What’s ahead for science in 2020? Here’s what we’re watching
With a new year comes new science. Here’s a look at the events, projects and findings our reporters are watching — or wishing — for in 2020. Cosmic clarity When astronomy writer Lisa Grossman and physics writer Emily Conover predicted in 2018 that the Event Horizon Telescope, or EHT, would soon capture an image of Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the Milky Way’s center, they were half right. EHT’s first image came through in 2019, but it was of the black hole at the center of galaxy M87. Grossman and Conover have their fingers crossed that Sagittarius A* gets its big moment in 2020. Another cosmic recluse, dark matter, might also come into view in 2020. The LUX-Zeplin, or LZ, experiment, housed in a former gold mine in South Dakota, will begin its search for WIMPs, weakly interacting massive particles. These still-theoretical particles “have been the favored candidate for an explanation...