In the last decade, spectacular progress has been made in the exploration of the cosmos. Milestones include detailed studies of the planets and moons in our solar system and the (even more spectacular) finding that most stars are orbited by planets and that there are millions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy. On an even larger scale, we have improved our understanding of how galaxies have developed over 1.38 billion years of cosmic history, since the earliest fluctuations. It is possible that these fluctuations were generated by quantum effects when the entire cosmos was microscopic in size.

Einstein’s theory was again confirmed with the detection of the gravitational wave, a monumental technological achievement. Future advances will depend on the availability of more powerful instruments, which could yield evidence of life on exoplanets and provide a better understanding of the big bang, the quintessential scientific fact of our cosmos.

Astronomy is the most ambitious of the environmental sciences and the most universal: the sky is, in fact, the only element in our common environment that has equally amazed all cultures throughout history. Today it is a field of study that encompasses a wide variety of disciplines: mathematics, physics, and engineering, of course. But also others.

Astronomers seek to map and examine the various entities—planets, stars, galaxies, black holes, etc.—present in the cosmos. Next we use our knowledge of physics to try to understand the exotic objects that our telescopes reveal. A more ambitious goal is to understand how the entire cosmos, of which we are a part, emerged from the fiery, dense beginnings of the universe.

The pace of progress has quickened rather than slowed; Instruments and computing power have improved immensely and rapidly. In the last decade in particular there have been amazing advances. And the promise of the future is even brighter: astronomy offers excellent opportunities for young researchers who want to enter a vibrant field.

In this chapter I will focus on three topics: first, relatively “local” planets and exoplanets on a cosmic scale; secondly, in gravity and black holes in the extragalactic sphere, and thirdly and more hypothetically, in some concepts that seek to understand the cosmos in its entirety.

Human spaceflight has languished to some extent since the years when those of us in middle age today were inspired by the Apollo program and the Moon landings.

But when it comes to communication, environmental monitoring, satellite navigation, etc., space technology has matured. We depend on her every day. And for astronomers it has opened new “windows”: telescopes in space show us a remote sky in infrared, UVA, X and gamma rays. Although humans have not ventured beyond the Moon, unmanned probes to other planets have returned images of varied and peculiar worlds.

Among the highlights of the past decade, the European Space Agency’s Rossetta mission managed to land a small probe around a comet to verify, for example, that the isotopic measurements of the comet’s ice were the same as those of Earth’s water. . This is crucial to find out the origin of that water. NASA’s New Horizons probe has already left Pluto behind and is now heading for the Kuiper Belt, teeming with minor planets.

Rossetta took nearly ten years to reach its destination and almost another ten to plan and build. Its robotic technology dates back to the 1990s, which is a source of great frustration for the team that developed the project, because current designs would have greater capabilities.

The same can be said for New Horizons, which nevertheless returned us high-definition images of Pluto, ten thousand times farther from Earth than the Moon. And the Cassini probe, which spent thirteen years exploring Saturn and its moons, is even older: between its launch and its arrival at Saturn, at the end of 2017, twenty years passed.

In the last decade, spectacular progress has been made in the exploration of the cosmos. Milestones include detailed studies of the planets and moons in our solar system and the (even more spectacular) finding that most stars are orbited by planets and that there are millions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy. On an even larger scale, we have improved our understanding of how galaxies have developed over 1.38 billion years of cosmic history, since the earliest fluctuations. It is possible that these fluctuations were generated by quantum effects when the entire cosmos was microscopic in size. Einstein’s theory was again confirmed with the detection of the gravitational wave, a monumental technological achievement. Future advances will depend on the availability of more powerful instruments, which could yield evidence of life on exoplanets and provide a better understanding of the big bang, the quintessential scientific fact of our cosmos.

INTRODUCTION
Astronomy is the most ambitious of the environmental sciences and the most universal: the sky is, in fact, the only element of our common environment that has equally amazed all cultures throughout history. Today it is a field of study that encompasses a wide variety of disciplines: mathematics, physics, and engineering, of course. But also others.

Astronomers seek to map and examine the various entities—planets, stars, galaxies, black holes, etc.—present in the cosmos. Next we use our knowledge of physics to try to understand the exotic objects that our telescopes reveal. A more ambitious goal is to understand how the entire cosmos, of which we are a part, emerged from the fiery, dense beginnings of the universe.

The pace of progress has quickened rather than slowed; Instruments and computing power have improved immensely and rapidly. In the last decade in particular there have been amazing advances. And the promise of the future is even brighter: astronomy offers excellent opportunities for young researchers who want to enter a vibrant field.

In this chapter I will focus on three topics: first, relatively “local” planets and exoplanets on a cosmic scale; secondly, in gravity and black holes in the extragalactic sphere, and thirdly and more hypothetically, in some concepts that seek to understand the cosmos in its entirety.

PLANETS, EXOPLANETS AND LIFE
Human spaceflight has languished to some extent since the years when those of us in middle age today were inspired by the Apollo program and the Moon landings.

But when it comes to communication, environmental monitoring, satellite navigation, etc., space technology has matured. We depend on her every day. And for astronomers it has opened new “windows”: telescopes in space show us a remote sky in infrared, UVA, X and gamma rays. Although humans have not ventured beyond the Moon, unmanned probes to other planets have returned images of varied and peculiar worlds.

Among the highlights of the past decade, the European Space Agency’s Rossetta mission managed to land a small probe around a comet to verify, for example, that the isotopic measurements of the comet’s ice were the same as those of Earth’s water. . This is crucial to find out the origin of that water. NASA’s New Horizons probe has already left Pluto behind and is now heading for the Kuiper Belt, teeming with minor planets.

Rossetta took nearly ten years to reach its destination and almost another ten to plan and build. Its robotic technology dates back to the 1990s, which is a source of great frustration for the team that developed the project, because current designs would have greater capabilities. The same can be said for New Horizons, which nevertheless returned us high-definition images of Pluto, ten thousand times farther from Earth than the Moon. And the Cassini probe, which spent thirteen years exploring Saturn and its moons, is even older: between its launch and its arrival at Saturn, at the end of 2017, twenty years passed.

The cosmic expansion can continue even after the death of the Sun. The most likely hypothesis is that we have almost an eternity ahead of us: an even colder and emptier cosmos.
BBVA-OpenMind-illustration-Martin-Rees-The-last-decade-future-of-cosmology-and-astrophysics-3-Main Bay 3 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida , United States. The newly installed platform will complete the second of ten levels of work platforms that will surround and provide access to the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Space Mission.