar.

An image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the part of the sky from which the unusual light pattern originates, indicating the birth of a magnetar. (Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope / NASA)

On November 12, researchers detected a bright kilonova, a light show resulting from the fusion of two neutron stars. Kilonovas are rare in space, but researchers have seen them before. This one was special though: strange signals in the kilonova light indicated the presence of something new. Researchers studying the event offered a few possibilities, but said the most likely was a newborn magnetar: a huge super-magnetic neutron star that formed during the collision.

The source of a rapid radio burst

A magnetar is a superdense neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field. In this illustration, the magnetar emits a burst of radiation.

A magnetar is a superdense neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field. In this illustration, the magnetar emits a burst of radiation. (Image credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO / AUI / NSF)

Magnetars may also be responsible for the brightest flashes of light in space. These “rapid radio bursts” have mystified astronomers for years, packing the energy the sun emits in days into milliseconds. Most appear to come from far beyond the Milky Way, but in 2020 researchers reported a FRB originating in our home galaxy, just 30,000 light years from Earth. And this one had a known point of origin: a magnetar. Does that mean all of these bursts are coming from magnetars? No one is sure.

The aliens who could see us

Earth

(Image credit: NASA / NOAA)

Astronomers detect extraterrestrial planets by watching them pass between Earth and their stars. Someday, they might even study their atmospheres by watching how starlight shines through them. But this only works for planets whose orbits line up to place them between Earth and their home star. Planets that don’t align this way are mostly invisible to current telescope technology.

In 2020, researchers asked which star systems had vantage points on Earth that would allow them to see our tiny planet with its atmosphere vibrant with signs of life. They identified 1,004 star systems capable of seeing Earth in 326 light years. A star just 12 light years from Earth has experienced exoplanets and will have the proper vantage point to see Earth when it takes up position in 2044.

Originally posted on Live Science.

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