{"id":32621,"date":"2022-06-10T09:54:19","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T09:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=109469"},"modified":"2022-06-10T10:04:15","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T10:04:15","slug":"7-important-astronomy-achievements-of-the-past-50-years","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/7-important-astronomy-achievements-of-the-past-50-years\/","title":{"rendered":"7 important astronomy achievements of the past 50 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Lord Martin Rees\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 10 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Astronomy is on a roll, and has been for the last 50 years. Increasingly powerful observational techniques, in space and on the ground, have revealed a succession of surprises.<\/p>\n

As someone old (and lucky) enough to have had a ringside seat over this whole time-span, I\u2019ve been glad to be able to witness the work of\u00a0 some of the astronomers and instruments who spearheaded a number of these key discoveries.<\/p>\n

Here is my pick of some of astronomy\u2019s greatest recent achievements.<\/p>

1<\/span>

Discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background<\/h3>\n<\/div>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Artist\u2019s illustration of NASA\u2019s WMAP mission mapping the Cosmic Microwave Background. Credit: NASA \/ WMAP Science Team<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

In 1964 the discovery of cosmic background radiation \u2013 the afterglow of creation \u2013 settled the debate between the \u2018steady state theory\u2019 and the \u2018Big Bang\u2019 explanations of how our Universe came into being.<\/p>\n

It has since been mapped by the WMAP mission<\/a> and we can now speak with confidence about what our cosmos was like right back to just a nanosecond after the \u2018beginning,\u2019 and speculate back even further.<\/p>

2<\/span>

General relativity<\/h3>\n<\/div>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
A glass positive of the 1919 total solar eclipse used by Arthur Eddington to confirm Einstein\u2019s theory of general relativity. Science & Society Picture Library \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Einstein\u2019s theory of gravity<\/a> \u2013 general relativity \u2013 dates back to 1915, but had a resurgence in the 1960s, stimulated by advances in cosmology.<\/p>\n

Perhaps even more importantly, though, was the discovery of phenomena \u2013 such as pulsars and binary stellar-mass black holes<\/a> \u2013 for which Einstein\u2019s theory was not just a tiny correction to Newton, but crucial to understanding them.<\/p>\n

For more on this, read our guide to the difference between Newton and Einstein gravity<\/a>.<\/p>

3<\/span>

Dark matter<\/h3>\n<\/div>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Astronomers used images of galaxies distorted by gravitational lensing to map out dark matter, shown here in blue. Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Jee and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

A whole raft of observations accumulated during the 1970s, which indicated galaxies<\/a> weren\u2019t mainly made of gas and stars but contained a third key ingredient: dark matter<\/a>, that contributed five times more gravitating material than ordinary atoms.<\/p>\n

4<\/span>

A new era of computing<\/h3>\n<\/div>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Dr Ingo Waldmann stands next to the computer equipment that makes up the RobERt deep net, which has been trained to recognise exoplanet atmospheres. Credit: Ingo Waldmann<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Because we can\u2019t do actual experiments on stars and galaxies, astrophysics has been hugely boosted by the advent of powerful computers. We can now build simulation universes<\/a>\u00a0and see what happens when galaxies form or stars collide.<\/p>\n

We can also train AI to do alot of the work for us, leading to a boon in artificial intelligence in astronomy<\/a>.<\/p>

5<\/span>

Global collaboration<\/h3>\n<\/div>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Gaia\u2019s all-sky view of the Milky Way based on the measurements of almost 1.7 billion stars. Credit: ESA<\/span><\/figcaption> ESA\/Gaia\/DPAC, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Astronomers have also become a global community and European collaboration has become especially strong in recent decades. ESA has launched missions \u2013 Gaia<\/a> and Planck, for instance \u2013 with strong UK participation.<\/p>\n

Moreover, optical astronomy in the UK was boosted by the decision to join ESO and gain access to facilities like the VLT \u2013 by most criteria the world\u2019s number-one optical telescope.<\/p>\n

It has, more generally, been gratifying to see the expansion of the UK\u2019s astronomy and space community, as an increasing number of universities have turned their physics departments into \u2018physics and astronomy\u2019.<\/p>\n

And the widening of interest in astronomy has been stimulated by the greater capabilities of amateur-scale telescopes, and by internet-based citizen science<\/a> projects such as Zooniverse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

6<\/span>

Gravitational waves<\/h3>\n<\/div>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
An artist\u2019s illustration of gravitational waves being produced by the collision of two neutron stars. Credit: R. Hurt\/Caltech-JPL<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The pace of discovery certainly isn\u2019t slackening. Two very different research fields are surging forward fast. One is gravitational waves<\/a>. LIGO and VIRGO have detected the ripples in space from colliding black holes and neutron stars<\/a> a billion lightyears away \u2013 a technical challenge equivalent to measuring a change at the distance of Alpha Centauri by the thickness of a hair.<\/p>\n

7<\/span>

Exoplanets<\/h3>\n<\/div>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
An artist\u2019s impression of a Jupiter-like exoplanet orbiting a white dwarf. Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory\/Adam Makarenko<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The other is exoplanets<\/a>: the realisation that most stars are orbited by retinues of planets. Millions are \u2018habitable\u2019 \u2013 perhaps we\u2019ll learn in the next 50 years whether they\u2019re actually inhabited.<\/p>\n

Be that as it may, when the history of science in the last 50 years is written, astronomy and space exploration will surely provide many of the most exciting chapters.<\/p>\n

Many issues that perplexed astronomers in the 1960s have now been settled and we\u2019re now tackling questions that couldn\u2019t even have been posed back then.<\/p>\n

So the coming decades promise to be as exciting as the last few have been. But progress will, as in the past, be owed primarily to better technology, not to armchair theorists like me.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in the July 2022 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

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