2024 – ein spektakuläres Jahr für die Astronomie

In April, much of the western hemisphere was treated to a total solar eclipse. This photograph shows the Bailey’s Beads – the sun rising over the mountains of the moon – on either side of totality.

Then in May, the sun erupted with a series of massive solar flare sending enough energy towards earth to create a rare G5 auroral storm (the highest the scale goes). I photographed it over Falling Springs in western Virginia.

Then in October we were treated to another auroral storm, only slightly weaker than the May one.

This was followed by a breathtaking comet – C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, pictured here as it transited the Milky Way core on October 22.

And in less than a month we get to see the planetary alignment. Quite a year!