Jumping Jupiter! It's "Einstein's Planet"!
The search for planets in orbit around stars other than our own Sun has proven to be a long and difficult quest, and their ultimate discovery almost a generation ago is certainly one of humanity's greatest achievements. The first extrasolar planet orbiting a star like our own Sun was detected back in 1995 and, now, almost twenty years later, astronomers have succeeded in spotting many, many more planets dwelling beyond our own Solar System than the eight major planets circling within it. As technologies improved over the years, extrasolar planets were discovered by planet-hunters using a variety of new methods. In May 2013, astronomers announced that by using predictions of Albert Einstein's two Theories of Relativity, they had discovered an enormous alien planet circling a distant star--the new-found world was appropriately nicknamed "Einstein's Planet"!

How Did the Universe Originate?
I have been contemplating about how the universe came into being. I have put across my view and hypothesis as to how the universe must have been formed.

Two Sun-Like Stars Reveal Polluted Remains
Stars of all sizes are enormous balls of roiling, searing-hot, mostly hydrogen gas. When relatively small stars like our Sun have finished burning their necessary supply of hydrogen fuel, by way of the process of nuclear fusion, they toss their outer varicolored gaseous layers into the surrounding Space, leaving behind a very dense, collapsed, remnant core called a "White Dwarf." Typically, "White Dwarf" atmospheres are very "clean", because the heavy elements manufactured in the progenitor star's heart have clumped together in this relic, very dense core. However, using the venerable Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers made the announcement in May 2013, that they have discovered two "White Dwarfs", a mere 150 light-years from our planet, that have atmospheres that are "polluted" with the rocky debris that can give birth to bizarre, new planets.

Crashing Chunks From Space Bring Water Here, There - And Maybe Elsewhere!
Comets and asteroids are relic "planetesimals"--small chunks of rock, or ice, or both, that collided and merged together in the ancient Solar System to form full-grown planets. In May 2013, astronomers announced two exciting discoveries--the first is that water secreted deep inside of our planet and its bewitching large Moon, may have had the same origins in showering chunks of tumbling ancient carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, which are now observed dwelling in the Main Asteroid Belt between the planets Mars and Jupiter. The second announcement, also amazing, is the news that the stratosphere of the gas-giant planet, Jupiter--the largest planet in our Solar System--is still filled with water delivered to it by a cataclysmic comet crash that stunned the world back in 1994. But that's not all--in October 2012 astronomers announced that an alien comet cloud had been spotted around the distant Beta Pictoris stellar system, about 63 light-years from Earth--and these alien comets could very well be potential sources of water for remote worlds circling stars beyond our own Solar System!

What's The Matter With Dark Matter?
Our bewitching sky at night is blazing with fiery luminous objects, such as stars and galaxies. However, most of the matter in our Universe is "dark"--or more precisely invisible--and scientists are "in the dark" about its alluring and mysterious nature--hence its name "dark matter"! This bizarre substance is believed to be composed of exotic non-atomic particles that do not interact with light--which is why it is invisible. Although scientists are in the process of rapidly closing in on the elusive identity of this weird and abundant stuff, its nature is still an intriguing puzzle. Adding to the puzzle, astronomers recently found that the merging galaxy cluster, Abell 520, possesses a core of "dark matter" and searing-hot gas that should be pulling in, with its mighty gravitational grip, many more galaxies than it apparently is--and this discovery is challenging existing theories suggesting that the "dark matter" should be anchoring these galaxies like a gigantic wad of glue, preventing them from wandering away into Space!