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11. Mars's Debris
Found Year: 2022
NASA is the one who discovered it.
Where: Mars
It turns out that the enigmatic wreckage on Mars is simply the remains of the Perseverance rover, not some weird cosmic occurrence. NASA's Mars 2020 mission included the car-sized Mars rover, dubbed Percy, whose purpose was to investigate Mars' Jezero crater.
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Mars's wreckage ©UPI/Alamy
The backshell separated during Percy's February 2021 descent on the Martian surface, causing it to strike the ground at a speed of 78 mph. But as the pictures show, it was still in really decent shape. This event is being used by researchers to support NASA's next mission on Mars, which involves returning rocks and dirt to Earth.
12. Bernardinelli-Bernstein Comet
Found Year: 2014
Gary Bernstein and Pedro Bernardinelli made the discovery.
Place: Not specified
Astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein identified the comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein (C/2014 UN271), a sizable comet in the Oort cloud, using archive footage from The Dark Energy Survey. When the Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein was originally photographed in October 2014, it was 2.7 billion miles from the Sun.
Twitter/willgater/Bernstein Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein
The Bernardinelli CometBernstein is the largest known Oort cloud comet, with a nucleus diameter of at least 75 miles. It is predicted to pass slightly outside of Saturn's orbit in January 2031, but as it won't enter the inner Solar System, it won't be visible to the unaided eye.
