Alan Duffy

Space research never stops and it seems neither do the surprises.

This week though I had no doubts that I wouldn’t be the only one excited as I discussed the ambitious Breakthrough Starshot mission to reach another star.

For all their enormous size and furious energies, stars are remarkably simple. Knowing just their mass and the smattering of elements heavier than hydrogen we can predict their lives from cradles to grave. But every now and then, nature throws us something truly bizarre as as reminder that we ain’t seen everything yet.

This year is shaping up to be another exciting one for space after a bonanza of discoveries and celestial events in 2015.

Long before we had the atomic theory of matter, scientists knew the air was real, even though it was invisible.

We can map it, weigh it and simulate it, yet we still have no idea what it is. But dark matter is coming into the spotlight as never before.

NASA revealed yesterday that the iconic Great Red Spot on Jupiter has shrunk to its smallest size ever – and astronomers have no idea why.