Anomaly•Registry
Category

Astronomical Anomalies

Observations that did not fit, and what the follow-up work found.

26 records

Records in this category

See the whole register
Record Case Date Status
AR-0026 Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852) Irregular stellar dimming, best attributed to uneven circumstellar dust. 2015 Partially explained
AR-0027 'Oumuamua The first known interstellar object. Its slight acceleration has natural explanations. 2017 Partially explained
AR-0028 Fast Radio Bursts Millisecond radio flashes. At least some come from magnetars; most sources remain unidentified. First noted 2007 Partially explained
AR-0029 The Pioneer Anomaly A tiny unexplained deceleration of two probes, resolved as thermal recoil. 1980 to 2012 Later explained
AR-0075 Przybylski's Star A star whose spectrum has been read as showing elements that should not exist in it, including some with no stable isotopes. 1961 to present Partially explained
AR-0076 The CMB Cold Spot A patch of the early universe that is colder than it has any right to be. 2004 Partially explained
AR-0077 The Flyby Anomaly Spacecraft swinging past Earth picked up speed that nobody can account for. 1990 to 2013 Unsolved
AR-0078 The Black Knight Satellite An alien satellite in polar orbit. The photograph is probably a thermal blanket lost on STS-88; the rest is sixty years of misattribution. Assembled from the 1950s Debunked
AR-0079 The Face on Mars Viking 1 photographed a face. Higher-resolution imaging photographed a hill. 25 July 1976 Debunked
AR-0080 Planet Nine Distant objects are clustered as though something is herding them. Nothing has been seen. Proposed 2016 Unsolved
AR-0081 The Hubble Tension Two good ways of measuring how fast the universe expands. They disagree, and the gap is not closing. Sharpened since 2013 Unsolved
AR-0082 The Great Attractor Our galaxy is falling toward something we cannot see, because the Milky Way is in the way. 1973 onward Later explained
AR-0104 Vulcan and the Orbit of Mercury Mercury's orbit turned faster than Newton allowed. Astronomers sought a hidden planet, Vulcan; in 1915 Einstein's relativity explained the orbit. 1859 to 1915 Later explained
AR-0111 The Canals of Mars From 1877 astronomers drew lines across Mars; Lowell called them Martian irrigation canals. Mariner 9 mapped the planet: the network is not there. 1877 to 1972 Debunked
AR-0118 The Solar Neutrino Problem A gold-mine detector caught a third of the Sun's predicted neutrinos. In 2002 the rest were found: they had changed type, so neutrinos have mass. 1968 to 2002 Later explained
AR-0125 Betelgeuse's Great Dimming In 2019 and 2020 Betelgeuse faded to a third of its usual brightness. Not a supernova: a surface eruption, a cool patch and dust. 2019 to 2020 Later explained
AR-0132 The Discovery of Gamma-Ray Bursts Satellites built to catch nuclear tests in space recorded gamma-ray flashes from elsewhere. It took thirty years to place them in distant galaxies. 1967 to 2017 Later explained
AR-0139 Phosphine on Venus In 2020 astronomers reported phosphine in Venus's clouds and headlines spoke of life. The confirming data were mis-processed; the rest is disputed. 2017 to present Partially explained
AR-0146 Methane on Mars Curiosity reports methane at Gale crater; the most sensitive orbiter finds none on Mars. A 2025 study asks whether it came from the rover's instrument. 2004 to present Unsolved
AR-0153 The Oh-My-God Particle In 1991 a detector in Utah caught a cosmic ray carrying 51 joules in a single particle. What it was, and where it came from, are still unknown. 1991 Unsolved
AR-0160 Nibiru A planet said to be on course for the Earth in May 2003, then December 2012. No telescope has ever recorded it, and each date passed without it. Claimed since 1976 Debunked
AR-0167 Van de Kamp's Planets In 1963 Peter van de Kamp reported a planet around Barnard's Star, seen as a wobble in telescope plates. The wobble came from the telescope. 1963 to 1973 Debunked
AR-0174 Transient Lunar Phenomena Observers have reported glows, colours and flashes on the Moon for centuries. The flashes are impacts. The glows are still unconfirmed. Reported for centuries Partially explained
AR-0191 The Faint Young Sun Paradox A dimmer early Sun should have left the Earth’s oceans frozen. The rocks say otherwise. 1972 to present Partially explained
AR-0192 The Primordial Lithium Problem Big Bang nucleosynthesis predicts three times the lithium the oldest stars actually show. 1982 to present Unsolved
AR-0193 The Dark Flow A claimed thousand-kilometre-a-second drift of galaxy clusters that Planck could not find. 2008 to 2014 Debunked

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