2020: What's happening in space this year?

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WATCH: Space 2020: What can we expect?

When it comes to space 2019 was pretty star-studded.

We had pictures from the Milky Way, space blobs and giant bubbles.

Nasa scientists even drew their first ever map of Saturn's largest moon Titan!

But buckle up and brace for impact because 2020 is set to be out of this world.

Mars 2020

Image source, NASA
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MARS 2020, is set to be a blast!

Up until September 2019, Nasa asked people to send them their names.

There was a good reason though - a massive 10,932,295 people registered to have their name sent to Mars for Nasa's 2020 mission.

This month people will get the chance to vote to name the rover being sent to the planet.

Image source, Getty Images
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Do you think there's life on Mars?

Nasa is sending the Mars 2020 rover to the red planet to do four main tasks:

1. Looking for habitability- It will be looking for life that already exists there, most likely plants and bacteria rather than the aliens we see in movies!

2. Seeking bio-signatures- If there is life on Mars Nasa will be looking at how it survived there.

3. Caching samples - simply put, the rover will collect soil-like samples and store them on Mars.

4. Preparing for humans - YES! Nasa really will be seeing if humans can live on Mars!

The Mars 2020 rover will launch between July 17 - August 5 2020 and is set to land February 8 2021!

Rare conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn

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You'll be able to see the "Great Conjunction" on Monday 21 December 2020!

Jupiter and Saturn will appear to be in the same place, if you look at them through a telescope, you'll be able to see them looking like one big planet.

This only happens once every 20 years.

Did you know?

You don't always need a telescope, you can also use binoculars to look into space!

Remember - never look directly at the sun - you could seriously damage your eyes.

Once in a "blue moon"

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The blue moon, isn't actually blue, but it would be a little like this image taken through a telescope

Most years we see 12 full moons.

That's not the case for 2020 though, we get to see an extra full moon!

The 13th moon is known as the "blue moon" and that's where the phrase "Once in a blue moon!" comes from.

Blue moon facts
  • A blue moon isn't actually blue.

  • It's called a blue moon because it'll be the second full moon to happen in the same month. This only happens around every 2 and a half years.

  • You'll be able to see it on October 31 2020.

Lunar Flashlight

Image source, NASA
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This is what an artist thinks it might look like!

Lunar Flashlight is a mission to the Moon, set for 2020.

It's the first mission to use lasers to look for water or ice on it.

It's also the first Cubesat - a really small satellite - to go to the Moon.