Exploring Space's Most Bizarre and Enigmatic Discoveries

5. Achernar, the Flattest Star

Found Year: 2003 Who Found It: The Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory Location: Constellation of Eridanus Through the dramatically enlarged lens of a telescope, stargazers can view objects in the night sky that are very fantastically magnified. To the unaided eye, the stars they are gazing at may appear circular. Few, if any, are truly completely round, though.

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The Achernar Star Is Flattest ©Pablo Carlos Budassi via Wikipedia Not only is Achernar a non-spherical star in space, but it's also the flattest star in the Milky Way Galaxy, which has made it famous. The gaseous object appears more like an eclipse than a sphere because of how quickly it spins, flattening out the gas on its surface to the point that its equatorial radius is about 56% larger than its polar radius.

6. Pizarro Elst

Found Year: 1979 Who Found It: Guido Pizarro and Eric W. Elst Location: Mars and Jupiter's asteroid belt The scientific community felt certain that Elst-Pizarro was an asteroid since it was discovered in the Asteroid Belt. All of that changed, though, over 20 years after its discovery, when a comet-like tail was observed trailing the putative "asteroid."

Pizarro Elst ©Wikimedia Commons/ESO Elst-Pizarro may be an asteroid in disguise, according to one idea, although some scientists are certain that it is a comet. And that Elst-Pizarro must have run into another rock, exposing an icy layer that had been vanishing from the vibrant track. All we can be certain of is that further investigation is required to uncover the truth.