2017 Top Space Stories (Part II)

This is Part II of the top space stories of 2017.  It was certainly a great year for space exploration and interesting transient events.  Part I can be found here:

http://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/12/2017-top-space-stories-part-i.html

Cassini Grand Finale

Enough cannot be said about the great Cassini mission.  Launched in 1997 to explore the wonders of Saturn, Cassini exceeded all expectations.  The accompanying Huygens probe landed on Titan and provided the first images from the surface of this great moon.  Cassini explored the many moons of Saturn and even plunged through the giant geysers of Enceladus.  The video below captures the highlights of the mission.

Rivers and seas of methane and ethane on Titan form their own 'hydrological cycle' similar to that on Earth with water.  On September 15, 2017, Cassini plunged into the atmosphere of Saturn to prevent the contamination of possible life on Titan and Enceladus.  It broke up in the skies of Saturn and final contact was received at 11:55 UTC.  Information from this mission will fill many textbooks for decades to come.  Additional missions to Titan and Enceladus are already being planned.

First Interstellar Object

An object was discovered on October 19, 2017 from the Pan-STARRS telescope on Hawaii.  Initially it was labelled as a comet and then reclassified as an asteroid.  On November 6, it was then reclassified to an interstellar object.  This was the first known object from a different solar system than our own.  Current predictions show it coming from the direction of Vega; a bright star 25 light years away.  The International Astronomical Union has labelled it 1I/'Oumuamua, the first such object receiving an 'I' designation.  The video below from NASA discussed this discovery in more detail.

The name 'Oumuamua comes from Hawaiian and means 'scout'.  This asteroid is scouting our solar system from somewhere else in or galaxy.  It was examined for radio signals on the small chance it could be artificial in origin as a possible spaceship.  This sounds a lot like science fiction, but it was necessary to rule it out.

Giant Solar Flare

After the great eclipse in August we experienced some amazing solar weather a few weeks later.  The two events were completely unrelated.  Throughout the first 10 days of September, 4 X-Flares occurred on the Sun.  These are the strongest flares we have seen in a decade.  They were also pointing toward the Earth so we were able to feel the effects of them throughout the week.  The image below is the sunspot region these flares emanated from.

Sunspot Region 2673

Radio blackouts occurred and there were some people indicating they were having trouble with their satellite radio while on a lengthy car ride.  The solar flares were responsible for some great displays of aurora that reached down to typically much lower latitudes.

An article about this event is provided below.

https://www.universetoday.com/137150/unexpected-solar-flare-also-largest-twelve-years/

I am looking forward to 2018 as I am sure there will be some historic events to capture the imagination.  Keep posted on all important space news and local astronomy events at our Facebook Page!

www.facebook.com/simonjastronomy

We are also on twitter:

https://twitter.com/simonjastronomy (@simonjastronomy)

There seems to be a warming trend throughout next week which will hopefully allow for comfortable viewing of the Quadrantid Meteor Shower set to peak on January 3, 2018!