Jupiters plasma jets
The Voyager missions are the gifts that keep on giving.
In January, researcherspublished an analysisof 45-year-old data from Voyager 2, revealing jets in Jupiters magnetosheath.
Ingenuity, Mars record-breaking helicopter
In January, the Ingenuity helicopter took its 72nd flight on Mars.
Centaurus A, a galaxy with an active galactic nucleus.Image: ESO/WFI (Optical); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A.Weiss et al. (Submillimetre); NASA/CXC/CfA/R.Kraft et al. (X-ray)
But Ingenuitys contribution to spaceflight history cannot be overlooked.
An asteroid, unleashed
January was a busy month in space research!
Spiral galaxies galore!
Image:Wikimedia Commons
The Webb Space Telescope keeps snapping jaw-dropping shots of cosmic objects.
New moons just dropped
In February, astronomers spottedpreviously unknown moonsorbiting Uranus and Neptune.
Their orbits range from 680 days to 27 years.
An artist’s concept of the star. Illustration: ESO/L. Calçada
Forget deep space: Even our local solar system still has plenty of tricks up its cosmic sleeve.
Here are some of thebest photosof the eclipse.
Some moons are thought to have subsurface oceans where life could exist.
Illustration:NASA/JPL
Others, like Jupiters Io, are very hot.
In April, wepublisheda slideshow of Jupiters moons, including standouts Io and Europa.
Both will appear later in this round-up as particularly compelling venues for planetary science and astrobiology research.
Image: NASA
A tempestuous solar season
In May, the Sun startedspouting off.
Radiation from the solar activity caused artifacts in Curiositys images.
The merging pair is the first confirmed from the Cosmic Dawn.
Photo:NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold
A tunnel on the Moon
Itprobablywasnt little green men.
In July, researcherspublisheda paper proposing that a pit crater on the Moon actually contains a tunnel.
The structure is in the Moons Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 landed in 1969.
The Wow!
signal demystified
In August, the Arecibo Wow!
The signal, dubbed Wow!
Image: Scott Sheppard
Its not aliens, but its a compelling theory.
Also in September, a different team found that black holes jets can cause stars to explode.
Something cold and wet near Uranus
Yes, you read that correctly.
Image:E. Zimmerman et al., Weizmann Institute of Science/Liverpool Telescope
The findings added another moon to the growing docket of exciting candidates for astrobiological investigation.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
Did Scientists Detect Life on Another Planet?
Image: paramsach (Fair Use)
Gif:NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Image:NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSSImage processing by Thomas Thomopoulos © CC BY (main image)Image processing by Brian Swift © CC BY (Figure 1)
An X9.0 solar flare observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on Thursday morning. Image: NASA/SDO
Gif: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Phill Cargile (CfA)
Illustration: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Garlick
The Mare Tranquillitatis pit crater. © NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
© Chester Hall-Fernandez
The computer printout where astronomer Jerry Ehman scribbled ‘Wow!’ next to the signal detection. Credit: Big Ear Radio Observatory
A 2020 image of Betelgeuse as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Image: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin.
An artist’s impression of the gigantic black hole jet system extending through the cosmos. Illustration: E. Wernquist / D. Nelson (IllustrisTNG Collaboration) / M. Oei
A neutron star at the heart of the Crab Nebula. Image: ESA/Hubble / Wikimedia Commons
The Arecibo Telescope being demolished in December 2021. Photo: Tedder / Wikimedia Commons
A view from the Perseverance rover. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The galaxy cluster Abell 370, a gravitational lens 4 billion light-years away. Image: NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz and the HFF Team (STScI)
Miranda, as seen by Voyager 2 in 1986. Image: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech
A sample of simulations showing a model of the expanding universe (left) and a zoomed-in view of tracer particles (right).Image: Argonne National Laboratory, U.S Dept of Energy
