The Cosmic Talk #5

Hey nerds, and welcome back to The Cosmic Talk! In this entry, we’ll be doing a yearly recap of some of the space events that took place in 2019. The following is what I would rate my top 5 favorite space events of this year, based on the information we managed to obtain, and how interesting the topics tend to be.

In fifth place is the new discovery on the origins of magnetars. Discussed in The Cosmic Talk #3, we covered the hypothesis released on where these mysterious stars originally come from and the properties of what makes a Magnetar a Magnetar. I chose this to take fifth place because of how interesting the topic is, in my opinion. Stars are something I find to be fascinating in general, and a star that practically defies universal laws yet still happens to exist? Definitely makes a great position in 5th place. 

Ranking fourth place is the OMG Particle. Covered in the very first Cosmic Talk, OMG Particles are something we’ve strangely discovered not far from Earth when we should be finding them near or within extreme environments. The reason for this is what we hypothesise to be a disruption in the galactic filaments that fill our universe. I chose this to take fourth place because of how interesting the topic is, and because it helps to further prove the existence of dark matter, something that astronomers are still on edge about. Something as significant as helping to prove something we only theorize to exist definitely has a nice home at number four.

In third place, the effects that zero G has on astronauts, which was covered in the fourth Cosmic Talk. I chose this topic, not only because I find it cool, but partially because several other people did as well. After sharing this Cosmic Talk, I received a lot of positive feedback from an assortment of readers. Being able to teach you guys about space and have you enjoy it as much as I do is something I strive for with these editorials, so I was happy to put this in third place.

Landing in second are Large Magellanic Clouds and a few discoveries that help further proving our understanding of them. Discussing these topics in the fourth Cosmic Talk, as well for our holiday special, I really enjoyed writing over this topic because of its large and important role it has in the universe. We’re still far from understanding exactly what it is, as it ties in a lot with dark matter, but teaching what we know so far, makes the journey of learning about it even more fun.

And finally, in first place we have, drum roll please…

Super Spiral Galaxies! In the third Cosmic Talk, we elaborated on these interesting astronomical objects. As larger versions of the normal Spiral galaxy, they’re thought to be nonexistent, but because of our friend dark matter, they stay in tact, spinning and traveling through our universe. This topic was quite fitting for number one because of its role in being mine and other reader’s favorite to learn about, as well as the proof it provides to, yet again, dark matter. It’s fun, interesting, and opens our minds to a supposedly impossible universe.

2019 was certainly a year for us all, in more ways than one, but for astronomers the best way to describe it would be exciting. Much has happened in this time, too much to cover in all my editorials, but I am ready to take on what 2020 has to offer. Let discovery await us in the new year. 

This has been The Cosmic Talk. Until next time!