2017 Top Space Stories (Part I)

It has been an amazing year for astronomy!  I would like to run down some of my favourite space stories from 2017.

In no particular order:

1. Total Solar Eclipse
2. TRAPPIST-1 Solar System
3. Gravitational Wave and Light Detection
4. Cassini Grand Finale
5. First Interstellar Object
6. Giant Solar Flare

Total Solar Eclipse

This year offered the first solar eclipse since I began really paying attention to the sky.  I remember borrowing a shade 14 welding mask from the shop and peeking at the October 23, 2014 partial eclipse, but that was more on a whim.  August 21, 2017 had been marked in my calendar since the Spring of 2016.  Calgary would see the Sun 80% covered by the Moon.

Maximum Solar Eclipse - Calgary

We had a great time with beautiful weather at Olympic Plaza.  Hundreds of people turned out to take in the sight through the telescope.  Many people I know trekked down to the totality zone and took some amazing photographs.

Eclipse 2017

TRAPPIST-1 Solar System

There was big news announced back in February.  The TRAPPIST-1 System had 7 terrestrial planets orbiting a cool red dwarf star.  Several of these planets were in the habitable zone where they could hold life.  All of these planets orbit within 9 million kilometers of their host star.  Compare this to Mercury which is nearly 60 million kilometers away from our Sun.  The image below was an artistic representation released by NASA.

TRAPPIST-1 System (Image Credit: NASA/JPL - Caltech)

The shortest orbital period is just over 36 hours while the longest is about 19 days.  Earth's is approximately 365 days.  The news article below describes the great excitement about this discovery.

https://www.universetoday.com/133556/huge-news-seven-earth-sized-worlds-orbiting-red-dwarf-three-habitable-zone/

Gravitational Wave and Light Detection

Gravitational wave astronomy really came to the forefront of the news this year.  The first detection was announced back in February of 2016.  However, four published detections were announced this year.  The most significant was a neutron star merger that was confirmed by electromagnetic detection of the event occurring in the galaxy NGC 4993.  This was the first time a gravitational wave detection was confirmed by another source.  The video below highlights this great event.

I studied gravitational waves back in my General Relativity course nearly a decade ago.  I am astounded at the progress made in this field.  I thought it would remain a theoretical construct of the Einstein Field Equations for several more decades before we had some experimental footing.

The press release from this event is linked below.

https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/press-release-gw170817

Catch Part II of my picks for the Top Space Stories of 2017 in a blog posting later this week!  As always you can keep on top of the latest news at our Facebook Page below.

www.facebook.com/simonjastronomy