Amazing leaps: The biggest mysteries of the universe

Science: There’s no doubt that humanity has made amazing leaps in understanding the universe since the beginning of the 20th century. However, there’s still a lot we don’t know about the universe.

To put this into context, the “normal” matter around us that makes up stars, planets, moons, asteroids, animals, tables, chairs, computers, and all other everyday objects accounts for only 5% of the matter and energy in the universe. This means we have no real understanding of what 95% of the universe — sometimes called the “dark universe” — really is.

To further complicate this problem, even the objects we do understand can confuse us greatly. Consider the Sun, the star we’re most familiar with: we’re still in the dark about the intense heat of our star’s outer atmosphere, the corona.