2010 Astronomy Year wrap-up

As 2010 is coming to an end I wanted to prepare a personal list of “Top 10 facts” (in chronological order) that happened in astronomy this year, with links to images and videos . Comments and suggestion are very welcomed!

  1. Partial solar eclipse (15 January)
  2. Mars at opposition  (29 January)
  3. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) launch (11 February)
  4. Eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano (20 March)
  5. Hubble 20th Anniversary in Space
  6. Total Solar eclipse (11 July)
  7. Close approach with Jupiter (20-21 September)
  8. NASA’s robotic EPOXI spacecraft visits Comet 103P/Hartley (4 November)
  9. Youngest ever nearby black hole discovered (14 November)
  10. Total Lunar eclipse (21 December)

And these are my favourite astronomy related shots of 2010:

3rd – A bolt over the Statue of Liberty (credits: Jay Fine)

2nd – Saturn’s Moons Dione and Titan from Cassini (credits: NASA/JPL/SSI - Color composite: Emily Lakdawalla)

1st – Space Shuttle approaching ISS (credits:  Expedition 22 Crew, NASA)

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