1. Fireball over Russia The event with the biggest impact - in every sense - was a 20-meter meteor over Chelyabinsk in February. A forceful reminder about detection and deflection of space rocks! This one exploded at high altitude, so when 20-30 times as much energy as the Hiroshima atomic bomb was released, the atmosphere absorbed most of it. Nonetheless the shock wave broke windows and caused other damage to thousands of buildings. About 1500 people suffered injuries needing medical treatment. Oddly, it happened on the day that asteroid 2012 DA14 was due to make a close approach. The asteroid came and went, as predicted. The two objects weren't related.
2. Chang'e and Yutu go to the Moon Chang'e is China's lunar program. In December Chang'e-3 landed safely on the Moon and released the rover Yutu. The last soft landing on the Moon was in 1974 by the Soviet probe Luna-24. Chang'e is named for a Moon goddess in Chinese folklore and Yutu (Jade Rabbit) was her pet. In addition to those watching on Earth, the landing was observed from lunar orbit by NASA's recently-arrived LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer).
3. Rare solar eclipse There was a hybrid solar eclipse in November. It began as an annular eclipse in which the Moon is surrounded by a ring of light because it doesn't quite cover the Sun. But then it quickly changed to a total eclipse, which was also seen as a partial eclipse in many areas. Hybrid eclipses are rare. The last one occurred in 1854 and the next will be on October 17, 2172.
4. Ancient habitable environments on Mars The evidence has been growing for a Mars that was once wet, but it doesn't mean that Mars was habitable. NASA Mars probe Curiosity's job is to search for evidence of habitability. The rover is not only a field geologist, but also a well-equipped geochemical laboratory. In March, chemical analysis of a rock sample indicated an ancient environment in which water existed for a long time. It was also neutral (neither acidic nor alkaline), not saline, and contained a number of the key chemicals of life. This doesn't prove that microbial life ever existed on Mars, but it shows that it could have.
5. Inauguration of ALMA The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA, for short) was officially inaugurated in March, and is now a fully operational observatory. An array of 66 movable radio telescopes can work together in various combinations as one telescope. ALMA is designed to have ten times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope. Millimeter wavelengths can penetrate dust, so are used to study starbirth and planet formation. Although water vapor in the air blocks these wavelengths, ALMA won't have a problem in Chile's Atacama Desert at 5000 m (over 16,000 ft) where the air is very dry.
6. Exoplanet search comes of age The very first exoplanets were discovered in 1992. They were orbiting a pulsar, the remains of a collapsed star. The first planets discovered orbiting sun-like stars were massive, because these are the easiest to detect. Twenty-one years later in 2013, the 1000th exoplanet was added to the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia. It now includes many smaller planets and multiplanet systems.
7. Earth says cheese In July, two distant NASA spacecraft photographed the Earth. Astronomy groups worldwide had organized events to wave at Saturn as the Cassini spacecraft took its pictures. There had already been evenings of observation of Saturn. Only two other images of Earth have been taken from the outer Solar System. One was also taken by Cassini, showing Earth through Saturn's rings. The other was Voyager 1's pale blue dot photo. MESSENGER, too, took pictures from its Mercury orbit. However it wouldn't have been a good idea to encourage people to stare at Mercury since it's so close to the Sun.
8. Voyager 1 became a starship Voyager 1 is the first human object to enter the space between the stars. After many previous announcements of its leaving the Solar System, in September NASA officially announced that Voyager is now bathed in the plasma of interstellar space, not the solar wind. It's still in the Solar System, as it won't pass the Oort Cloud for a few hundred years.
9. Gaia launched Astronomers have been waiting for Gaia for a long time. It's one of the most ambitious space missions ever devised and has been two decades in the making. The European Space Agency (ESA) launched Gaia in December, and in the next five years it's expected to map positions of and distances to over a billion stars. The measurements will be done with such high precision that the error will be equivalent to the size of a euro coin on the Moon as seen from Earth. (A euro coin is slightly smaller than a U.S. quarter.)
10. Comet ISON Comet ISON wasn't the comet of the century. Or even the comet of the year there were several that fared better. Yet ISON was still unique. It was the first sun-grazer known to have come from the Oort Cloud, and it was studied extensively. Over a dozen space observatories, many large telescopes and countless amateurs provided a detailed record of its visit. This data will give astronomers valuable information about its structure, composition and how sun-grazers survive - or don't - a close passage by the Sun.
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Top Ten Astronomy Stories of 2013
- I Spy With My Little Eye… - November 7th, 2009 [November 7th, 2009]
- A Crack Opens in the Ethiopian Landscape, Preparing the Way for a New Sea | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Politics of Addiction | The Intersection - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Finally! An iPhone App That Lets You Track Your Bathroom Habits | Discoblog - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Don’t Pack Your Bags Yet—New Planet-Finder Hobbled by Electronic Glitch | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- In Controversial Scent Lineups, a Dog’s Nose Picks Out the Perp | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Are You a Cognitive Miser? | Cosmic Variance - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Secret Lives and Loves of Great White Sharks | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Britain’s New Protected Minority: Tree-Huggers | Discoblog - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Inspired by Maple Seeds, a Robotic Whirligig Takes To The Skies | Discoblog - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- New Statesman on Accommodationism | The Intersection - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Laser-Powered Robot Climbs to Victory in the Space-Elevator Contest | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Checking Back In With SEAPLEX | The Intersection - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Podcast: An Embarrassment of Genomes | The Loom - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- A Baby Neutron Star, Swaddled in a Carbon Atmosphere | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Butterfliiiies… iiinnnn… SPPPAAAAACCCCEEEEE! | Bad Astronomy - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- My Slate Dialogue with Michael Specter Begins | The Intersection - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Musical, Fahrvergnügen-Inspired Staircase Makes Commuters Less Lazy | Discoblog - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Laser-Etched Fruit Is an Answer in Search of a Problem | Discoblog - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Ares and the carnivals | Bad Astronomy - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Toddler Gets a Telescoping, Prosthetic Arm Bone That Grows With Him | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Neutered HIV Virus Delivers Treatment to Fatally Ill Boys | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Specter’s First Reply: Denialism Kills People | The Intersection - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- LRO sees a Moonslide | Bad Astronomy - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Al Gore’s New Book: A Focus on Solutions | The Intersection - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Universe Has Us in Its Crosshairs | Bad Astronomy - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Makers of Universes | Cosmic Variance - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Can Your Pet Catch & Spread Swine Flu? Yes, If Your Pet’s a Ferret | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Droid 2.0 Vs iPhone | The Intersection - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Tangled Bank News: An Excerpt and More | The Loom - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- LHC Shut Down By Wayward Baguette, Dropped by Bird Saboteur | Discoblog - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Careidolia | Bad Astronomy - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Slate Reply to Specter Up–We Need a National Dialogue on Synthetic Biology | The Intersection - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Pray this doesn’t get passed | Bad Astronomy - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- You Can’t Make This Stuff Up | Cosmic Variance - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Mother Tongue, Indeed: Newborn’s Cries Mimic Mama’s Accent | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Ripped From the Journals: The Biggest Discoveries of the Week | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Alternative Landscapes | The Loom - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Can an iPhone App Decipher Your Baby’s Cries? | Discoblog - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Reminder: Carl Sagan Day | Bad Astronomy - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Are There Pesticides in Your Soup? Dunk a Pollution Dipstick to Find Out. | 80beats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Log in and Join the Conference - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Conference Ends - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Conference Archive Opens - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Galaxy Zoo - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- .Astronomy 2009 Dates - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- .Astronomy 2009: Programme and venue details - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- .Astronomy Gets Some IYA Love - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- 2009 Posters and Imagery - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- 2009 Sponsors - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- When in Holland… - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The WHAT Cloud? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Jewel Box - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Happy Halloween! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Ares 1-X Launch - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Confessions of an Alien Hunter - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- LRO Spies Apollo 17 Site - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Mercury in Color - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Hubble and M83 - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Cassini Flyby of Enceladus - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Preserving A Moth [Science Tattoo] | The Loom - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- Another Russian rocket spiral lights up the sky | Bad Astronomy - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- A (Very Gentle) Riddle to Complete Your Saturday - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- Darwin Gets Swine Flu: The YouTube Edition | The Loom - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- Happy Slothy Holidays | The Loom - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- Jetting to Copenhagen | The Intersection - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- Michael Gerson Attempts Thoughtfulness on “ClimateGate,” Then Gives it Up | The Intersection - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Incredible VISTA of the cosmos | Bad Astronomy - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Bundle up Sunday Night to Watch the Geminid Meteor Shower | 80beats - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- “ClimateGate” a PR Disaster That Will Be “Taught in University Communications Courses” | The Intersection - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Is Google the Guardian Angel of Rainforests? | 80beats - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- La ciencia es importante. Una vez mas. | Bad Astronomy - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Sensenbrenner Pulls an Inhofe, Asserts Global Warming is an “International Conspiracy” | The Intersection - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Let Kids Eat Dirt: Over-Cleanliness Linked to Heart Disease | 80beats - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- What Are The Best Science Papers Of The Past Decade? | The Intersection - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Finally! Math Shows How to Cut Evenly Sized Pizza Slices | Discoblog - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Half-baked math | Bad Astronomy - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Can “Biological Passports” Save Sports From Doping? | 80beats - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Aiiiieeee! Slow down! | Bad Astronomy - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Weekly News Roundup: Bad Headlines, Martian moons, and Rotating Houses | Discoblog - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]