Looking back on 2021, there were many great space stories in the news, including two lunar eclipses back in May and November.
By coincidence, two more total lunar eclipses will occur in May and November of 2022.
We were also entertained by three great meteor showers in January, August, and December, but the bright moon ran major interference.
Speaking of bright things in the sky, the Northern Lights were prominent last month, particularly in Western Canada, painting the sky green.
The never-ending list of exoplanets continues to grow, with a total of 4,884 confirmed worlds and another 8,288 candidates. This search continues via ground- and space-based telescopes. So, next time you look up at those twinkling points of light, remember that you are looking at mini solar systems, with at least one planet orbiting its parent star.
After all, our sun is but one of 300 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
It was this time last year that the Japanese Hayabusa mission successfully returned soil samples from the asteroid 25143 Itokawa. The sample shows thatwaterandorganic matterthat originate from the asteroid itself have evolved chemically through time.
It has long been the thought by astronomers and scientists that the building blocks of organic compounds needed to create life began in the solar system and were delivered to the young Earth via meteorites. Missions such as this have shed new light on this theory. Meteorites and comets contain small amounts of water, and impacts over millions of years have most likely delivered water to the Earth.
Comparable to the list of exoplanets, 70 more rogue planets have been detected floating through space. These are outcasts from their solar systems by some event such as the star exploding, thus launching a planet or planets on a path to nowhere. Or some of them could have been overpowered by the gravity of larger planets and slingshot out of their systems, far away from the light and (possible) warmth of their suns.
Until now, the sun has been studied by Earth-bound telescopes and orbiting satellites. The amount of information that has been learned is outstanding, but the missing key has always been a physical examination. Never before has a spacecraft touched the sununtil the Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018.
Over the years, the craft made multiple manoeuvres as it got closer to the sun. In December of this year, the probe touched the sun's upper atmosphere, the corona, which is only seen from Earth during a total solar eclipse, when the moon blocks the sun's blinding light.
Over the next few years, it will skim closer to our star, and by the year 2025 it will be racing along at an unheard-of speed of 690,000 kilometres per hour, or 192 kilometres per second. Its 11.4-centimetre-thick heat shield allows it to operate at about 29C and not fry the electronics.
The newest addition to the Martian fleet came with the deployment of the SUV-sized rover Perseverance and theIngenuityhelicopter anchored under it. The two blades of the small helicopter spin in opposite directions to help give lift in the thin Martian atmosphere. To date, it has logged 30 minutes in a series of short flights. This is the first time such a vehicle has been used on the Red Planet.
Private companies, not just NASA, have proved that they have the right stuff to launch into space. Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin allowed 90-year-old William Shatner and retired NFL player Michael Strahan to touch space by rocketing past the so-called Karman line, 100 kiolometres above the Earth's surface.
But Elon Musk has taken space travel one step further by transporting astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station via the SpaceX Dragoncargo ship. It is the same Dragon capsule that almost had to be used as an emergency escape vehicle when the International Space Station was subjected to a dangerous debris field from a purposely blown-up satellite. The danger has all but passed, but there were some anxious moments.
Space is dangerous, with hazardous solar radiation and cosmic rays. As well, more than 23,000 pieces of orbital debris larger than a softball are being tracked, and there are a half-million pieces the size of a marble or larger, with approximately 100 million pieces of debris being about one millimetre and a bit larger. All are moving at 28,000 kilo,metres per hour, or almost eight kilometres per second.
In September of 2022, the DART(Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission will arrive at the 800-metre-wide asteroid 65803 Didymos to deflect a small (160 metres wide) moonlet, Dimorphos. This is a test to see if a potentially dangerous asteroid coming toward Earth can be slightly deflected, thus changing its course and missing our planet. This particular asteroid isin no way on a collision course with our home planet.
Finally, the long-awaited James Webb Space Telescope (JWST, successor to the Hubble Space Telescope) was launched on Christmas Day. It has a much larger mirror system than does the venerable Hubble and will study infant galaxies in the near-infrared, thus allowing us to see through the gas and dust of the earliest galaxies.
The telescope's sun shield is the size of a tennis court and will both shade the telescope from the heat of the sun and block the light of the Earth and moon. It will operate at a distance of 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth, where the temperature of space is -223C. The JWST will be able to look back to the beginning of the universe, some 13.8 billion years ago.
One of its many projects will be to see if black holes helped create the galaxies or if they came afterwards. It will also look for signs of life in the atmospheres of distant exoplanets.
Clear skies.
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The Backyard Astronomer: The astronomy year in review - The Georgia Straight
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- JWST spots oceans' worth of water evaporating from a distant disk - Astronomy Magazine - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Radiation is vaporizing a young star's disk in the Orion Nebula - Astronomy Magazine - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- APOD: 2024 March 12 A Galaxy Shaped Rocket Exhaust Spiral - Astronomy Picture of the Day - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
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- X-ray image of universe reveals almost 1 million high-energy objects: 'These are mind-blowing numbers' - Space.com - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Galaxy named 'Nube' is almost invisible, baffling astronomers Earth.com - Earth.com - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
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- The Art of SeeingStates of Astronomy - Announcements - E-Flux - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Pluto isn't really a planet, but it might be Arizona's official state planet - Arizona Mirror - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Did You Know? Stars Near and Far Reveal Their Secrets to CSUN Scientists - California State University, Northridge - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Top 10 space stories of 2023 - Astronomy Magazine - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- How we found the Milky Way's bar: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher - Astronomy Magazine - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- The best telescope to use with a smartphone - Astronomy Magazine - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- JWST releases 19 awe-inspiring images of spiral galaxies - Astronomy Magazine - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Learning Shines Brightly at SuperKnova National Radio Astronomy Observatory - National Radio Astronomy Observatory - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- The Crafoord Prize 2024 goes to three ERC grantees for their pioneering contributions to astronomy and mathematics ... - European Research Council - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- The Moon's south pole is likely not the safest place for manned missions - Astronomy Magazine - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- The moon could be perfect for cutting-edge telescopes but not if we don't protect it - Space.com - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- February Astronomy: Spot the Milky Way and the Zodiacal Light While the Skies Are Darkest - Coachella Valley Independent - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
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- Chinese Astronomy at the Royal Observatory | Royal Observatory | Things to do in London - Time Out London - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Astronomers in Chile to scour universe with car-sized mega camera - - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Dark Matter Might Help Explain How Supermassive Black Holes Can Merge - Universe Today - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- How far away is the sun? They went on a perilous journey to find out. - National Geographic - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Scientists spotted an asteroid hours before it burned up over Germany - Astronomy Magazine - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- XRISM Unveils the Invisible: A New Era in X-Ray Astronomy - SciTechDaily - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- New Astronomy Finding Uncovers the Mystery of Star Formation at the Edge of Galaxies - SBU News - Stony Brook News - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- The Future Of Astronomy Lies In Artificial Intelligence - Forbes - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- The 'Super Bowl of Astronomy' begins next week in New Orleans - Space.com - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Scientific American proposes policing the language of astronomy to make it beautiful and elegant, as well as ... - Why Evolution Is True - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- 'Blob-like' home of farthest-known fast radio burst is collection of seven galaxies - Northwestern Now - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Astronomers revealed mysterious star formation by hearts of molecular clouds - Tech Explorist - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Spectroscopic sizing of interstellar icy grains with JWST - Nature.com - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
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- Here There Be DRAGNs National Radio Astronomy Observatory - National Radio Astronomy Observatory - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Unistellar's latest smart telescopes take the hassle out of backyard astronomy - Engadget - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- 20 of the best places to view the 2024 total solar eclipse - Astronomy Magazine - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Northern Arizona astronomy: How old is our third generation sun? - Grand Canyon News - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Evidence builds that Kamo'oalewa is a chunk of the Moon accompanying Earth - Astronomy Magazine - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- The Sky This Week from January 5 to 12: Visitors to the Scorpion - Astronomy Magazine - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
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- Your guide to the sky in 2024 - Astronomy Magazine - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- The best binoculars for astronomy in 2024 - Popular Science - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Are we visible to alien astronomers? This study makes the case - Astronomy Magazine - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Mystery of Star Formation Revealed by Hearts of Molecular Clouds - National Radio Astronomy Observatory - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Astronomers Solve the Mystery of Giant Radio Circles - AZoQuantum - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Early Evolution of Planetary Disk Structures Seen for the First Time - National Radio Astronomy Observatory - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- XRISM's Revolutionary Insights into X-Ray Astronomy - AZoQuantum - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Vatican's chief astronomer talks about stars, beauty, truth - Aleteia - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Explore the cosmos in EAC Payson Campus astronomy workshops - Payson Roundup - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Neptune is more of a greenish blue than is commonly depicted - NPR - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- First Yale Gravitational Wave Symposium sparks research innovation | Department of Physics - Yale University - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- The best expensive telescopes for those ready to splurge - Astronomy Magazine - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
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