5 Most Mysterious Objects in the Solar System
5 Most Mysterious Objects in the Solar System
Object X
On January 6, 2010, NASA's Hubble Telescope observed a bizarre X-shaped object moving through the Solar System with a ghostly vapor trail.
Object X
Object P/2010 A2 has a 460 feet wide nucleus that lies outside its own halo of dust - something never seen in a comet-like object before.
Object X
It likely originated from the Flora family of asteroids in the belt between Mars and Jupiter...
Object X
...meaning that it could be related to the K/T impactor asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.
Object X
The object was probably formed when a smaller asteroid collided with a larger one, though scientists have yet to explain its strange X shape.
Object X
5 Most Mysterious Objects in the Solar System
Black Knight Satellite
The Black Knight is a mysterious satellite in polar orbit around the Earth.
Black Knight Satellite
Stories have linked the object to everything from mysterious radio signals received by Nikola Tesla to top secret spy satellites...
Black Knight Satellite
...and some believe signals from the satellite point to the object being 13,000 years old and originating from the double star Epsilon Bootis.
Black Knight Satellite
The most compelling evidence of the object's existence is a set of photographs taken by the crew of the space shuttle Endeavor in 1998.
Black Knight Satellite
They show a strange black object floating above Earth. But is it man-made space debris or an alien satellite that has been watching over us?
Black Knight Satellite
They show a strange black object floating above Earth. But is it man-made space debris or an alien satellite that has been watching over us?
Black Knight Satellite
5 Most Mysterious Objects in the Solar System
Comet Ison
ISON, discovered on Semptember 21, 2012, is thoght to have come from a cloud of comets circling the edge of the Solar System.
Comet Ison
The 5km wide comet will reach a speed of 845,000 miles per hour as it passes just 730,000 miles above the Sun's surface on November 28, 2013.
Comet Ison
If ISON survives its close encounter with the Sun, it could become one of the brightest comets in recent memory.
Comet Ison
So far, the comet has puzzled astronomers, responding to the sun like a solid body, rather than as a typical "fluffy" comet...
Comet Ison
...and appearing as a "bright, miniature, long-tailed comet situated within a much larger, but very much fainter and diffuse halo of a coma."
Comet Ison
5 Most Mysterious Objects in the Solar System
Planet X
Too distant to be easily spotted by telescopes, an unseen planet could exist at the edge of the solar system according to researchers.
Planet X
Astronomer Rodney Gomes says a planet 4 times the size of Earth may be gravitationally shaping the orbits of dwarf planets beyond Pluto.
Planet X
Gomes' simulations show that the existence of such a planet would explain the mystery of those objects' peculiar orbits.
Planet X
Though "Planet X" has yet to be seen, astronomers have previously predicted the existence of planets by studying their gravitational influence...
Planet X
...like Neptune whose existence was predicted through measurements of perturbations in Uranus' orbit.
Planet X
5 Most Mysterious Objects in the Solar System
1991 VG
A 10 meter object in a heliocentric orbit, now cataloged at 1991 VG, made a close approach to the Earth in December, 1991.
1991 VG
With an orbit similar to Earth's and observations of rapid brightness fluctuations, some argue for it being an artificial body rather than an asteroid...
1991 VG
...like astronomer Duncan Steele who noted that the "srtong, rapid brightness variations..."
1991 VG
...can "be interpreted as transient specular reflections from the surfaces of a rotating spacecraft."
1991 VG
Is it a natural object, a lost rocket, or an extraterrestrial probe? We may find out when the objects orbit brings it back to Earth in 2016...
1991 VG
