This is how spectacular the astronomical year 2020 was

Rare show: Jupiter and Saturn meet

A real spectacle could marvel in December: at the astronomical start of winter, on December 21, 2020, Jupiter and Saturn “kissed” in the sky. The two planets grew closer than they had been since the Middle Ages. When this great conjunction was last seen, on March 4, 1226, Galileo Galilei was still alive. The next great close similar conjunction will not be seen again until March 15, 2080.

Jupiter and Saturn got so close that at first glance it seemed as if they were merging into a single star, the “Christmas star.” The two planets were separated by only six arc minutes, which corresponds to a fifth of the diameter of the full moon.

Here you can read more about it.

Comet Neowise shone beautifully

Comet C / 2020 F3, better known as Neowise, has been visible to the naked eye in Central Europe since the beginning of July. First in the morning sky in the northeast and since July 10 also in the afternoon sky in the northwest. The comet was discovered on March 27, 2020 as part of the WISE space telescope’s Neowise project.

Next time, Neowise won’t be visible for 5000 years. The comet was admired and photographed around the world.

The Telebasel News article from July 22, 2020 about Comet Neowise:

Here you can read more about it.

Researchers are creating the largest 3D map of the universe to date

A consortium of researchers analyzed several million galaxies and quasars with the help of a telescope. The result: the largest 3D map in the universe. The complete map shows filaments of matter and cavities that more precisely define the structure of the universe since its inception, that is, at the age of only 380,000 years.

From this point, the researchers measured recurring patterns in the distribution of galaxies and identified several key cosmological parameters, including the density of dark matter and energy in the universe. To do this, the teams involved examined the mass distribution in the universe using various tracers. In the project, the team investigated up to eleven billion years back in time.

Here you can read more about it.

No one has seen the Milky Way in such detail before

Astronomers around the world are getting a new and detailed star map of the Milky Way. To do this, up to 850 million objects are observed every day. The so-called star catalog contains, among other things, information about fainter stars in the vicinity of the sun and areas in the outer areas of our galaxy, as announced by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

According to the information, the big advantage is the new quality of the data compared to previous publications. So far, 1.8 billion celestial bodies have been recorded in the entire star catalog.

Here you can read more about it.

The Perseids shine in the sky

Every year the Perseid meteor shower fascinates astronomers, from young to old. The climax of the meteor storm was expected on the night of August 12-13, 2020. The Perseids bring up to 100 shooting stars per hour. The show could also be seen in the Basel region.

Perseids can be seen from mid-June to mid-August of each year. During this time, the earth passes through the dust trail left by Comet 109P / Swift-Tuttle.

Here you can read more about it.

Leonidas shine in the night sky

One of the most beautiful meteor streams of the year was active in November: the Leonids. The climax of the shooting star could be admired in the night sky from November 6 to 30. The Leonids originate from Comet 55P / Temple-Tuttle, which orbits the Sun every 33 years and leaves behind countless fragments, the so-called “meteorites.”

Leonids are particularly fast. They can reach speeds of up to 70 kilometers per second, which corresponds to 252,000 kilometers per hour.

Here you can read more about it.

Mars: as close as few times

Mars was particularly close to Earth in October. On October 14, 2020, the Earth was exactly between the sun and the red planet. “As a result, Mars rises when the sun sets and sets when the sun rises.” In this constellation, the planet appears much brighter and larger than usual.

Due to the not quite circular orbits, Earth and Mars were actually closer to each other on October 6, “only” 62 million kilometers. This is still more than 160 times the distance from the earth to the moon. Mars won’t get any closer to Earth until 2035.

Here you can read more about it.

Perseverance of the NASA rover on the way to Mars

Perseverance (“staying power”) began on July 30, 2020 on your journey to the Red Planet. The more than one-ton unmanned robot the size of a small car will land on February 18, 2021 in a dry lake, Jezero Crater, on Mars. The roughly $ 2.5 billion rover is supposed to search for traces of past microbial life, as well as to investigate the planet’s climate and geology and take samples of rocks and dust.

Here you can read more about it.

China celebrates the return of Chang’e 5

On December 17, China celebrated the return of its Chang’e 5 probe with rock samples from the moon as a historic success for its space program. The space capsule that landed in Inner Mongolia will open in Beijing. Then scientists begin to study the collected lunar rocks.

Here you can read more about it.

Four astronauts arrived at the ISS

After more than 27 hours: Four astronauts arrived at the ISS space station on the private company SpaceX’s Crew Dragon space shuttle in November 2020. Half a year after its historic maiden flight, the spacecraft was launched from the spaceport of Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida for the first time for a regular mission to space.

Here you can read more about it.

Multi-family housing in the approach

The apartment building-sized asteroid 2011 ES4 sped across the ground on September 1, 2020. “It is expected to fly over the earth at around 120,000 kilometers away,” said Manfred Gaida of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to the German Press Agency. “The truth is that it will approach us,” said the expert. “But not dangerously close.”

Here you can read more about it.