When you buy through link on our website , we may earn an affiliate charge . Here ’s how it works .
Every year , we take more about the intricacies of thesolar organization , and 2023 has been no different . This class , scientists cast off more visible light on our cosmic neighborhood with some intriguing find . From squinch planets and new moons to an icy supervolcano and mysterious spotlight , here are the 10 crazy things we learned about thesolar systemin 2023 .
Mercury is shrinking
Starting with the major planet closest to the sun , Mercury , an October survey revealed that the solar system ’s tiniest planetmight be getting even modest .
expert have long hump that Mercury has flinch significantly since it first formed . elephantine cracks , known as protective embankment , on the major planet ’s surface were created as the planet contracted over tenacious periods of cool off .
Scientists originally recall these scarps were billions of years old , but the new research showed that some were just 300 million years old , which suggests the planet has been shrinking for most of its life — and it could still be happening today .
“Wrinkles” on Mercury’s surface suggest it has been shrinking for most of its lifetime.
This year , scientists also discovered that piquant glacier in some of Mercury ’s craters could offer thenecessary condition for some uttermost living - forms to thrive .
Oxygen found on Venus
move far from the sun , researchers announced in November that oxygen had been discover inVenus ' atmosphere for the 2nd time , confirming that the element is present on the hellish planet .
The thin layer of molecularoxygen(unbonded oxygen atom ) was spotted byNASA ’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy , a scope attached to a large plane that flew above most forms of interference in Earth ’s atmosphere between 2014 and 2022 .
However , this atomic number 8 is not a sign of life on Venus . or else , researcher distrust the gas is created as solar radiation unwrap down carbon paper dioxide and carbon monoxide molecules in the standard pressure . This atomic number 8 would also be useless to future human colonists because it is not breathable and is find oneself in low denseness .
“Wrinkles” on Mercury’s surface suggest it has been shrinking for most of its lifetime.
This year , scientists also come across that Venus hasthousands more volcanoes than we antecedently realizedand that a majority of them could still be active .
The moon is older than we thought
nigher to domicile , a written report published in October reveal thatthe moonmay beat least 40 million years older than we previously thought .
Researchers examine diminutive wallop crystals , known as zircon quartz glass , within lunar stone sample brought back by NASA ’s Apollo 17 mission . The unexampled analysis revealed that these crystal , which were leave by a colossal hit between Earth and a Mars - size planet that birth the moon , were older than like crystals find in other lunar sample .
" These crystals are the oldest bang solids that formed after the gargantuan impact , " the research worker wrote , and they do as " an anchor for lunar chronology . "
The moon is likely 40 million years older than we realized.
This year , astronomers also detected amysterious oestrus - emitting blobon the moon ’s far side and spot a separatechunk of the moon orb Earth .
Mars is spinning faster and faster
One of the big account to come fromMarsthis twelvemonth is that theRed Planet ’s spin has been getting quick every twelvemonth , and scientists do n’t experience why .
Data from NASA ’s InSight mission express that Mars ' rotary motion is accelerating at a pace of 4 milliarcseconds per year , which means its days are growing slightly shorter . ( A milliarcsecond is one one - one-thousandth of an arcsecond , which is a unit of angularity . )
Two leading hypothesis explain the speed - up . The first is that glass assemblage at the planet ’s poles is have a slender change in how its mass is distributed , and the 2d is a phenomenon called postglacial rebound , where landmasses uprise up after millennia buried under ice .
Researchers discovered the Red Planet is spinning faster every year.
This year , scientist alsosolved the mystery of the planet ’s great - ever " marsquake"and calculated theminimum figure of masses needed to commence a Martian dependency .
Jupiter has a dozen new moons
This year , scientistsconfirmed the creation of 12 newfangled moons around Jupiter , fetch the major planet ’s satellite enumeration to 92 . At the time , this set a new solar system book .
The newly discovered Jovian Moon are small , range from 0.6 to 2 nautical mile ( 1 to 3.2 kilometers ) wide , and most of them have wide orbits — nine of the 12 synodic month take more than 550 days to orbitJupiter .
The Sun Myung Moon were give away in 2021 and 2022 but were just reassert this class by the International Astronomical Union ’s Minor Planet Center .
Jupiter has way more moons that we realized.
This year , NASA ’s Juno space vehicle also discovered organic compoundson the surface of Jupiter ’s enceinte moon , Ganymede . The molecules likely number from the moon ’s subsurface sea , hint that it could sustain life .
But Saturn has even more moons
If you thought Jupiter gained lots of moon this yr , just wait until you get a load ofSaturn ’s new satellites . This twelvemonth , scientists officially added 62 Moon to the annulated satellite ’s roster , bringing its total to 145 and setting a raw record that is unlikely to be broken by Jupiter again .
Some of the new moons were just 1.6 miles ( 2.5 km ) wide . But all of the freshly discover planet are " irregular Moon , " imply they follow distant , elliptical orbits around their host planet and often move in retrograde , meaning in the opposite direction of Saturn ’s rotary motion . Some are also bundle together , suggesting they were once a single body that broke apart .
This year , scientists also spotted a key organic fertiliser compoundshooting out of Saturn ’s frigid sea moon Enceladus , and researchers also worked out that the uranologist who discover Saturn ’s large moon , Titan , was probably nearsighted .
Saturn officially gained more than 50 new moons this year.
Polar vortex spotted on Uranus
move into the forbidden planets , fresh images ofUranusshowed agigantic " polar swirl " swirling around the ice giant ’s compass north pole , suggest the major planet ’s atmosphere is not as inert as we previously believed .
A opposite vortex is a swirl ring of hot or inhuman air that circles a satellite ’s gelid region . These whirlpool have been spotted on Venus , Earth , Mars , Jupiter , Saturn and Neptune . And in 1986 , NASA ’s Voyager 2 investigation spotted a polar vortex around Uranus ' south celestial pole on its journey out of the solar organisation .
The swirling band are think to be make by high - altitude atmospheric jet streams , although the mechanics disagree from major planet to major planet .
Astronomers detected a polar vortex around Uranus' north pole for the first time.
Earlier this class , scientists alsospotted a polar vortex on the sun for the first time .
Neptune keeps growing mysterious spots
This year , uranologist captured the first , clear image of one ofNeptune ’s mystical dark spots from Earth andphotographed a never - before - see promising blot at the same time .
impermanent dark spots have been document on the solar system ’s most distant satellite since 1989 , when Voyager 2 make out one as it blow over by . Scientists call up the blue spots are likely gigantic violent storm , likeJupiter ’s " Great Red Spot , " but they are timid why the spots come out so dark .
The late bright patch has never been seen before and lasted only a few hebdomad , so its origins are even more mysterious . But the unlike speckle are in all likelihood linked , research worker say .
Mysterious dark spots have been spotted on Neptune multiple times.
This class , astronomers also noticed that all ofNeptune ’s clouds had suddenly fell . The disappearing act is likely linked to a peak in solar bodily process asthe sunreaches the explosive peak in its close to 11 - year solar cycle per second , known as thesolar maximum .
Pluto has an icy supervolcano
Demoted planet Pluto has beenhiding a gigantic cryovolcano the size of Yellowstone ’s supervolcano , an October study revealed .
Cryovolcanoes , also known as ice vent , are simply volcanoes that erupt with cryomagma — frappe , piddle and various gases — alternatively of molten rock . They ’ve been found in several places across the solar system , including the gnome satellite Ceres and at the ticker of explosive comet , such as the " devil comet . "
Pluto ’s new see volcano , name Kiladze Caldera , was in the first place peg as a volcanic crater in images captured by NASA ’s New Horizons mission . But after take a second feel at the data , scientists detected traces of cryomagama around the depression , which is grounds that it has erupted multiple times .
Researchers discovered that Pluto has a massive cryovolcano that is comparable in size to Yellowstone’s supervolcano.
Scientists do n’t have it away if it ’s still participating , but if it is , it could produce enough cryomagma to cover Los Angeles .
Planet Nine might not exist (but it also might)
Planet Nineis a hypothetic major planet that is rumour to exist somewhere in the outer reaches of the solar system .
The Planet Nine hypothesis arose when astronomer detected gravitational unusual person in the Kuiper Belt — a mathematical group of comet and asteroids beyond the orbit of Neptune . These anomaly suggest that an invisible planet up to 10 clip the size of it of Earthis lurking beyond the Kuiper Belt .
But in a preprint theme upload in September , scientists pop the question that these gravitational anomaliescould be explain by an alternative theory of gravity , do it as modified Newtonian dynamics ( MOND ) .
The Planet Nine mystery got even weirder this year.
MOND suggests that entity toward the edge of theMilky Way , such as the solar system , have a greater gravitational tug from our galaxy ’s supermassive black hole heart than traditional gravity give up . Therefore , the Kuiper Belt object may be tug off by our galaxy and not an problematical planet . However , MOND is not a universally accepted theory , so for now , our best surmise is that Planet Nine does subsist .
