History of Astronomy Part 2

Modern Astronomy

Over the centuries, Astronomy has grown from studying the stars for navigation to a science that many graduate school students and postdocs study for a living, but what are humanity’s endeavors in the modern world, and what do they entail for the future? While we’ve yet to invent flying cars and an inter-solar system network like science fiction movies might depict, we’ve had our fair share of innovation regarding space exploration and the development of the astronomy field in general. This blog will outline the most recent endeavors and progress of development in areas like SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence), exoplanetology, and more!

Exoplanet Exploration

To put it simply, exoplanetology is a branch of Astronomy that studies exoplanets (which are planets outside our solar system). During the past few decades, exoplanet exploration has essentially gained more traction as more and more planet scientists and astrobiologists expanded their reach and tried to observe a planet’s composition and compatibility with life. In fact, according to Chris Lintott in an article in the Sky at Night Magazine, “Exoplanets are common around the stars of the Milky Way, and presumably throughout the Universe. The Kepler Space Telescope… delivered a cosmic bounty [of exoplanets] that was way beyond the dreams of its builders.” (Lintott, 2022).

The Kepler Space Telescope found many exoplanets, but one in particular sets science-fiction stories on a high bar- Kepler-186f. Kepler-186f is an Earth-like exoplanet located in the Goldilocks Zone- a habitable zone that’s not too close nor too far from the central star- that may just be able to support life as we know it. If Kepler-186f sounds revolutionary, wait until you hear about the Trappist-1 solar system; it features seven Earth-like planets that orbit around Trappist-1, a red dwarf that was discovered in 1999. While the Trappist-1 exoplanets weren’t found by the Kepler Space Telescope, they were discovered by the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) (Landau, 2018). What makes Trappist-1 particularly interesting, though, is the fact that the solar system could be older than our own, and Trappist-1 is “between 5.4 and 9.8 billion years old… [which is] twice as old as our own solar system, which was formed some 4.5 billion years ago” (Landau, 2018). Thanks to the intricate and advanced technology of modern astronomy, astronomers are able to discover amazing worlds that we wouldn’t have guessed were located in our cosmic backyard.

Mars Exploration

Exploring objects beyond our own solar system is amazing in of itself, but have you ever thought about our own solar system and what it could entail? Lately, modern astronomy has been focusing on Mars, the familiar red planet that could have signs of life centuries ago. In fact, NASA utilizes the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers to gather rock samples, take pictures of Mars’ geography, and to explore the surface from a first-person point of view.

Curiosity is perhaps one of the most successful and well-known Martian missions, but what does it entail? The Curiosity rover is, “The largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars” (NASA) that landed on Mars in August of 2012. Curiosity’s mission was to answer the question, “Did Mars ever have the right environmental conditions to support small life forms called microbes?” (NASA, n.d.). When Curiosity discovered Mars could have featured rivers andoceans of water due to the structure of rocks and soil, a revolution was boosted in regards to extraterrestrial life. NASA aimed to explore more with the Perseverance rover, Image Credits: Ishita Chintala, taken at the

which landed on Mars in February of 2021 with the purpose of Kennedy Space Center on 01.15.23 @ 2:46 PM “Seek[ing] signs of ancient life and collect[ing] Please ask for permission if you want to use this image!

samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil)

for possible return to Earth” (NASA, n.d.).

Perseverance took advantage of Ingenuity, a helicopter

attached to Perseverance to explore the Martian

atmosphere and the surface from a height.

Artemis 1

In November of 2022, Artemis 1 launched on November 16th, 2022 with a duration of about 25 days, a distance traveled of 1.4 million miles, and splashdown on December 11th, 2022. During the 25 days Artemis 1 stayed in flight, it aimed to “demonstrate Orion’s system in a spaceflight environment and ensure a safe re-entry, descent, splashdown, and recovery prior to the first flight with crew on Artemis II” (NASA). Artemis 1 is part of a three-part Artemis mission, which has the destination of humanity’s new-found home, the Moon. We encourage you to explore more about the Artemis mission!

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Thank you for reaching the end of this blog. We hope you learned something new about recent endeavors in Astronomy! Please be sure to check out part 1 of this blog series here: History of Astronomy Part 1. Be sure to like, share, and comment, and stay tuned for more! As always, keep gazing skywards!

Bibliography

NASA: Artemis I. (n.d.). NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i/?fbclid=IwAR0JlipAgGLr4NzM-XebEUMVTt1oXWJQ0KH0KqNYB4rZNU0lAUjakwY7tww

NASA. (n.d.). Overview. NASA Mars Exploration. https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission/overview/

Landau, B. E. (2018, September 1). 10 Things: All About TRAPPIST-1. NASA Solar System Exploration. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/335/10-things-all-about-trappist-1/

Lintott, C. (2022, March 8). 14 amazing space and astronomy discoveries of the 21st century so far. https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/space-astronomy-discoveries/