Buzz
From the dawn of space exploration, there has been a deep fascination with unlocking the mysteries of the cosmos. Yet, space is not only strange, but so are we. We have encountered bizarre natural phenomena drifting through the vastness of space, and we have also left our own peculiar imprint on the universe. Below are just a few of the oddities we've discovered in space, along with some things we've lost along the way.
10. Alcohol
Massive clouds of alcohol have been discovered in the Milky Way and around star-forming regions, with one of the largest clouds containing enough alcohol to fill 400 trillion trillion pints of beer. In addition to the familiar ethanol, astronomers have also spotted huge clouds of methyl and vinyl alcohol. Unfortunately, like many things in space, these clouds are too distant for us to enjoy, but their discovery excites scientists for reasons beyond just the idea of a cosmic party.
Alcohol, being an organic compound, contains the essential building blocks for life. The presence of these molecules in regions where stars have recently formed could reveal more about the origins of our planet and the emergence of life on Earth. The right combination of molecules is necessary for complex life to develop, and these clouds offer a glimpse into how these processes unfold naturally in the vastness of space.
Surprisingly, our solar system doesn’t even remotely have the ideal conditions necessary for these reactions to occur. Does this suggest that there might be a more advanced life force elsewhere in the universe, evolving at a much faster pace than we are? While we shouldn’t jump to conclusions, it is a possibility. The universe is a bizarre place—one that occasionally contains massive quantities of booze.
9. A Miniature Art Gallery
In 1969, a secret mission launched with the Apollo 12 lunar lander. The mission's objective was to send the artworks of Andy Warhol and five other artists to the Moon, establishing the first and only extraterrestrial art museum. Today, historians believe the mission was a success, with a small chip just 2 centimeters (1 inch) wide, still displaying these six drawings on the Moon.
The history of the Moon museum is itself shrouded in mystery. Forrest “Frosty” Myers, one of the artists involved in the mission, came forward after an identical chip surfaced at an online auction six years ago. According to Myers, a scientist named Fred Waldhauer created the piece by shrinking each artwork and imprinting them onto the tiny ceramic chip. Waldhauer allegedly knew a NASA engineer who could sneak the works onto the lunar lander. While the identity of this engineer remains unknown, Myers shared a telegram with historians that may confirm the mission's success. The telegram, sent on the day of the Apollo 12 launch, reads: “You’re on. A-OK. All systems are go.”
While we know how the chip made its way to the Moon, the real question is why it was sent there. Apollo 12 launch pad foreman Richard Kupczyk might have some answers. He openly admitted to USA Today that it was quite common for engineers to sneak small items onto the spacecraft. “Apollo was something bigger than life,” said Kupczyk, who strongly believes in the success of the Moon museum. “We were all part of it. We wanted to leave a mark.”
Although art and science have separate histories, they have always developed side by side. The Moon museum serves as a testament to art's role in the space race, illustrating that innovation in both fields has been—and will always be—a uniquely human pursuit.
8. The Death Star
Among the many space-themed movies Hollywood has produced, few images are as memorable as the Death Star. This imposing symbol of annihilation encapsulates everything we love and fear about space—its mystery, its darkness, its vastness, and, naturally, its explosive potential. With the resurgence of the Star Wars franchise, it's clear that our fascination with destruction in space is far from fading. While a planet-destroying superweapon is purely fictional… or is it? NASA's Kepler telescope recently discovered a white dwarf star destroying its own planet, a real-life cosmic death.
Don’t panic; although this star is indeed obliterating planets, it works quite differently from Grand Moff Tarkin’s weapon. The deadly star is ripping its planet apart using its intense gravity. NASA observed debris from the planet drifting toward the white dwarf, almost like a comet's tail. This form of destruction is far more gradual than the instant destruction depicted in Star Wars.
The doomed planet, roughly the size of Texas, is expected to meet its end in about a million years. In a statement following the observation, astronomer Andrew Vanderburg noted that this marks the first time we’ve been able to witness the demise of a solar system up close. While it may not be the dramatic spectacle Star Wars fans were hoping for, it’s still a fascinating event to witness.
7. The Oort Cloud
At first glance, the Oort Cloud doesn’t seem all that extraordinary. It’s a vast stretch of icy space that occasionally flings out comets, giving us spectacular cosmic displays like Halley’s Comet. We have a good understanding of what it’s made of, how big it is, and when it might have formed. So, what’s the hitch? No one has ever actually seen it, and we’re not entirely convinced that it even exists.
Here’s the thing about the Oort Cloud: It’s purely hypothetical. Right now, it’s the only explanation we have for the comets that seem to appear out of nowhere, showing up at unpredictable intervals and following bizarre orbits. For this cloud to release comets in such patterns, it would need to have a specific shape and size, along with certain compounds to expel the rocks we’ve been studying. Our best guess is that it should be about one light-year away. This distance helps explain why we’ve never actually seen the Oort Cloud, but with telescopes that can peer back to the beginning of time, it seems like we should have found it by now. Maybe if the Oort Cloud were packed with booze, NASA’s observatories would have more incentive to track it down.
6. Space Hubcap
If you asked NASA about the first artificial object to enter Earth’s orbit, they would point to Sputnik 1, which launched in October 1957. However, if you asked someone who enjoys space lore, they’d happily tell you the tale of the Space Hubcap.
The story dates back two months before Sputnik’s launch, when the US initiated a series of tests to explore the feasibility of underground nuclear weapon storage. On August 27, 1957, a test aimed at containing one such weapon did not go as planned. In what was supposed to be a controlled detonation, the explosion’s force disintegrated the concrete above it and shot through a narrow 150-meter (500 ft) shaft. The only thing standing between the bomb and freedom was a small steel lid covering the shaft. The lid was launched into the sky at six times the speed needed to escape Earth’s gravity, never to be seen again.
There’s some debate about whether the “Space Hubcap” ever truly made it into space. On one side, the initial calculations of its speed only accounted for the force of the impact, ignoring key factors like gravity and air resistance. Bob Brownlee, the man behind those calculations, has expressed skepticism about the validity of his figures. Others argue that the Space Hubcap likely burned up upon entering Earth’s atmosphere. Without exact data on the explosion’s force, the cap’s weight, and the strength of the steel, we’ll never know for sure what happened.
Could this tiny steel lid still be drifting through space? It’s a possibility. Regardless, the name “Space Hubcap” will forever be remembered as a trailblazer in the era of space exploration.
5. Golf Balls
If you were to guess the longest golf drive in history, chances are you'd be off. It’s not your fault—we don’t actually know how far the longest golf drive went, as it was never found after being launched from the International Space Station (ISS). The shot was made by Soviet cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin in November 2006 as part of an advertisement for Element 21, a Canadian golf company. He reportedly missed the shot, which is impressive, considering that the target was nothing less than the entire Earth.
Even with the miss, Tyurin’s golf ball likely burned up during reentry a few days later. However, that doesn’t mean space is void of golf balls. Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard also hit a few balls during an extravehicular activity (EVA) on the Moon, leaving them behind when the crew returned to Earth. Shepard claimed one of his shots went for “miles and miles and miles.” While that may not be scientifically accurate, we’ll consider him a close second to Tyurin.
4. Lightning
Two billion light-years away from Earth, Nikola Tesla’s ghost is probably enjoying an extraordinary party. The most powerful electrical surge ever recorded has been detected there, racing through space-time with the intensity of a trillion lightning strikes. While this storm holds the record for its size, it’s not the first of its kind. Lightning storms can form naturally in space, typically near black holes, where magnetic fields generate tremendous electrical charges.
This storm is likely the result of an exceptionally large black hole, given that the storm itself (or more accurately, a single, incredibly powerful lightning strike) spans over 150,000 light-years. To put this into perspective, it’s longer than the entire Milky Way. The energy produced by this storm is sufficient to power all of Earth’s cities for thousands of years, but we’d probably be incinerated in the process. Perhaps it's a good thing that there's a buffer of two billion light-years between us and it.
3. Possible Ocean Life
NASA has discovered promising signs that life could exist in the oceans on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. You might assume that Titan is too cold for water, oceans, or life as we know it, and you’d be right—at least when measured by Earth’s standards.
However, Titan’s oceans aren’t filled with water; instead, they are made of methane, which remains liquid in Titan’s extremely cold temperatures. The organisms that might thrive in these methane oceans would share similarities with Earth life (composed of cells, with a respiratory system of some kind), but their cells would be methane-based, not oxygen-based as we have on Earth. Research has demonstrated that methane-based cells could not only survive but actually thrive in the extreme conditions on Titan. This discovery, along with atmospheric readings that hint at organic respiration on Titan, is one of the most promising leads in NASA’s quest for extraterrestrial life.
While it may seem far-fetched to picture alien mermaids swimming within our solar system, we can’t truly rule it out. At least not until we send a submarine to investigate.
2. SuitSat
When they’re not busy with groundbreaking science, astronauts aboard the ISS apparently find time for a little creativity. It was during such downtime that Russian astronaut Sergey Samburov had an idea: What if they repurposed an old spacesuit into a satellite? Given that each spacesuit costs millions of dollars, recycling its components seemed like a smart idea. They simply needed to repurpose some old suits and convert them into a functional spacecraft. After activating internal sensors and adding a radio, the ISS team had succeeded. All that was left was someone to catch its signal, and people worldwide stood by, antennas raised and radios tuned in.
SuitSat (also known as Mr. Smith to Americans and Ivan Ivanovich to Russians) launched from the ISS on February 3, 2006, transmitting greetings in five languages for Earthlings to hear. However, three hours into its flight, something went wrong. Listeners on Earth and the ISS lost contact with the satellite, and its signal vanished. NASA speculated that the radio’s batteries may have frozen in the harsh environment of space, but the exact cause of the failure remains unknown.
Whatever caused Mr. Smith’s demise, it’s likely that the garbage explorer burned up upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere a few weeks after launch. It was a quiet end for a satellite that was never supposed to exist. Though it may be gone, SuitSat lives on as a symbol of spontaneous scientific exploration and a forerunner of future SuitSats.
1. Urine
You’ve probably wondered: How do astronauts relieve themselves in space? NASA has dedicated considerable resources to figuring that out. The solution—a $50,000 toilet, equipped with suction and an airlock that ejects urine into space. While modern designs now feature advanced filtration systems to recycle urine into drinkable water, older systems followed an age-old sailing tradition: just toss it overboard.
However, “tossing it overboard” in space is far from simple. The vacuum system that expels waste into the void of space costs around $30 million, and astronauts must undergo extensive training to master its use. But once they’re in space, it’s an unforgettable experience. Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan described watching urine droplets freeze in mid-air as one of the most remarkable sights of his mission, while astronaut Tom Jones recalled the peculiar sight of a crewmate peeing upside down. In space, even the most basic bodily functions can defy the laws of gravity.
