The Planetary Report®
The Year in Pictures: 2024

Features

December Solstice 2024

Your place in space

Seeing for ourselves: Cosmic sights on Earth and others waiting to be seen

By Bill Nye, Planetary Society CEO 

For so many of us who live in modern, brightly lit cities, opportunities to see the majesty of space are few and far between. We don’t get to see the Milky Way spilling across the sky every night or the horizon-to-horizon starscape that our ancestors knew so well. 

But on April 8 this year, tens of millions of people across North America were out in the open — in broad daylight — to see the sky go black during the awe-inspiring total solar eclipse. It was the highlight (or dark sky moment) of the year, and it’s reflected in our choices of the images that captured this year in space.

Of course, the eclipse wasn’t the only cosmic spectacle we got to witness. The Sun was particularly active this year, sending solar energy our way in the form of streams of charged particles that created aurorae much farther south and over a much greater area than is usual for our planet. People throughout the Northern Hemisphere got a rare glimpse of colors dancing across the sky as the solar wind interacted with Earth’s magnetic field.

We got to see a little bit of asteroid Bennu as well when the sample returned from the asteroid by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission arrived and was conveyed to earthly labs. In the same way that the Moon rocks brought to Earth over 50 years ago continue to yield discoveries, the material brought back from Bennu will likely lead to decades of insights into the creation of our Solar System and perhaps the origin of life itself.

In July, we also got a tantalizing look at something we’d very much like to see in a lab on Earth: a sample the Perseverance rover collected from a Mars rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls.” It shows intriguing patterns often associated with microbial life. That sample has been collected and cached, but we still need to bring it here to study. NASA’s internationally collaborative Mars Sample Return (MSR) program needs funding; it needs the support of organizations like The Planetary Society and advocates like you. 

Speaking of people like you, it was thanks in part to your advocacy efforts that Europa Clipper launched this October. As I write, it’s en route to Jupiter’s intriguing, icy moon with all systems nominal. What we discover there could change the world(s).

Right now, we’re also calling on our members to help get our Beyond the Horizon comprehensive campaign over the finish line. This overarching effort to raise funds to support all of The Planetary Society’s work is on track to meet our ambitious $40 million goal. You’ve already contributed to this campaign just by being a member, and I thank you for that. You’ll read more later in this issue about our goals for this final month of our five-year campaign. 

Now, I hope you enjoy reviewing the highlights of 2024 in this issue of The Planetary Report’s year-end collection of space images. It’s been a year of fantastic phenomena for everyone who loves space and for humankind. There’s so much more to come. Thank you for being with us as we work to make it all happen.

Members on deck

Show us your art

Every issue of our weekly email newsletter, The Downlink, includes a call for readers to submit their space-inspired artwork. This year, Planetary Society members’ creativity didn’t disappoint! Here are a few of the phenomenal submissions that members from around the world shared with us. You can subscribe to The Downlink at planetary.org/connect and see past issues at planetary.org/downlink. If you have creative work you’d like to share, send it to us at [email protected] and be sure to tell us you’re a member!

Get involved

A new online course: Stargazing 101

Explore the Cosmos above you with Stargazing 101, our new in-depth guide to backyard astronomy for everyone from newbies to space nerds. Learn about the wonders waiting to be seen overhead, develop practical skills for parsing the night sky and seeing the best possible views, and hear practical tips from professional astronomy communicators on how to help others fall in love with stargazing. No matter where you live or whether you own a telescope, this how-to guide will transform the stars overhead into a clear window to the Universe. 

Log in at community.planetary.org.

Explore the Cosmos with The Planetary Society and Lerner Publishing

Welcome to an exciting new chapter in space education! Get ready to embark on a journey through the Cosmos with our engaging series of books that make space science fun and accessible for young readers. 

In collaboration with Lerner Publishing Group, Planetary Society Chief Scientist Bruce Betts has written a series of books about the Solar System for kids. “Exploring Our Solar System” is an eight-book series that takes young readers (age 7 to 10) on an exciting journey through our Solar System. With vibrant photos and informative diagrams, children will learn about the planets, their moons, and other celestial wonders. 

More books that will empower young readers to explore space and science are also in the works from The Planetary Society and Lerner Publishing Group.

Our members play a crucial role in ensuring that these educational resources reach as many young minds as possible. Here’s how you can support the initiative: 

• Request: Contact your local schools and public libraries to request that they stock these books. Ensuring they are available in libraries will make them accessible to more children.
• Purchase: Buy these books for your own friends or family to help inspire the young space enthusiasts in your life.
• Review: After reading one of our books, leaving a review on Amazon helps elevate the book’s visibility and credibility. 

Share your thoughts to help us spread the word! Learn more at planetary.org/planetary-society-books. 

Calendar of events

DECEMBER 13
Lucy flyby of Earth

DECEMBER 13-14
Geminid meteor shower

DECEMBER 22-23
Ursid meteor shower

JANUARY 3-4
Quadrantid meteor shower

JANUARY 9
Bepi-Colombo flyby of Mercury

JANUARY 10
Venus at greatest eastern elongation (best viewing)

JANUARY 16
Mars at opposition (best viewing); conjunction of Venus and Neptune

MARCH 8
Mercury at greatest eastern elongation (best viewing)

MARCH 14
Total lunar eclipse

MARCH 20
March equinox

Make a year-end donation to the Society

Your year-end donation to The Planetary Society is a powerful way to make an impact on our shared mission to advance space science and exploration. 

Make your gift today at planetary.org/planetaryfund.

For U.S. tax purposes, gifts must be received on or before the last day of the year. Here are some common methods of making a gift and their associated deadlines.

• Online credit card gifts: transaction completed by 11:59 p.m. EST (8:59 p.m. PST), Dec. 31, 2024. 
• Credit card gifts via U.S. mail: received and processed on or before Dec. 31, 2024.
• Checks sent via U.S. mail: postmarked on or before Dec. 31, 2024. 
• Checks sent via third-party shipping (such as FedEx or UPS): delivered on or before Dec. 31, 2024. 
• Stock transfer: broker-to-broker instructions issued in time for completed transfer on or before Dec. 31, 2024.

Monthly members: Action needed

We've made changes to our recurring credit card charging process for monthly members. For many, the process happened automatically, and you won’t notice any changes. For others, however, these changes will require us to have members update their credit/debit card information. To facilitate this, we've sent communications to monthly members who need to update their credit card information. Please note that if you don’t update your information, your membership will lapse, and you will lose access to your benefits, like The Planetary Report. So, please be sure to update your information today! 

Questions? Please contact Richard Chute, Chief Development Officer, at [email protected] or call 626.793.5100.

What's up?

Mars, a meteor shower, and a total lunar eclipse

By Bruce Betts, Planetary Society Chief Scientist

In the sky

There are lots of easy-to-see planets in the evening. Bright reddish Mars is in the east in the evening. It reaches opposition, the opposite side of Earth from the Sun, on Jan. 16. Watch it brighten before opposition, which is approximately when Earth and Mars are closest in their orbits for this time around the Sun. Near opposition, Mars will be about as bright as the brightest star in the night sky: Sirius. Mars will start to gradually dim after opposition. Very bright Jupiter is above Mars in the evening east. Super-bright Venus will be in the early evening west. Yellowish Saturn is above Venus until they are close together in the sky on Jan. 19, after which Saturn will be lower. Mercury will be visible low to the western horizon soon after sunset in early March. The Quadrantids meteor shower will peak on the night of Jan. 2-3. The Quadrantids is an above-average shower but often with a very brief peak. A waxing crescent Moon will provide little interference. On March 14, there will be a total lunar eclipse visible from North and South America. For more night sky tips, you can always check out planetary.org/night-sky.

Random space fact

With its solar arrays deployed, the Europa Clipper spacecraft is about 30 meters (100 feet) across — about the length of a basketball court.

Trivia contest

Our March Equinox contest winner is Mark Saltzman of Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Congratulations! The question was: What was the first exoplanet discovered around a Sunlike star? The answer: 51 Pegasi b. 

Try to win a copy of the new book “Mars: The Red Planet” from the series “Exploring Our Solar System with The Planetary Society” by Bruce Betts and a Planetary Radio T-shirt by answering this question: Who has spent the most time in space (over multiple missions)? 

Email your answer to [email protected] or mail your answer to The Planetary Report, 60 S. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena, CA 91101. Make sure you include the answer and your name, mailing address, and email address (if you have one). By entering this contest, you are authorizing The Planetary Report to publish your name and hometown. Submissions must be received by March 1, 2025. One entry per person. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing from among all the correct entries received.

Astronomical art

“Loose Lids Stain Ships”

This watercolor and ink painting by Planetary Society member Danielle Rose Baker shows the IFT-3 test of the SpaceX Starship and Falcon Super Heavy, which took place on March 14, 2024. It’s a near-perfect depiction of one of the images we included on the cover of this issue but with one difference. “The unique texture and starburst are a testament to the permanence of professional calligraphy ink,” said the artist. “I spilled most of a bottle across this painting while in progress, hence the title. I finished it as a tribute to the messy process of art, the sometimes chaotic pursuit of scientific discovery, and the nonlinear path to space exploration.” 

Do you want to see your artwork here? We love to feature our members throughout this magazine. Send your original, space-related artwork to [email protected].