Top Space and Astronomy Events of 2024

SpaceX also conducted the first ever commercial spacewalk. Astronaut Jared Isaacman led an ambitious mission, known as ‘Polaris Dawn’, taking four astronauts higher than any astronauts have since the Apollo program. The mission also involved testing new spacesuit designs for extravehicular activity (EVA) and conducting scientific experiments in low Earth orbit. This mission marked a pivotal step forward in private space exploration and the development of technology for future interplanetary missions.

This year also saw the long awaited first astronaut flight of Boeing’s CST-100 “Starliner” capsule to the International Space Station. However, the flight was quickly plagued by significant issues with its maneuvering thrusters after docking to the Space Station. This put NASA into a difficult position - either accept the risk of returning the astronauts back to the Earth with malfunctioning thrusters, or work with Boeing to return Starliner uncrewed back to the Earth and leave the astronauts on the Space Station. NASA went with the latter, and the two astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth in the Spring of 2025.

Unfortunately, 2024 saw the end of the first ever Mars helicopter – Ingenuity, Perseverance’s trusty companion on the Red Planet. Although initially designed as a technology demonstration of five flights, Ingenuity exceeded expectations and flew an astounding 72 flights over the span of three years. Its final flight occurred on January 18, 2024. Engineers at JPL concluded that the helicopter’s navigation system failed due to its inability to distinguish textures at its landing zone, resulting in navigation errors and a hard impact that damaged its rotor blades beyond use. The insights gained from Ingenuity’s operations and designs are influencing future Mars exploration concepts, such as the proposed Mars Chopper, which aims to carry science instruments and explore even more remote areas that a rover cannot reach. The mission also proves that it is possible to create cost-effective choppers on Mars using off-the-shelf components. Farewell, Ingenuity!

For the first time in four years, a truly bright and naked eye comet appeared in the sky. Comet C/2023 A3 was initially met with cautious optimism, and the comet survived its journey around the Sun and met expectations. Though the comet is very old, it was only discovered in 2023 when it approached the inner solar system on its highly elliptical orbit for the first time in human history. The comet hailed from the ‘Oort Cloud’, a spherical shell encompassing the Sun thousands of times the distance between the Earth and the Sun, and likely contains billions of such objects. The comet’s brief but brilliant visibility just above the western horizon after sunset offered a unique opportunity to capture its beauty, with astrophotographers producing stunning images using telescopes and lenses. The tail became very large in the sky, with its angular size easily being greater than 10 degrees. By October, its brightness peaked aided by the phenomenon of forward scattering, and it became visible to the naked eye under clear, dark skies. Observers and astrophotographers across the world observed and photographed the comet, taking stunning photos of the comet as it swung across the night sky towards the Milky Way. Its peak was fairly short however, with the best display lasting only for a few days. However, in conjunction with the core of the Milky Way, the comet was a dazzling photographic object for observers at dark sky locations.

Millions across the world looked up and saw aurora dancing above their heads for the first time in their lives. Thanks to cell phone cameras, many were able to take dazzling photographs of the aurora over their heads and share it on social media – making the event the single most photographed and documented auroral display in human history. In preparation for the aurora, multiple satellites and power grids went into standby or safe mode to avoid significant impacts. 2025 will see the peak “solar maximum”, where sun spots will be at their most prominent and the sun its most active. Will we see another display? Indeed, the May event was followed up by a less impressive, yet still stunning display that resulted in pinkish aurora as far south as New England in October 2024.

Image Credit: NASA/ Mara Johnson-Groh

And number #1 on our list is the Great American Solar Eclipse of 2024, arguably the single most witnessed solar eclipse of all time. This solar eclipse was the long-awaited follow-up for North Americans to the 2017 solar eclipse, which dazzled observers in August of 2017. This eclipse was not only longer, but also appeared over a wider swath of high populated areas. Cities like Austin, Dallas, Cleveland, Little Rock, and others directly found themselves in the path of totality, or very near it. The eclipse event went over Niagara Falls! Millions traveled to see the eclipse, taking time off from work or school just for an opportunity to be in the 4 minutes of totality offered by the event. However, it appeared a week before the eclipse the weather forecast might ruin the entire show - Texas, despite having low probabilities for clouds, started showing signs for being completely overcast, causing cancellations and people scrambling to new locations. The two best locations in the United States ended up being Maine and Arkansas/Missouri, with mostly clear skies being predicted for the eclipse.