Sometimes a photo can say much more than a thousand words. The Universe Space Tech editorial staff has collected the best space images of the past year, showing the most significant events and discoveries.
A visit of the tail guest
One of the most striking events of 2024 was the visit of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan – ATLAS). Astrophotographers around the world have taken many very spectacular images of the tail guest. We do not claim to have chosen the best of them. But the shot definitely turned out to be a glorious one. It was taken on October 1 during dawn on the island of La Palma.
Storm of the century
On the night of May 10-11, the most powerful geomagnetic storm since 2003 hit the Earth. The auroras caused by it were observed even in Mexico and the Canary Islands. As in the case of comet C/2023 A3, it is extremely difficult to choose one image from the mass of magnificent images taken in different countries. But still, we chose this photo, showing the polar “rainbow” in the sky over the Netherlands.
A star in a neighboring galaxy
In 2024, astronomers managed for the first time in history to get a detailed image of a star located in a neighboring galaxy. It was made by ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The image captures the red supergiant WOH G64 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Already soon (by astronomical standards), it will turn into a supernova.
Saturn’s coverage of the Moon
On August 21, the Moon covered Saturn for a while. One of the most successful images of this event was taken by astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy. In order to get the clearest possible image, he climbed to the top of the extinct Hawaiian volcano Mauna Kea.
The explosion of a Japanese rocket
On March 13, the Japanese company Space One carried out the debut launch of the KAIROS rocket. Unfortunately, it failed. Due to an engine malfunction, the company had to activate the emergency abort system, after which KAIROS turned into a fiery cloud. The moment of the rocket’s demise is captured in the presented photo.
Lunch at Mechazilla
To thank its employees for their Herculean task of building Starship, SpaceX held a photo shoot with them, referencing the iconic 1932 photo “Lunch atop a Skyscraper”. Except that instead of a skyscraper, the engineers were sitting on one of the arms of the giant Mechazilla tower designed to catch the Super Heavy booster.
Catch me if you can
SpaceX did not thank its employees in vain. On October 13, 2024, Mechazilla managed to catch the Super Heavy for the first time even though many experts perceived the whole idea with considerable skepticism until the last. The image was taken a second before the manipulators (one of which was manned by engineers from the previous photo) encircled the gas pedal returning to Earth.
A ring of fire over Easter Island
In 2024, citizens of Earth saw several solar eclipses, including an annular eclipse. One of the best places to observe it was Easter Island. The image shows the phases of the ring of fire over the famous stone statues.
Heaven’s burden
The success of astrophotography often depends on a carefully chosen angle to produce images like this one. Thanks to a well-chosen point of view, the rising Moon appeared exactly above the statue of Christ the Redeemer, giving the impression that it was holding our planet’s satellite on its shoulders. The image was taken at Icarai Beach, north of Rio de Janeiro, on May 23, 2024.
Olympic Moon
On July 22, residents of Paris witnessed a very beautiful celestial conjunction. The rising full Moon passed precisely through the center of the Olympic emblem displayed on the Eiffel Tower as if welcoming the participants of the XXXIII Summer Olympics.
Penguin Galaxy
Of course, the list of the best space images of the year would be incomplete without James Webb. The telescope regularly pleases us with various beautiful images. One of the most memorable of them was published on the occasion of the second anniversary of James Webb. It shows a pair of interacting galaxies, Arp 142. Due to gravitationally induced distortions in the structure, one of them started to look like a giant space penguin, while the other resembled an egg being incubated by it.
God’s Hand
Throughout 2024, the Dark Energy Camera installed on the Victor Blanco Telescope has repeatedly delighted all astrophotography enthusiasts. One of its most mesmerizing images shows a very unusual structure called God’s Hand. It is an isolated gas-dust cloud with a length of 8 light-years, which like a hand stretches through space. It looks like it’s about to grab the defenseless spiral galaxy CG 4. But, of course, this is just an optical illusion. God’s Hand is in our Milky Way, while CG 4 is over 100 million light years away.
The lights of the Earth’s night
For astronaut Donald Pettit, the current mission to the ISS has already become the fourth in his career. Since arriving at the station, he has regularly delighted astrophotography enthusiasts by posting spectacular images of our planet on social networks. One of the best of them was taken on October 24, 2024, when the ISS was flying over Lake Michigan. The photo shows the lights of nighttime cities, the glow of the Earth’s atmosphere, and the aurora borealis.
ISS and the Sun
At the end of our selection is a collage showing the ISS transit across the Sun’s disk. It was obtained by Portuguese astrophotographer Miguel Claro using a high-speed camera. It was captured on June 2, 2024. The total duration of the transit was only 0.54 seconds.
