Tech & Science China’s colossal radio telescope just heard a bizarre signal in space

Time and again, we have made some of the most amazing discoveries, from the Pillars of Creation to the first asteroid. Let's have a look at some of those discoveries.

NASA revealed on Feb 22, 2017 that its Spitzer Space telescope has found a system of seven earth-sized planets around a single star. Three of these planets are in the habitable zone where water might be found. This is a new record for the greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system. The system of planets, called TRAPPIST-1, is around 40 million light years from Earth.

China threatens UK with military response over disputed islands

China has warned Britain against sailing ships through disputed waters in the South China Sea, saying that such a move would be "hostile" and hinting that Beijing would be forced to responded militarily. Reacting to a suggestion that the UK might send its aircraft carrier close to the contested Spratly Islands, with US jets onboard, China's Ambassador to the UK said Britain "should not do this dirty job for somebody else". Speaking to the Defence Correspondents' Association in London, Liu Xiaoming rejected the argument that the Royal Navy would be upholding international rules concerning Freedom of Navigation.

China spent 0 million to create the telescope , which officials have repeatedly said will make the country the global leader in radio astronomy. They do that by collecting signals in a receiver suspended over the dish of a radio telescope , engineered to capture a certain range of frequencies

We have a good time, so take your shoes off, kick back, and make yourself at home here on the Bright Side of life! For brand partnership enquires: brands@thesoul-publishing.com. The evolutionary telescope is situated at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in British Columbia, Canada.

(Pictured) This illustration shows the possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of the newly discovered planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system.

In 1609, German astronomer Johannes Kepler discovered that the planets moved around the sun in an elliptical path instead of in circles as it was commonly thought at the time. The revelation helped astronomers predict the motion of the planets more accurately than before.

On April 1, 1995, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured a breathtaking image of space: called the Pillars of Creation, the iconic picture shows three giant gas columns bathed in the scorching ultraviolet light from a cluster of young, massive forming stars in a small region of the Eagle Nebula, or M16. Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen were responsible for this picture, and this popular image has been used in movies, TV shows and on T-shirts, pillows and postage stamps.

An exoplanet is a celestial body that orbits a star other than our sun. As of Feb. 15, 2017, astronomers have identified more than 3,500 such planets in 2,687 planetary systems and 602 multiple planetary systems. In July 2015, NASA’s Kepler space telescope identified the famous exoplanet — Kepler-452b, which is described as Earth's cousin because of its close similarities to our planet.

Did China just threaten the UK with military action?

Beijing says deployment of new British aircraft carrier to the South China Sea could be interpreted as a ‘hostile action’

Although the term was coined by Princeton physicist John Wheeler in 1967, black holes have always been a mystery among space enthusiasts. Considered to be dead stars that collapsed inward from their own weight, a black hole's gravity pull is so strong that not even light can escape. Consequently, they aren't visible and they can only be detected by their effect on nearby matter.

(Pictured) In this picture from NASA/ESA, it illustrates a quasar, or feeding black hole. NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) revealed millions of potential black holes in its survey of the sky in 2011.

Named after English astronomer Edmond Halley, who determined the comet's periodicity, the comet is visible from Earth every 76 years. Captured by several interplanetary spacecraft, the comet is believed to be composed of volatile ice and dust. Leaving a trail of blazing light every time it passes over Earth, Halley’s Comet last appeared in 1986 and will be seen next in 2061.

(Pictured) Halley's Comet passes through space as seen from the Ford Observatory, California, U.S. in 1986.

In 1662, German-Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius named this star Mira, which means wonderful in Latin. Lying in the constellation Cetus, the brightness of this star varies for about 11 months. Mira’s changeability pattern was discovered by Frisian astronomer Johannes Holwarda in 1638. In 2007, NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) revealed Mira's luminous tail of gas that's more than a dozen light-years long. This is the material that Mira has shed, leaving it behind as it speeds through the galaxy at some 80 miles per second (130 kms per second).

Scientists hear the 'chirp' of baby black hole

Einstein was right - again.

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Discovered by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi on Jan. 1, 1801, the celestial body was earlier considered a planet but when more similar objects were found in the belt, it was reclassified as an asteroid. In February 2017, NASA's spacecraft Dawn found evidence of organic material on Ceres.

Uranus was identified in 1781 by German-British astronomer William Herschel. The gas planet gets its bluish surface color from tiny frozen ammonia crystals. The atmosphere is believed to be hydrogen and helium. To date, NASA's Voyager 2 probe is the only spacecraft to visit the planet.

(Pictured) A Hubble Space Telescope view revealing Uranus surrounded by its four major rings and by its satellites.

NASA's Cassini probe spotted geyser-like jets of water vapor and other volatile materials blasting from the south pole of the Saturn's moon Enceladus in 2005. The observation showed that the ice-crusted moon is geologically active, and the discovery that it probably has a subsurface ocean makes it an important target for the search of life elsewhere in the solar system.

(Pictured) In this artist's concept, the Cassini spacecraft makes a close pass by Enceladus to study plumes from geysers.

It’s a giant, raging storm which is about three and a half times the size of Earth and is in Jupiter’s southern hemisphere. This most famous feature of the giant gas planet was first seen by English scientist Robert Hooke in 1664. According to a research published in the Nature journal in July 2016, the hurricane is responsible for blasting the planet's upper atmosphere with heat, which is as high as 2,732 °F (1,500 °C).

How fast is the universe expanding? The mystery endures

Scientists have known for decades that the universe is expanding, but research in the past few years has shaken up calculations on the speed of growth -- raising tricky questions about theories of the cosmos. 

In 1655, Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens was the first person to observe the disks surrounding Saturn. Composed of billions of particles of ice and rock, the rings are about 167,770 miles (270,000 kms) in diameter but relatively thin — a maximum thickness of about 0.62 miles (1 km). NASA’s Voyager spacecraft found that the planet's rings are made up of ringlets, and sent back data that led to the further discovery of the existence of nine moons of the planet.

(Pictured) Rings of the planet Saturn, taken by Voyager 1 spacecraft at a range of 445,523 miles (717, 000 kms) in 1980.

Several interplanetary spacecraft in the past have provided abundant evidence of water on Mars, dating back to NASA’s Mariner 9 mission during the 1970s. The robotic rover Opportunity found initial signs in 2004 that rocks at one of the Martian craters were exposed to water at one point of time: it may have been a salty lake or an ocean. Findings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) in September 2015 provide the strongest evidence that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.

(Pictured) These dark, narrow 328-feet-long (100 meters) streaks, called recurring slope lineae, flowing downhill on Mars are inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water.