Each year Astronomy magazine publishes an article highlighting what we consider the top 10 astronomy stories of the previous year. I’ve started working on the article for 2009 and thought I’d share a few of our ideas for the big stories. We also want your feedback. So if there’s a story you feel strongly should be on our list, let us know!
Of course, the mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope has to be on this list. Reviving the aging telescope (and possibly giving it another 5 years) is important not just to the field of astronomy, but public outreach.
The Jupiter collision is another big one. We hadn’t seen anything like that for 15 years. And it’s a great story of the amateur and professional community working together.
This past year the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope released a slew of findings, including the most detailed gamma-ray map created. I’m a high-energy astronomy geek, so I just love this stuff.
And we can’t forget that 2009 was the International Year of Astronomy. It was an entire year devoted to reaching the general public and showing them just how awesome astronomy is.
Obviously I shared only four on this list ... we need to keep part of the article a surprise!
But we want your input, too. What do you think of these four? What stories do you think should be in our top 10 list?
Photo credit: NASA TV