12 of the Weirdest and Most Mysterious Space Revelations Ever

5. The minimoon

Found Year: 2020 Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy made the discovery. Location: Earth's orbit The term "minimoons" describes small objects in Earth's orbit. Minimoons are typically difficult to distinguish from common space debris, and in order to even classify them as minimoons in the first place, rigorous and persistent observation is needed. Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy just identified a second minimoon in 2020.

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Fernando Astasio Avila/Shutterstock, "Minimoon" The size of a refrigerator, CD3 is a naturally occurring object that was detected by astronomers at the IfA circling around Earth. The remnants of a large asteroid, known as CD3, are circling the Sun between Jupiter and Mars. We will feel the impact of this small object if it breaks out of Earth's orbit and collides with us.

6. Little Planet

Found Year: 2021 Who Made It Happen: Subaru Telescope Place: 417 light-years away from Earth Utilising the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea, astronomers have succeeded in photographing a juvenile exoplanet by comparison. We have dubbed this rare event 2M0437b. It is one of the newest exoplanets found to date and is extremely close to Earth, only 417 light years away.

Baby Exoplanet on Pinterest and @spacedotcom Its surface is as hot as lava since it is only a few million years old. Because 2M0437b's parent star moves so slowly across the sky, it took scientists three years to confirm the star's existence after they first observed it in 2018.