TOP 5 DISCOVERIES

OF THE DECADE

1. DISCOVERY OF ERIS (2005)

2. CONFIRMATION OF DARK MATTER (2006)

The unprecedented evidence came from the careful weighing of gas

and stars flung about in the head-on smash-up between two great
clusters of galaxies in the Bullet Cluster.

Until then, the existence of dark matter was inferred by the fact that
galaxies have only one-fifth of the visible matter needed to create the
gravity that keeps them intact.

So, the rest must be invisible to telescopes: That unseen matter is

"dark."
3. NEW HUMAN ANCESTORS EMERGE (2009)

The emergence of new human ancestors, first, in the form of a

6- to 7-million-year-old skull of Sahelanthropus tchadensis -
known as Toumai, in northernChadin 2002.

Then, in 2009, the nearly complete skeleton of "Ardi," in

northeasternEthiopiabumped the famous "Lucy" as the earliest,
most complete skeleton of a human ancestor ever found.
4. DISCOVERY OF HABITABLE EXOPLANETS

An astronomer sighted alien planets, or "exoplanets",

directly in 2008, using theHubble Space Telescopeand the
infrared Keck and Gemini observatories inHawaii.
Recently, astronomers at NASA have spotted a nearby star
withseven Earth-size planets.
5. DISCOVERY OF WATER ICE ON MARS (2008)

Almost allwateronMarstoday exists as ice, though it also

exists in small quantities as vapor in theatmosphereand
occasionally as low-volume liquidbrinesin shallowMartian
soil.The only place where water ice is visible at the surface is at
thenorth polar ice cap as photographed by NASA's
MarsPhoenixlander.

Abundant water ice is also present beneath the

permanentcarbon dioxideice cap at the Martian south pole and
in the shallow subsurface at more temperate latitudes.
 Presented By :-
STEPHEN CHARLES WEI
1502472
M7
MECHANICAL