Thread by @weatherindia

#VIDEO: In the year 2020—despite the widespread lockdowns and restricted movement—space exploration and research continued to proliferate across the globe. In case you missed any of these mind-blowing space stories of 2020, then here is a reckoner!

#2020inSpace: Ten Out of the World Happenings That Kept #Astronomy Enthusiasts on Their Toes This Year

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(📸: NASA/JPL/USGS/(NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA/SSV, MIPL, Magellan Team, NASA)

On September 14, 2020, a paper published in the reputed journal Nature Astronomy, revealed detection of #phosphine—a colourless, flammable gas—on the clouds of #Venus.

(📸: SSV, MIPL, Magellan Team, NASA)

From discovering closest #asteroid to the farthest #galaxy, Indian scientists shine in making breakthrough astronomical observations.

(📸: Rakesh Rao)

Making use of the Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) space telescope, scientists first observed a peculiar #comet on March 27, 2020, chasing the Sun.

(📸: NASA/Declan Delav)

The enthusiasm to explore the possibility of life beyond the planet Earth and the curiosity to understand the origin of our solar system continued to drive more missions to #Mars in 2020.

(📸: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

On December 6, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (@JAXA_en) achieved yet another milestone in cosmic exploration by successfully bringing back samples from a distant asteroid named #Ryugu—located 300 million kilometres away from the Earth.

The year started with the release of the most detailed image of our gigantic #Sun. These images were captured when the spacecraft completed its first close pass of the Sun in mid-June this year.

(📸: Solar Orbiter/EUI Team (ESA & NASA); CSL, IAS, MPS, PMOD/WRC, ROB, UCL/MSSL)

Earth’s sole natural satellite, the #Moon, got its fair share of the spotlight too in 2020 as several breakthrough studies shed light on the lunar mysteries.

(📸: NASA/JPL/USGS)

Scientists finally decode the source of #FastRadioBurst after 13 years. This year in November, a team of astronomers finally decoded its source suggesting that the mysterious signal is coming from magnetars within our #MilkyWay galaxy.

(📸: McGill University Graphic Design Team)

In August 2020, for the first time, astronomers reported having spotted a look-alike galaxy of our #MilkyWay with a very close resemblance.

(📸: NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA)

A group of astronomers have spotted the biggest explosion ever recorded in the universe. This record-breaking outburst was a result of a black hole exploding in a distant galaxy cluster, #Ophiuchus, that is located approximately 390 million light-years away from the Earth.