This year, outer space is going to be a busy place.
We’ve got the launch of the Europa Clipper, which will orbit one of Jupiter’s enigmatic moons and investigate whether it could harbour conditions suitable for life; we could cheer on the first Canadian to orbit the moon; and we’re getting a total solar eclipse that will be visible across eastern Canada.
Here are just some exciting events to look forward to in 2024.
Meteor showers
As always, the year starts off with the annual Quadrantid meteor shower, which is pretty impressive, albeit short-lived.
At its peak, and under ideal conditions, the shower can produce upward of 100 or more meteors an hour in a dark-sky site.
Though the shower runs from Dec. 27 to Jan. 10, the peak occurs on the night of Jan. 3.
It only lasts 12 hours — and it’s expected to have some celestial competition, according to Peter Brown, Canada Research Chair in meteor astronomy and a professor at Western University in London, Ont.
“The Quadrantids have a peak which is favourable for North America [around 4 a.m. ET], but the last quarter moon will interfere,” Brown said in an email. “Nevertheless, it is such a strong and sharp shower that it is worth checking out in 2024, but with modest expectations given the bad lunar conditions.”
An added bonus is that the Quadrantids tend to produce bright fireballs, increasing the chances of seeing something spectacular.
The next opportunity to see a similarly impressive meteor shower won’t come until August, when the Perseids arrive.
This shower is often described as the best of the year, and with good reason. It’s the summer, the night skies tend to be clear and the weather is warmer, making for a comfortable night of viewing under the stars.
This composite image from 2021 shows several Perseid meteors streaking against the night sky, along with some fireflies, on the right, from eastern Ontario. (Malcolm Park)
“The Perseids have better lunar conditions, and this year there are several old trails which may be encountered … so the night of Aug 11-12 might be particularly interesting to follow this year,” Brown said. ” However, the rates won’t be super high — maybe a few tens of per cent above normal levels if these filaments are encountered in that time.”
This tends to be a dependable shower, capable in ideal conditions of producing 100 meteors an hour at its peak, which falls on the night of Aug. 11. And the great news about this year’s shower is that there will be no moon to interfere with capturing some of the fainter meteors.
Finally, there is the Geminid meteor shower.
This event can produce close to 150 meteors an hour. While the shower runs from Dec. 4-17, the peak occurs on the night of Dec. 13.
While this shower is as or more dependable than the Perseids, the downside is that winter nights can be cold and cloudy. However, the meteors that streak across the sky can be very bright, sometimes leaving behind long trains.
But wait, there’s more … potentially.
“Beyond these three, the other shower to watch [that] may show unusual activity next year is the Eta Aquariids,” Brown said. This spring shower will be best viewed early in the month of May.
“Though normally not easy to see from Canada, the new moon on May 8 and the expectation of higher rates and bright meteors for a few nights around the maximum, would make it worth checking things out in the early morning hours of May 4-6,” he said.
Solar eclipse
This is the story of the year when it comes to astronomical events.
On April 8, a total solar eclipse will stretch across the Pacific Ocean into Mexico, then into the United States beginning in Texas, before continuing into eastern Canada.
“A total eclipse of the sun is the most awe-inspiring and sublime astronomical event visible to the naked eye,” said Fred Espenak, a retired NASA astronomer and the agency’s lead eclipse expert. “It is something everyone should see at least once in their life.”
In Ontario, Toronto and Ottawa will only reach 99.9 and 99.8 per cent of totality, respectively. However, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Kingston will experience full totality.
Espenak also noted that the first place to experience totality will be at Point Pelee National Park, the southernmost point of mainland Canada.
Sherbrooke, Que., Fredericton, and Summerside, P.E.I, will be a few of other cities that experience full totality.
“The total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, is the last opportunity for Canadians to one until Aug. 23, 2044 — 20 years from now,” Espenak added.
Totality will be quite the sight. Not only will viewers be able to see the sun’s corona, but Jupiter and Venus will suddenly appear in the darkened sky.
And, as an added bonus, there will likely be a comet — 12p/Pons-Brooks — in the sky near Jupiter.
Astronomical organizations and universities located in the eclipse path will likely organize events that are open to the public. It’s also a good idea to get your hands on verified, safe eclipse glasses, which can be found at science and astronomy stores or from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
Missions to moons
It’s all about moons in 2024.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to send a mission to the two moons of Mars — Phobos and Deimos.
There has never been a successful mission to these small moons, which are believed to be captured asteroids.
JAXA’s mission, the Martian Moons eXploration, will study these moons to determine whether they were indeed asteroids, or fragments that came together after something impacted Mars, as our moon is believed to have formed.
It will also collect a sample from Phobos and return it to Earth by 2029.
NASA plans on sending a spacecraft to Europa, one of Jupiter’s many moons. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute/Reuters)
There’s also an exciting mission planned to Europa, one of the largest of Jupiter’s 95 known moons.
Europa is of particular interest to astrobiologists. There is evidence that beneath its icy crust lies a vast salty, liquid ocean with the potential to harbour life.
NASA’s Europa Clipper is set to blast off in October 2024 and will arrive in the Jovian system in 2030. Once there, it will orbit Europa 50 times, searching for signs that it has the key ingredients to support life — water, essential chemical building blocks and energy.
Mars’ largest moon, Phobos, was photographed in 2008 by a high-resolution imaging camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)
China is expected to launch its Chang’e 6 sample-return to the moon sometime in 2024.
This will be its second sample-return mission following the success of Chang’e 5 in 2020. This time, the mission aims to collect samples from the far side of the moon.
The mission is expected to last 53 days.
The other big story of the year is the launch of Artemis II to the moon.
This mission is a follow-up to the first launch of NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket with its Orion capsule, Artemis I. That uncrewed, 25.5–day mission orbited the moon in a test of its systems.
But Artemis II will have four astronauts on board, including Canada’s Jeremy Hansen.
Hansen will be a mission specialist working alongside three NASA astronauts — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch. This will be the farthest any Canadian astronaut has travelled in space.
Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen looks ahead to his moon mission
Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen sits down with CBC’s Nicole Mortillaro to talk about being chosen for the Artemis II mission, what this means for Canada and what he’s most looking forward to experiencing during the mission.
The four will conduct a 10-day flight test that will orbit the moon.
The mission is scheduled to launch in November, though it could be pushed into 2025.
Starship and a return to asteroids
If you’ve been keeping an eye on space missions, you’ll remember NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in 2021. In this mission, a spacecraft slammed into a small asteroid called Dimorphos, which is part of a binary asteroid (two asteroids) that included a bigger one named Didymos.
SpaceX’s 120-metre tall Starship sits at its launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, in April 2023, before its first integrated test flight. (SpaceX)
Why slam something into an asteroid? It was to see if a spacecraft is able to nudge an asteroid on a collision course with Earth out of its orbit. And it was a success.
As part of a follow-up, the European Space Agency will launch its Hera mission to the pair of asteroids in October, where it will perform a post-impact survey of Dimorphos. It will arrive in 2026.
And finally, you can count on more SpaceX flights of its massive Starship. The 120-metre tall spaceship is a key part of founder Elon Musk’s goal of taking humans to Mars.
But more importantly, it’s part of NASA’s Artemis III mission, which will see astronauts once again stepping foot on the moon.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
