One traumatic year ago a tiny parasitic organism that cares nothing for politics, nationality, money, or any of humanity’s artificial concepts started to plunge the whole human world into a crisis that's still ongoing. It’s a forceful reminder of the infinite power of nature, of the illusory nature of our sense of being in control, of the fact that our species is vulnerable and subject to natural laws like every other living thing.
Yet despite this, a year into the crisis there is light at the end of the tunnel, a testament to humanity’s tenacity and inventiveness. Challenge and innovation - two sides of the same coin.
I see this dual aspect in astronomy too. On one hand the awe-inspiring vastness and power of the universe, and humanity’s utter insignificance in comparison. On the other, humanity’s inspirational achievements as we seek to observe, explore and understand this same universe.
So, to focus on the positives rather than negatives of the last twelve months, here are some of my personal astronomy-related highlights, reminders of a cosmos far beyond our world and its troubles.
The 'Christmas Star'
Tthe ‘Great Conjunction’ occurred in late December 2020, when Jupiter and Saturn appeared to move so close to each other in the sky that they looked almost like one very bright star. The pair appeared low in the sky at my home, but they were still visible in the west for a good hour or so in the early evening.
It was fascinating to watch them creep closer and closer every night for a week or so. With the naked eye they never quite merged into one but it was pretty close. The best view was through my telescope – in a single field of view I could see Saturn with its rings and largest moon Titan, and Jupiter with its three of its largest moons. Amazing.
New Rover on Mars
Then there was the landing of the latest Mars rover, NASA's Perseverance, on the red planet in February 2021. Its goal is to search for signs of past life there, and as part of this mission it aims to collect rock samples to be brought back to Earth, which would be an incredible first.
And another ground-breaking feature of the rover is the small helicopter that it’s carrying, named ‘Ingenuity’. Humanity’s first-ever extra-terrestrial aircraft is due to make its first test flights in the thin atmosphere of Mars in early April. How cool is that!
But my most memorable astronomical experience of the past year was undoubtedly Comet Neowise in July 2020. I wasn’t even looking for it. I was camping with my family under the stars on a remote beach. The sky was dark and as night fell, we had a clear view to the north across the sea. We spotted something low in the sky, just above a mountain ridge, that looked like a headlight beam shining directly upwards.
It was the comet that I’d been reading about in the news, and by lucky coincidence, that night was the night of its closest approach to Earth. I was blown away – I’d never seen a comet before despite trying in the past to locate various ones with my telescope. But this one was easy - no telescope, no detailed instructions to find it. It was just there, a jewel hanging in the sky for all to see who cared to look.
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/great-jupiter-saturn-conjunction-dec-21-2020
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-prepares-for-first-flight
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146996/comet-neowise-brightens-the-night
Image credits
1. SimgDe (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Comet_2020_F3_(NEOWISE)_on_Jul_14_2020_aligned_to_stars.jpg
2. KSPFanatic102 (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TheGreatConjunction2020.png
3. NASA/JPL-Caltech
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia24466_mars_helicopter.jpg