The essentials The first images from the James Webb telescope, the Artemis mission around the moon, an asteroid that has lost its orbit… the year 2022 was rich in astronomical advances. retrospective.
We have never seen anything thanks to the James Webb telescope, we know what the black hole in the center of our galaxy looks like, NASA is preparing to return man to the moon and manages to deflect the trajectory of an asteroid, China is conquering it Space… The year 2022 will have been marked by major space events.
The first image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy
An international collaboration of astronomers showed in an image on May 12 the presence of a supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy, some 27,000 light-years from Earth. Sagittarius A* was discovered thanks to the movement of the stars orbiting it. The environment is the most extreme in the universe, “with gases heated at billions of degrees, strong magnetic currents and matter circulating at the speed of light,” explained Prof. Heino Falcke, former Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the EHT.
#dailySpaceFact #9:
Sagittarius A* is the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. In 2022, after 5 years of compiling the data, it was the second image of a black hole ever released.
Distance from Earth: 26,000 light years
Size: 4.6 million solar masses pic.twitter.com/VjhYUPfoyq— ?Ceejtank\u2694\ufe0f (@CeejTankGaming) December 28, 2022
The James Webb Telescope reveals the most distant images of the Universe
After more than twenty-five years of waiting and spending billions of dollars, the James Webb Space Telescope revealed its first images on July 12, 2022. We can discover galaxies 13 billion light years away. Telescopic snapshots of the Tarantula Nebula taken in October show star formation in stunning detail. “Each image is a new discovery and gives humanity a view of the universe we have never seen before,” said NASA chief Bill Nelson.
NASA succeeds in deflecting the trajectory of an asteroid
On September 26, 2022, a NASA spacecraft intentionally crashed into an asteroid 11 million kilometers from Earth to deflect its trajectory. The Dart mission machine, smaller than a car, drove at a speed of more than 20,000 km/h towards its destination, which it reached on the scheduled time. “We’re entering a new era where we may be able to protect ourselves from a dangerous asteroid impact,” said Lori Glaze, director of planetary science at NASA.
The Chinese space station is complete
On October 31, China put the finishing touches on its space station after successfully launching its final module the day before. Tiangong, meaning Heavenly Palace, is similar in size to the defunct Russian-Soviet Mir station and is expected to last at least 10 years. It must allow China to maintain a long-term human presence in space. “China is now playing in space on an equal footing with the United States, Russia and Europe, which also gives it significant political influence,” Chen Lan, an analyst at Go-Taikonauts.com, said Monday’s launch was “very important.”
[\ud83d\udd34China’s 48th launch in 2022] At 07:37 UTC on Oct 31, the Mengtian (梦天/HeavenlyDream) laboratory cabin module was successfully launched on the CZ5B Y4 rocket from Wenchang, Hainan to the Tiangong Space Station (CSS). It is also the 446th launch of the Long March family. HD: https://t.co/4KwAKMCYTG pic.twitter.com/QX8P5Mibwg
— CNSA Watcher (@CNSAWatcher) October 31, 2022
Man is preparing for his return to the moon
After spending just over 25 days in space and orbiting the moon, NASA’s Orion spacecraft landed in the Pacific Ocean on December 12. The final phase of a successful mission that anticipates the return of humans to the moon in years to come. “I don’t think any of us could have imagined a more successful mission,” said Mike Sarafin, who is responsible for this Artemis 1 mission at NASA. “We now have a means of transport into space.”
#Artemis I, flight day 5. The Orion spacecraft takes a selfie as it approaches the Moon before the outgoing flyby – a burn of Orion’s main engine on the @ESA service module. During this maneuver, Orion came within 81 miles of the lunar surface. pic.twitter.com/93GkJ7Ubry
— Orion spacecraft (@NASA_Orion) November 22, 2022