Top 20 Strangest Things In Our Solar System

Behold, the Loofah of the Gods! One of several bizarre satellites around Saturn, Hyperion is shaped like a potato, which gives it an irregular, chaotic rotation. However, what really makes the moon stand out is its sponge-like appearance. Deep craters pockmark its surface, and so far, no one knows why - at least not for sure. It may be due to the fact that the moon is mostly composed of water ice and has an extremely low density - so low that it would actually float in water. Its porous nature means that its surface gravity is relatively weak, allowing dislodged material to just drift away into space.

Uranus is notable for its blue-green color and narrow, almost invisible rings. But what’s strangest is the ice giant’s extremely unusual axial tilt. Its axis of rotation is tilted so far that it’s basically spinning sideways around the Sun - with its north and south poles where you’d expect the equator to be. For this reason, during its orbit each pole experiences 42 Earth years of sunlight, followed by the same duration of darkness. Researchers believe the extreme tilt may be the result of a massive collision billions of years ago.

How big is Mercury? Well, that all depends on WHEN you ask. Mercury is actually shrinking, leaving behind long, curving escarpments like wrinkles on its surface. The cause of the planet’s shrinkage? Well before you ask, no Mercury didn’t take a dip in a cold pool. Although . . . cooling off does have something to do with it. Mercury’s core occupies most of its volume; as it cools, the surface shrivels like a raisin. Images from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft have revealed that the planet continues to contract today. It doesn’t really seem fair - Mercury is already the smallest planet in the solar system. Then again, at least it’s still a planet, unlike poor Pluto!

When it comes to strange and spectacular, we’d argue that size DOES matter. Rising 72,000 feet over Mars’ surface, Olympus Mons is a shield volcano that’s two and a half times the height of Mt. Everest. Imagine standing at the bottom looking up - this thing makes Earth’s mountains seem like they’re not even trying. The product of thousands of lava flows , Olympus Mons is a testament to Mars’ more geologically active past. It’s not the red planet’s only supersized feature - its canyon system Valles Marineris dwarfs the Grand Canyon, running for 2,500 miles and reaching depths of 23,000 feet. So, when can we visit Mars already? Come on, Elon!

We’ve only just begun to explore beyond Neptune, in the circumstellar disc known as the Kuiper Belt. Like the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the Kuiper Belt is made up of numerous bodies that range in size from dust particles to minor planets. One of the strangest is Haumea - a dwarf planet that spins so fast that its shape has elongated to resemble a cigar or football. Discovered in 2004, it completes one rotation every four hours - making it the fastest spinning large object in the solar system. It also has its own ring system and two moons - leading researchers to speculate that it was born from a giant collision. Sometimes a cigar . . . ISN’T just a cigar.

We already covered one of Saturn’s strange satellites - but it gets even weirder than giant sponges. Just like the Force, the planet’s third-largest natural satellite, Iapetus, has a light and a dark Side. When we talk about our own moon’s dark side, we just mean the side that we don’t see from Earth. But Iapetus’ sides are actually different colors. One is white and reflective while the other is reddish-brown. Scientists think the dark material initially came from meteor debris. As if that’s not weird enough, the icy moon has a squashed shape and equatorial ridge that make it look a lot like a walnut.

Venus’ infernal, scorched surface is often compared to Hell. Sulfuric acid clouds shroud the planet, and hot winds scour lifeless, barren deserts. If you stepped out onto the surface, you’d be crushed by the dense air pressure and burn up in searing temperatures of close to 900°F. Yet Venus is also a lot like Earth . . . and could be a prophetic image of our future. It’s similar to Earth in size, composition, and proximity to the Sun, and billions of years ago might have harbored liquid water on its surface, until a runaway greenhouse effect cooked the planet.

When you picture our solar system, you might imagine the sun and planets floating through a vast sea of empty space. Well, we’re actually wrapped inside a bubble of trillions of icy planetesimals. Kinda comforting, in a way . . . we guess? The Oort Cloud remains theoretical, located far beyond reach of the sun’s solar wind; however, it’s still subject to the sun’s gravitational influence - and hence part of the solar system according to one definition. It’s thought that the cloud is the source of some comets, dislodged by passing stars and sent careening into our more immediate neighbourhood.

Scared of thunder? Saturn might be your worst nightmare. In a region of Saturn’s southern hemisphere known as Storm Alley, giant thunderstorms rage for months at a time, lashing the planet with superbolts and ranging for thousands of miles. One of the most dramatic is known as the Dragon Storm, discovered by the space probe Cassini in 2004. It flares up periodically, lighting up Saturn’s atmosphere. In 2009, Cassini observed another storm that lasted for eight months - the longest continuous thunderstorm ever recorded. Jupiter also has its fair share of lightning storms ... so maybe stay away from windows and doors the next time you visit either.

An umbrella won’t save you from this downpour. Based on atmospheric data, several scientists believe that diamonds likely rain down on the gas giants. The idea was first floated in 2013, when researchers argued that soot created by lightning on Saturn and Jupiter would become graphite and then diamond as it fell. In 2017, another team of researchers concluded that atmospheric temperatures and pressures would create diamond rain on Uranus and Neptune. They used high-powered lasers to reproduce conditions on the planets and create their own diamonds. Make it rain, gas giants! (Also, can we have some?)

We’ve projected the familiar onto the great unknown for millennia. In stars, planets, and moons, we’ve seen gods, animals, even human faces . . . And now, fully armed and operational battle stations. Saturn boasts at least 82 moons and hundreds of moonlets, some of which plough paths in the icy particles of its rings. But Mimas stands out both for being the smallest known astronomical body rounded from self-gravitation, and the huge impact crater 81 miles across that dominates its surface... and seems strangely familiar. The impact was so powerful it must have almost smashed Mimas to pieces, and possibly produced the fractures visible on the opposite side.

The auroras on our home planet are already surreal. So imagine alien auroras on other planets. Also known as the northern and southern lights, auroras occur when the sun’s solar wind disturbs our magnetic field. Turns out though, Earth isn’t the only planet with a magnetic field; in fact, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune have magnetic fields even stronger than Earth’s. Jupiter in particular is a magnetic powerhouse. Thanks to these fields, the gas giants also have stunning auroras, which from afar resemble fiery halos. While Saturn’s auroras are variable, Jupiter’s are permanent beacons lighting up the planet’s poles.

The Sun has burnt steadily away for 4.6 billion years. But its surface is far from peaceful. Twisting magnetic fields wrack the outer shell, triggering flares and eruptions of gaseous fountains and long, fiery filaments. These columns of magnetized plasma loop and sometimes launch out into the solar wind at speeds of more than 7 million miles per hour. Called coronal mass ejections, the freed solar material can cause geomagnetic storms on Earth, damage satellites, and manifest as spectacular aurorae at the poles.

When you think of moons, you might think of white, dusty plains, and empty craters. Consider, then, Jupiter’s moon Io. The most geologically active body in our solar system, Io is riddled with over 400 active volcanoes, whose explosions coat the surface in rich yellows, reds, and greens. This coating of silicates and sulfurous material has earned Io the moniker “the pizza moon”, and also potentially makes it the stinkiest object in the solar system. Its volcanic activity is the result of tidal heating, as Io is pulled between the colossal gravity of Jupiter and the planet's outer moons.

Saturn is best known for its rings. But these aren’t the gas giant’s only unusual features. A massive, hexagonal jetstream churns around the north pole, with winds inside that whip past at over 330 miles an hour. First discovered in 1988 when scientists reviewed images from Voyager’s flyby earlier in the decade, the cloud pattern was confirmed again by Cassini in 2006. As if the neat geometric shape wasn’t bizarre enough, between 2012 and 2016 it changed color from blue to gold. We know little about what generates the jetstream’s unique shape, making Saturn’s Hexagon one of the strangest and most mysterious phenomena in the solar system.

Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, is a world of ice. But like Io, it’s also geologically active. The satellite’s south polar cap is an intricate landscape of troughs, ridges and streaks created by cryovolcanoes that shoot plumes of nitrogen gas and ice miles into the air. The eruptions of these “ice volcanoes” spread dark smears of dust across the surface and can continue for more than a year. The moon’s strange volcanism might also be responsible for its famed “cantaloupe terrain”, an area of melon-like dimpled regions in the moon’s western hemisphere.

Imagine a towering plume of water and ice particles shooting up hundreds of miles overhead. Now picture a hundred of these going off at the same time. That’s what Cassini found on Enceladus’ southern polar region in 2005. Saturn’s small moon should be inactive and dead. But instead, cryovolcanic jets spew water from tiger stripe-like fissures into space - providing the material for one of Saturn’s outer rings. Scientists think gravitational forces explain some of the heat required to maintain a subsurface ocean . . . but they also think that there must be something else warming the moon up too.

A river winds through dunes toward the shores of a smooth, clear lake. As clouds roll in and thunder rumbles, it begins to rain . . . The surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is strangely Earth-like. Titan has a dense nitrogen atmosphere, and is the only other object in space known to have stable bodies of liquid on its surface. But swimming in them would be tough. Composed of liquid methane and ethane, the lakes of Titan are less dense than water, and hundreds of degrees below zero. Although the moon lacks liquid water, astrobiologists speculate that hypothetical methanogenic life forms might call Titan home.

The gigantic storm in Jupiter’s southern hemisphere has raged for centuries. Astronomers observed it in 1830, and possibly as far back as 1665. Large enough to swallow Earth, and have room for more, the Great Red Spot is a colossal anticyclonic maelstrom with winds that peak at over 400 miles an hour. Its frantic swirl is fueled by turbulent bands of ammonia clouds that spin around the planet in both directions. The reason for its reddish color remains unsure, but its persistence is partially due to the fact that Jupiter has no solid ground to slow the storm down.

On the surface, Europa is smooth and dead. But it’s a moon with a secret, or at least so scientists hope. Beneath miles of icy crust, a vast subsurface ocean 60 miles deep might lie hidden inside the Jovian moon. Evidence includes the cracks that criss-cross its surface, possibly due to internal tides, and the sparsity of impact craters, which suggest the youthful surface has been replenished by geological processes thanks to tidal heating. Since there’s a chance extraterrestrial microbes might reside near possible hydrothermal vents inside the ocean, scientists are keen to learn more, and both the ESA and NASA are currently planning missions to Europa, hoping to confirm the existence of a hidden ocean once and for all.