Top NewsJames Webb's triumphs, Euclid's launch and farewell to rocketry

James Webb's triumphs, Euclid's launch and farewell to rocketry

James Webb's triumphs, Euclid's launch and farewell to rocketry
Van Stephen Deeters
astronews.com
December 29, 2023

At the end of a year, astronews.com traditionally takes a look back at some of the highlights of the last twelve months in astronomy, astrophysics and spaceflight – for the 25th time this year, as we celebrate our 25th birthday in February. There were exciting things to report back in 2023.

2023

Making headlines in 2023: Juice, the James Webb Space Telescope, OSIRIS-REx and Euclid. Pictures: NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (James Webb), NASA/Keegan Barber (OSIRIS-REx), ESA (Euclid), ESA/ATG medialab (JUICE-Raumsonde), NASA/ESA/J. Nichols (University of Leicester) (JUICE Jupiter), NASA/JPL (JUICE Io), NASA/JPL/University of Arizona (JUICE Ganymed), NASA/JPL/DLR (JUICE Kallisto and Europe)

New Possibilities of Space Telescope James Webb The closing year marked many scientific reports: in January the discovery of a relatively close Earth-sized planet by a space telescope, a month later observations of star formation in nearby galaxies, and in April …That is
Different chemistry in planet-forming disks. James Webb They were able to detect a hydrocarbon molecule in a young star system in the Orion Nebula, observe the gas flow of a young protostar and the silicate sand clouds of WASP-107b.

Played with exploring worlds around other suns James Webb An important role: The space telescope explored the secrets of the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b or helped search the atmosphere around TRAPPIST-1 c. Additionally, observations of the inner regions of protoplanetary disks have revealed that Earth-like planets can apparently form even under extreme conditions. But not only James Webb Exoplanet research makes important discoveries: The CARMENES project has so far discovered 59 exoplanets and one Earth-sized planet around the nearby red dwarf star Wolf 1069. Life is possible even on very special moons. However, a few weeks ago doubts were raised about previous discoveries of exomoons. Both the CHEOPS and TESS satellites found six planets in a harmonic rhythm, and there was evidence of two gaseous planets colliding around ASASSN-21q.

What is happening in our solar system? A new class of water-rich asteroids has been discovered between Mars and Jupiter, and an amateur Mars lander from Amrum discovered a new comet and data from it.
Inside It showed that the red planet's core is smaller than thought. Space telescope James Webb
Looked around the solar system and found carbon dioxide on the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. The Lucy spacecraft flew past Dinginesh (152830) and found it to be a double asteroid.

Speaking of Jupiter: The European Jupiter mission JUICE launched here in the spring, and its instruments delivered the first data in the summer — after a spectacular drive. An analysis of several historical documents has provided fascinating information about a solar storm in February 1872 and the OSIRIS-REx probe brought a sample of the asteroid Bennu back to Earth../span>


Of course, the attention of astronomers was not only focused on the solar system and outer planetary systems: they not only found a baby star near the center of the Milky Way, but unexpectedly found many stars there and looked at the area where Messier is. The large Jet 87 was created, tracking so-called white dwarf pulsars and identifying cosmic neutrinos from the Milky Way. With astronomical satellite
hand Half a million new stars discovered in Omega Centauri, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way re-measured by gravity.
Event Orison Telescope
Recorded light spinning from the edge of a black hole. An amateur astronomer discovered a supernova in M ​​101 in May.

Over the summer, ESA launched the Euclid Space Telescope, which aims to record the geometry of the dark universe and uncover the secrets of dark matter and dark energy. Shortly after launch, Euclid provided the first test images, and in November the first “real” images showed the performance of the new telescope. The era of Ariane 5 rockets will also end in 2023. In his last launch, he launched the Heinrich Hertz communications satellite. T Heir, The
Ariane 6
Not ready to use yet.

Light pollution a problem for astronomy in 2023: A study href=”https://www.astronews.com/news/artikel/2023/01/2301-016.shtml” class=”linkimtext”>Visibility of stars decreases faster than expected . New constellations of megasatellites are also causing concern: LOFAR was able to detect disruptive leakage radiation from the Starlink satellites. At least the World Radio Conference has now addressed the problems caused by satellite constellations.

The year 2024 will definitely have a lot of interesting and surprising news for this online service. We'll be reporting on it regularly, and we'd like to thank all the scientists for their fascinating work that makes a news site like stronews.com possible.

A special thanks to our readers, especially those who supported our work with one-time or regular contributions as part of this year's “astronews.com Worth Me” campaign. We really appreciate this.

We would like to thank all readers for their loyalty and wish them all the best for 2024.

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