12 of the Weirdest and Most Mysterious Space Revelations Ever

7. A planet forming a ring beyond the solar system

Found Year: 2021 Who Discovered It: Alma Where: Around Exoplanet PDS 70C Recently, scientists utilising the Atacama Large Array discovered an extraterrestrial world in its very early stages of creation. In 2021, scientists discovered the first known moon-forming disc orbiting a planet outside of our solar system. The exoplanet PDS 70C is surrounded by the material-rich primordial ring, which is swimming around in space.

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Planet Forming Ring Outside Solar System ©Shutterstock/MR. Somchat Parkaythong This disc is five hundred times larger than Saturn's rings and is situated four hundred light years away. According to scientists, there is enough material in this ring to create three bodies the size of the moon. For astronomers hoping to understand more about how protoplanetary discs shape moons and planets in the early stages of a system, discovering this ring was a major victory.

8. Clouds of Water

Found Year: 2014 Who Found It: Penn State University's Kevin Luhman Location: 7.3 Earthly light-years away Astronomers at Penn State found water ice clouds in 2014 on an object that was only 7.3 light years from Earth. That is less than twice the distance of the nearest star system to the sun, Alpha Centauri. The first known sightings of ice clouds outside of our solar system are these ones.

Clouds of Water ©Shutterstock/pixelparticle A failed star the size of Jupiter is surrounded by clouds; it is a brown dwarf star because it has so little mass that it cannot support nuclear processes. Because it sheds light on how cool massive planets orbit other suns, this discovery is significant. These water clouds obscure a brown dwarf planet that is warmer than Jupiter but somewhat colder than the mean temperature of Earth.