8 Strangest Things Scientists Have Discovered In Space

Humanity has been looking up at the sky for thousands of years, and all we’ve learned in that time is that space is a crazy place. Every day, scientists discover many bizarre things that bring up more questions than answers, make us fear the unknown, and leave us awestruck.

1. Whirlpool Galaxy (Messier 51)
The Whirlpool Galaxy, aka Messier 51, is like the rockstar of celestial bodies, always looking perfect and getting snapped by telescopes left and right. It’s not that far from us either, just some 23 million light years away. And it’s not just a pretty face. The real kicker is its cosmic tango with its BFF galaxy, NGC 5195. Their gravitational dance leads to some serious star-making action, giving those spiral arms a dazzling “stars being born” vibe.

2. Hexagonal Storm on Saturn
Saturn’s massive hexagon is probably the coolest and weirdest thing in the whole solar system. Picture this majestic storm, big enough to fit four Earths inside, just spinning there for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. This mind-blowing storm swirls around in Saturn’s atmosphere, where the winds are all over the place. The vortex at Saturn’s north pole, right inside the hexagon, is spinning faster than the winds outside the hexagon, which creates this epic storm show.

3. The Traveller – Oumuamua
On one chilly October night in 2017, the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope stumbled upon something wild. At first, they thought it was a comet, but something didn’t feel right, so they thought, “Ah, must be an asteroid!” But guess what? Wasn’t that either? This space thing was shaped like a rod, and it was getting brighter as it twirled. It turns out this space rock was not from our solar system. It’s an outsider, a traveler, that’s presumably older than our whole solar system.