2020-05-01_Astronomy

AQUARIUS

109

SAGITTARIUS

PISCES^103

85

CAPRI-

CORNUS

84

CETUS

40

THE REST

291

VIRGO

77

TAU RUS

45

LIBRA

OPHIUCHUS 67

56 LEO

43

ECLIP

TIC

AQR

CAP

LEO

OPH

VIR

LIB

PSC

CET

TAU

SGR

AS

TE

RO

IDS

(^) ON THE^ P
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WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 15
A THOUSAND POINTS OF LIGHT.
German astronomer Karl
Reinmuth hit a milestone when
he discovered the 1,000th aster-
oid on August 12, 1923. Most
of the first 1,000 objects lie in a
belt between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter that aligns closely
with Earth’s orbital plane (the
ecliptic). As such, they rarely
stray far from the zodiacal
constellations where the major planets reside. The graph above shows the positions of these 1,000 asteroids on
February 1, 2020. More than 70 percent of them resided in just 10 constellations. — RICHARD TALCOTT
FAST FACT
On February 1, asteroid 594 Mireille strayed
37° north of the ecliptic, the farthest
in our sample.
The first class of NASA astronauts slated for the
Artemis program graduated January 10. And
after more than two years of basic training, the
11 NASA astronauts, in addition to two Canadian
Space Agency (CSA) astronauts, are now eligi-
ble for missions to the space station, the Moon,
and eventually Mars. Selected from a record-
setting pool of more than 18,000 applicants,
this cosmic class includes some of the best and
brightest our country has to offer. The next-gen
astronauts are (top row, left to right) Matthew
Dominick, Kayla Barron, Warren Hoburg, Joshua
Kutryk (CSA); (middle row) Bob Hines, Frank
Rubio, Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons (CSA), Jasmin
Moghbeli, Jessica Watkins; (bottom row) Raja
Chari, Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, and Loral
O’Hara. Congratulations, graduates! — J.P.
NASA astronauts
graduate with eye
toward Artemis
NASA
ASTRONOMY
: ROEN KELLY
The temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit (4,300 degrees Celsius),
7, 80 0 on the surface of the hottest-known exoplanet, KELT-9 b.