Every new discovery in space begins as a mystery. Some mysteries might take longer than others to understand, and some of the most fantastic remain a secret for many years. Some mysteries will remain so long after humanity has disappeared. Here are just a handful of the mysteries discovered by NASA.

#1 ‘Oumuamua

‘Oumuamua was the first interstellar object to be detected passing through the Solar System. It is about 1,000 meters long and between 35 and 167 meters wide. It gained fame because of its extra-solar origins and its unusual shape as a long cigar. Because of its speed and trajectory, it is unlikely we will ever see ‘Oumuamua ever again, and its mysteries will remain a secret forever.

#2 The Red Rectangle Nebula

The mystery surrounding the Red Rectangle Nebula isn’t that it exists, it is what caused it to be so rectangular. It is famous for its highly-symmetric nebula with nearly perfect x-shaped spikes. It is theorized that the rectangular shape is due to a binary star system in the center, but since the system is obscured, there is no way to confirm what actually caused this unique shape.

#3 Galaxy X

While Galaxy X hasn’t been “discovered” yet, signs of its existence have been found and some scientists believe it may still lie in wait beyond the limits of the Milky Way. Galaxy X is a postulated dwarf galaxy almost entirely composed of dark matter and a handful of stars. Evidence for the existence of Galaxy X began to be found in 2015.  

#4 Tabby’s Star

Tabby’s Star itself is a normal binary star system composed of an F-type main sequence star and a red dwarf. The mystery behind Tabby’s Star is what causes it to dim or lose brightness from time to time, including a 22% dimming at one point. Many hypotheses have been presented, including alien megastructures, but nothing so far can explain the strange behavior.

#5 CWISE J1249

CWISE J1249 was discovered just a few years ago when scientists saw a faint object zooming through the sky at over one million miles per hour. It is so dim and fast that researchers have been unable to identify it, but we know it will soon leave the Milky Way Galaxy and head into intergalactic space.

#6 Milky Way Bubbles

NASA’s Fermi Telescope discovered two massive bubble structures on either side of the Milky Way in 2010, spanning 50,000 light-years. It is theorized that the bubbles are the remains of an explosion of a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. How they were created, where they come from, and what they’re made of remains a mystery.

#7 Light Mars Boulder

In 2024, the NASA rover Perseverance discovered a boulder on the surface of Mars in the dry river delta known as the Neretva Vallis. This boulder had a different color and was significantly brighter than the other rocks in the area. It remains a mystery where the rock came from and why it is there.

#8 Saturn’s Hexagon

Saturn’s Hexagon is a storm on the north pole of Saturn, now iconic because of its hexagon shape. The storm is about three Earth-widths across and was discovered in 1981. While there are a few theories and models that try to explain the phenomenon, the regular hexagon shape will probably remain a mystery until probes visit the storm itself.

#9 NGC 1851 Mystery Object

In the center of the Globular Cluster NGC 1851 is an object that is too big to be a neutron star and too small to be a black hole (at least as far as current observations have shown). Subsequent studies have not revealed any information about what this mystery object is, or if it is a new stellar object altogether.

#10 Magnetic Tunnel

 In 2021, researchers discovered that the Solar System, and some of our nearby systems, are inside what they call a magnetic tunnel, over 1,000 light-years long, and connecting the charged, magnetic particles of all the stars within them. Where it came from and why its here is a mystery.

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