exoplanet
Artist's concept of exoplanet HAT-P-7b, who clouds are likely to be formed of ruby producing mineral corundum.Mark Garlick/ University of Warwick

The year 2016 saw scientists solving several mysteries, making new discoveries and formulating theories to figure out the impact that an asteroid hit will have on Earth. Here is a roundup about the interesting space and astronomy-related events which made news in 2016.

Exoplanets:

Around 1,284 exoplanets were discovered this year, which are potentially habitable. Exoplanets refer to those planets which orbit a star other than the Sun.

An exoplanet dubbed GJ 536 b was discovered this year, which was also referred to as 'super-Earth.' It is located 32.7 light years away from Earth and weighs 5.4 times its mass.

Another stunning exoplanet called HAT-P-7b was found which comprises of vaporised form of corundum -- a rock-forming mineral that forms gems such as ruby and sapphire. This exoplanet was found to be 16 times bigger than Earth and the star it orbits is double the size of the Sun.

An exoplanet called HD 131399Ab was also found this year which had three stars. This planet was four times bigger than Jupiter and the star it orbited was the brightest star of its triple star system, which is supposedly 80 percent bigger than the Sun.

Stars:

Various stars were discovered and many shocking guesstimations were also made about them by scientists.

Planet-gulping solar twin
HIP68468, a twin star to the sun about 300 light-years away, may have swallowed one or more of its planets, based on lithium and refractory elements recently discovered near its surface, researchers say.Gabi Perez/Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias Illustration

A star dubbed HIP68468 was discovered by NASA scientists, which they referred to as "solar-twin" as it was Sun-like. What made this star unique was that researchers compared it to the Death Star from popular sci-fi film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and it was believed to have swallowed many of its planets. This six billion years old solar-twin comprises of four times more lithium content than a star of its age should have.

Tabetha Boyajian from Yale University along with her colleagues observed a star dubbed KIC 8462852 in September 2015. The star is called Tabby star or Boyajian's star and it portrayed a remarkable drop in its shine over a span of seven years. Researchers even formulated a hypothesis stating that a stellar energy collecting alien-built megastructure is responsible for its remarkable dimming, but they got no luck in finding anything. This star is still being observed and researchers are yet to reveal the exact reason behind the mystery of its fluctuating luminosity.

The Gliese 710 star, which is presently located 64 light years away from Earth, is likely to pass through the Oort cloud present in our solar system in 1.35 million years. The star could cause comet showers and researchers are now estimating that it could be more dangerous than it was previously thought to be.

Moons:

This year, we observed the supermoon, which we will only see again in 2034. Mesmerizing images of Saturn's Pandora moon also left us mesmerised.

Pandora, Saturn's moon, Saturn, moon,
This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft is one of the highest-resolution views ever taken of Saturn's moon Pandora. Pandora (52 miles, 84 kilometers) across orbits Saturn just outside the narrow F ring.NASA

NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured some breath-taking photos of Saturn's potato-shaped moon on December 18. The high resolution snaps were taken from a distance of 40,500 kilometres (25,200 miles). Also, revelation about the diameter of the ringed planet's moon was made, which is 18 kilometres (50 miles)

When the proximity of the moon with Earth is highest, it's referred to as supermoon. The supermoon was witnessed thrice this year in the months of October, November and December. This astronomical event was coincided by the Geminid meteor shower in December.

Asteroids:

NASA has been asteroid-hunting and also preparing to save Earth from being hit by these space rocks and other celestial objects.

Asteroid Eros
This image, taken by NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission in 2000, shows a close-up view of Eros, an asteroid with an orbit that takes it somewhat close to Earth.NASA/JHUAPL

The space agency has been looking for Near-Earth objects (NEOs) since 1998. According to reports, they have managed to find around 13,500 NEOs! Only strategies can be plotted to survive such asteroid crashes.