BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Astronomy and Space 2018 - Highlights *new*

It's been a year of discoveries, celestial spectacles, and new developments, though tempered by some sadness, for those interested in astronomy and space. Here are my choices for the notable events in 2018.

Astronomy and Space 2018 - Highlights

In February, SpaceX launched a spacesuit-clad mannequin in the driver's seat of a red Tesla Roadster. It's now in an orbit around the Sun.

Brent Molina in USA Today writes:

Hmm. Is that where the private sector shows up NASA - as fashion leaders?

Image: SpaceX/AFP/Getty Images

Joke related to the SpaceX test.

In April, NASA launched its new planet hunter TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) whose mission is to search for exoplanets that might harbor life. Later that year the amazing Kepler mission officially ended when the spacecraft ran out of fuel.

Here is a comparison of the search spaces of Kepler and TESS. Kepler searched in a small area of sky, but the search cone widened out over 3000 light years. TESS's search area will take in much of the sky, but at a depth of some 200 light years. TESS is looking for Earth's neighbors in space.

Sky & Telescope wrote in their obituary of Thomas Bopp who died last year:

Here is Comet Hale-Bopp Over Val Parola Pass in Italy's Dolomite mountains. It's the Great Comet of 1997 and thought to be the most viewed comet ever. It was visible to the unaided eye for longer than any other comet in recorded history - 18 months. In the picture you can see the comet's two tails. It's expected back around the year 4385.

Image Credit & Copyright: A. Dimai, (Col Druscie Obs.), AAC