A golden age of astronomy
In this often hectic life, we’re never quite satisfied. We’re always looking for improvements, stretching for more, wanting more, always seeking to expand our horizons. It’s hardwired, just part of the human condition.
But have you taken a pause to reflect on how good we have it? As people interested in the cosmos, the origin, evolution, and fate of the universe, we are living in a truly golden age of astronomy.
Our species has been around for about 200,000 years. Modern astronomy, many have argued, began with Galileo training his telescope skyward just 414 years ago. One century ago Edwin Hubble discovered the nature of galaxies and unlocked the cosmic distance scale. We didn’t really know of black holes until the 1990s, dark energy until 1998. We only discovered the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy in 2008. The examples go on and on.
The pace of astronomical discovery is now furious. I think it’s reasonable to say that in the last generation, we’ve discovered as much as we had previously from the time of Galileo up to a generation ago.
This month’s cover story (page 12) is penned by Senior Editor Alison Klesman, and offers details on the 10 most explosive discoveries or advances in research over the past year.
As the numbers of working astronomers have increased and the volume of research papers exploded, and building on previous discoveries, the sophistication of our knowledge has grown and become ever finer. We now report on viewing our galaxy in neutrinos, listening in on the universe’s background hum, somewhat puzzling galaxies from the early days of the universe, a spectacular annular eclipse that washed over the Americas, and much more.
I hope you’ll enjoy Alison’s story and will also look forward to the countless exciting discoveries and areas of research that lie ahead.