If you think it is interesting or unusual to make physical
contact with another planet’s moon, to slam a space craft smack dab
into the middle of a comet, to find a new planet in our solar
system, or you just get excited because you hear that the space
shuttle Discovery is back on track, then you must have been in
astronomy heaven during 2005.
If you think it is interesting or unusual to make physical contact with another planet’s moon, to slam a space craft smack dab into the middle of a comet, to find a new planet in our solar system, or you just get excited because you hear that the space shuttle Discovery is back on track, then you must have been in astronomy heaven during 2005.
What a wonderful year it was for astronomy. Many of the events are more exciting than others, I must admit, but who’s to say which is more exciting than the other? That’s why each year you see several lists of the top 10 astronomical events of the past year, including mine.
My list, of course, is my idea of what were the most important events of the year, and it may not be accepted or agreed upon by anyone else. But then again, it is my list. I love it when I have some sort of control. It doesn’t happen often.
No. 10: Just how big is the Andromada galaxy?
I think almost everyone has heard of the great Andromada galaxy. This galaxy is not so different than our own Milky Way galaxy. Andromada is best known for being the farthest object we can see with the unaided eye. Even at that, the light that you will see tonight from Andromada left that area some 2.2 million years ago. And that is traveling at the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second. Hard to compute, isn’t it?
The amazing thing that happened this past year is that astronomers, after studying this galaxy for months, found that Andromada is three times bigger than they thought.
After their studies they discovered that if the entire disk were visible to the naked eye, Andromada would appear more than 11 times larger than the full moon. That might not sound like much to you, but when astronomers discover they have been that far off in estimating the size of an object, it makes them wonder just how far off they are with everything else they have been studying.
No. 9: What are exoplanets, anyway?
Astronomers have discovered more than 155 extrasolar planets – these are called “exoplanets” – outside of our own solar system, circling stars other than our Sun. And up until May of 2005, no one has ever taken an image of an exoplanet.
Then a team of American and European astronomers did just that. Now we have our first picture of a large planet, some five times larger than Jupiter, circling around a star known as 2M1207A, which is 170 light-years away. The new object is called 2M1207b. I’m sure that’s what I would have called the object if I had discovered it. But it does make you wonder just who might be looking back at us on these planets as we look back at them.
No. 8: The blast from beyond
This blast wave has traveled for 50,000 years before it reached us in December of 2004. That is when our satellites detected the brightest outburst beyond our solar system ever recorded. The original blast gave off more energy in one-tenth of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years. Try to comprehend that one.
The blast came from a magnetized neutron star called a magnetar. This object is called SGR 1806-20 and lies in the constellation Sagitarius, on the other side of our galaxy. Astronomers have only witnessed two such explosions in the past 35 years, and this December event was 100 times more powerful.
No. 7: The 10th planet
Back on July 29, Caltech astronomers at the Gemini Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, announced their discovery of a distant planet larger than Pluto. The object is the farthest body to be observed in our solar system. For now its name is 2003 UB313, but it’s nicknamed Xena, after the TV show “Xena: Warrior Princess.” I guess astronomers want to have a little fun at night as well.
Like anyone else, astronomers have a hard time agreeing on things. In this case they don’t know if they should call it a planet or put Xena, Pluto and similar objects into a class of their own, such as “trans-Neptunian planets.”
No. 6: My new 18-inch telescope
In December I received a new, 18-inch Dobsonian Telescope, bigger and more powerful than my other 14-inch scope.
Big deal, you say? What’s so exciting about some old telescope compared to these other great happenings of the year? Well, first off, it is bigger and more powerful than the telescope I had, and we all know that bigger is always better.
And next, it can be taken apart, so I can transport it much easier by myself, without the help of my friends, Mike and Steve. And third, the acquiring of this scope is an exciting event for me. I feel like a little kid again, like back when I received my first telescope for Christmas in 19––. The year really doesn’t matter. If I want to make a big deal out of this, I can, because remember: This is still my top 10.
No. 5: Comet Impact
In 2005 the United States celebrated the Fourth of July farther from its home of 50 states than ever before. At 10:52pm PDT, the Deep Impact’s probe slammed into Comet 9P/Temple 1 at a speed of faster than 23,000 miles per hour.
The collision blasted a crater out of the comet’s nucleus and threw up a bright plume of dust that was studied by the Deep Impact mothership, which released the impactor. Observatories both in space and around the world looked on. A few of us were fortunate enough to witness the event up at Fremont Peak through a telescope. All we could see was a small blur in the eyepiece, but we did notice a small increase in brightness when the probe struck.
The impactor returned its final image of the comet about four seconds before it struck. Never before has a comet been seen in such detail.
No. 4: Discovery returns to space
Grounded since the February 2003 Columbia disaster, the U.S. space shuttle program returned to space on July 26. Discovery was the first space shuttle flight in 2 1/2 years. After a two-week mission that included a first-ever space walk to check heat-protective tiles under the orbiter, Discovery and its crew landed safely on Aug. 9 at California’s Edward Air Force Base.
It is so good to see the program up and running again. Maybe now the crew can concentrate on a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, which will be needed soon. Good job, NASA.
No. 3: Mars Twins
What can you say about the Mars twin rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, other than wow, what a historic event. Each rover was designed to operate for a minimum of three months on Mars, a date they each passed on April 2004.
Combined they have returned some 70,000 images and have inspected dozens of rocks and soil targets as they pursue geological evidence of water in the Martian past.
The rover team expected the missions of Spirit and Opportunity would come to an end after just a few months. But the Red Planet has been kind, as summer winds keep whisking the panes clean.
No. 2: A lethal asteroid
One of the most interesting finds for 2004 was a little 1,050-foot long space rock. Not much of a find until you realize that this little rock may just find its way into our space. It won’t sound so little when you realize what damage it can do.
Roy Tucker, David Tholen and Fabrizio Bernardi from Kitt Peak in Arizona discovered Asteroid 2004 MN, June 19, 2004. But the object was lost for two days, not long enough to provide a solid orbit prediction. But on Dec. 18, Gordon Garradd of Australia’s Siding Spring Observatory rediscovered it, and after a few calculations they found the possibility of and impact with Earth on April 13, 2029 – which actually is not that far off. And, yes, it is a Friday. Is this the end of the earth as we know it?
Well, let me make you feel a little bit better. After further observations and calculations, the odds of impacting the earth were lowered. Wow, that was close. But wait, this rock just doesn’t seem to want to go away. Now the estimate is one in 37 that the now-designated 99942 and named Apophis will hit the Earth.
Well, you say, that is much better. But the astronomers estimate a space rock 1,050 feet across has a striking power equivalent to 850 million tons of TNT, or more than four times the energy released when the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa erupted in1883.
Most of the other top 10 lists didn’t even include this rock. I don’t know, and don’t get me wrong, but if some rock has a chance to rock our world in a disastrous way, I think it’s pretty important.
There remains a slight chance that Apophis will return to strike in 2036. And this is just one little rock. There are many more where this one came from, so stay tuned.
No. 1: Titan has a visitor from Earth
This just has to be the best of all. Imagine sending a mission, called Cassini, to Saturn, so far away from us that it took seven years to get there. And once it got there, it had to orbit the ringed planet and then send a probe, called Huygens, down to the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Although Huygens is now just a frozen piece of metal laying on the surface of Titan, it did its job well, sending back enough material to study for many years to come.
What an unbelievable mission. You have to give it up for NASA. How they even think of some of these missions just blows my mind.
So, what’s up for 2006? I promise it will be just as exciting as 2005. We have comet samples returning to Earth in January; Cassini will continue to do its thing; MRO, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, arrives at the Red Planet in March; STEREO, the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, will study the Sun; the Venus Express will study Venus and its atmosphere; and STS-121, space shuttle Discovery’s next test flight, is expected by next mid-year.
There are plenty of exciting events for our top-10 list for 2006. I hope everyone has a great new year. Clear skies.
