In 2024, it’s difficult to tell which star was more prominent in space: the moon or the sun. From the beginning, it was clear that the moon would be the destination. Japan joined the club of 238,000 mile-high nations in January when it completed its mission “Moon Sniper” to land the moon with the highest precision ever achieved. This was despite an error at the last minute that caused the lander to be perched on the nose. In the meantime, private companies launched rival missions that resulted the first ever commercial moon landing. China also made a second trip to the other side of the Moon this year, bringing back several pounds worth of lunar samples with the Chang’e 6 satellite.
The sun, not to be overshadowed by Earth’s natural satellite in 2024, made itself known with great force. Scientists from NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed in October that the sun has officially entered its chaotic peak, also known as the solar maximum, of an 11-year cycle. The writing on the wall – and in Earth’s sky – was painted long before then, when the sun spent the entire year stirring up solarstorms, firing off powerful X class flares, and showering the planet with rare global auras, some of them seen as far as Florida. Farmers whose GPS guided tractors began swerving out of course were alarmed by the intense solar activity. ” like they were demon possessed .”
Why can’t Earth and its favorite celestial objects get along better? On April 8th, a total solar eclipse that had been anticipated swept across North America. The Earth, moon, and sun were temporarily in alignment, and an estimated 44,000,000 people, including at least one goose, experienced a spooky darkness during the day, enhanced colors, temperatures, as well as a naked-eye glimpse of the sun’s crackling corona. The sun and the moon were hard to ignore this year. The cosmos continued to be filled with exciting discoveries. Here are some of my favorites stories from 2024 that you may have missed.
Is there a human-caused shower of meteors?
Smashing a spaceship intentionally into an asteroid has some surprising results. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission (DART), launched in 2022, was designed to test whether humans can deflect an asteroids using the high-speed rockets kinetic forces. As research released this year suggested, debris from the collision may eventually reach Mars or Earth. The rocky fragments would not be a danger if this were to happen. They would instead burn up as Earth’s first ever human-caused Meteor Shower. Scientists named the hypothetical meteor shower “the Dimorphids,” in honor of the Dimorphos asteroid. Receive the most exciting discoveries from around the globe delivered to your mailbox.
The biggest map of our universe is revealed
In this year’s, European Space Agency Euclid switched on the science instruments to begin the ambitious task of creating the most detailed 3D map ever created of our universe. The map is 1% complete as of October. Euclid will eventually help unravel the mystery of dark matter, which makes up 95% of universe and is still poorly understood. While we await the results of our research, we can enjoy the stunning pictures taken by the space telescope.
The search for Planet Nine is nearing its conclusion
For years, astronomers noticed strange objects beyond Neptune’s orbit. The gravitational anomalies may indicate the existence of Planet Nine, a hypothetical hidden world. The planet is still undiscovered but Live Science’s Harry Baker reports that scientists have narrowed down the location of Planet Nine and its possible properties. In 2025 the search could finally be over when Chile’s Vera C. Rubin Observatory is finally operational.