Dec. 26 Peak of more Puppids-Velids, radiant 9h 20m -65, ZHR 15
Jan 1. 2003 Cassini drops a probe into the atmosphere of Titan.
Jan. 22 1998 CRAF flies past asteroid 449 Hamburga.
Feb. 1 2000 Cassini uses Jupiter's gravity to bend course toward Saturn.
Mar. 14 1997 Cassini flies past asteroid 66 Maja.
Mar. 31 2003 CRAF mission ends.
Apr. 8 1996 Cassini is launched by a Titan 4 rocket.
Jun. 13 1998 Cassini makes a second Earth fly-by.
Jul. 20 2001 CRAF fires a small penetrator into the comet's crust.
Jul. 6 1997 CRAF flies past Earth.
Aug. 14 2000 CRAF reaches Comet Kopff.
Aug. 22 1995 CRAF launched by Titan 4 rocket on trajectory toward cometary target.
Sep. 3 1993 Galileo Asteroid Ida Flyby
Oct. 2 2002 Cassini goes into orbit around Saturn.
Dec. 12 2002 CRAF and Comet Kopff make close approach to the sun.
Dec. 13 1995 Galileo Jupiter Encounter
Dec. 31 2006 Cassini mission ends.
Feb. 1 1957 Bart J. Bok becomes Director of Australia's Commonwealth Observatory at Mount Stromlo. His work at Harvard Observatory made him a world leader in Milky Way studies.
Feb. 4 1865 J. N. Krieger, a German Selenographer whose lunar drawings are among the finest ever made, is born.
Feb. 6 1963 Swedish amateur Elis Dahlgren discovered a 4th magnitude nova in the constellation Hercules.
Feb. 7 1889 Astronomical Society of the Pacific holds its first meeting. E. S. Holden elected president.
Feb. 8 1828 Jules Vern born.
Feb. 9 1913 A remarkable meteoric procession was observed from central Canada to Bermuda.
Feb. 12 1947 The great Sikhote-Alin meteorite fall in Eastern Siberia. Eyewitnesses saw a daylight fireball as bright as the sun, and droplets of molten iron rained down over a wide area.
Feb. 13 1882 Thaddeus Banachiewicz, prominent Polish astronomer, was born. He was particularly well known for his studies of the moon's motion, and for his organization of variable star observing. He was also Director of Cracow Observatory
Feb. 15 1564 Galileo Galilei born.
Feb. 18 1930 Clyde Tombaugh recognizes the planet Pluto on Lowell Observatory photographs.
Feb. 18 1957 Henry Norris Russell, famous Princeton astrophysicist, died. He was a master in the interpretation of the light curves of eclipsing variable stars, and in the analysis of astronomical spectra.
Feb. 19 1473 Nicolaus Copernicus born in Thorn, Poland.
Feb. 19 1901 Seeberg Observatory, in Gotha, Germany, destroyed by fire. This historic observatory, founded in 1787, was one of the world's finest. Baron von Zach, J. F. Encke, and B. von Lindenau were among its early staff.
Feb. 22 1787 J. H. Schroeter begins surveying the lunar surface.
Feb. 22 1838 Astronomer Pierre Janssen, discoverer of solar hydrogen, born.
Feb. 22 1960 S. A. Mitchell, a University of Virginia astronomer, died. Famous for his many solar eclipse expeditions.
Feb. 23 1901 Nova Persei attains maximum light: mag. +0.2.
Feb. 23 1956 Intense solar flare, visible in white light.
Feb. 24 1949 First rocket ship to reach outer space launched from White Sands Proving Ground, NM.
Feb. 27 1826 Wilhelm von Biela discovers the short period comet which bears his name. This comet split in two in its 1845-1846 return, and was last seen on its 1852 return.
Feb. 27 1843 Perihelion passage of one of the greatest comets of modern times. Visible to the naked eye at noon the following day.
Feb. 27 1897 Bernard Lyot, French astronomer who invented the corona- graph, was born.
Mar. 2 1840 H. W. Olbers, German amateur Astronomer, died at the age of 81. He spent his evenings as a successful discoverer of comets and asteroids, measuring their positions and calculating their orbits.
Mar. 4 1774 William Herschel's first recorded observation of the Orion Nebula.
Mar. 4 1866 Norman Lockyer began his spectroscopic observations of the sun. Codiscovered helium in the sun.
Mar. 8 1618 Johann Kepler discovers Third Law of Planetary Motion.
Mar. 8 1804 Alvan Clark, noted for his fine large telescope objectives, is born. He founded the firm that built the Lick 36-inch and Yerkes 40-inch refractors.
Mar. 11 1811 Urbain Leverrier, French mathematical astronomer and director of Paris Observatory, is born. Predicted the existence of Neptune (with J. C. Adams) before its optical discovery (in 1846).
Mar. 13 1781 William Herschel discovers Uranus with a 6 inch homemade reflector.
Mar. 13 1855 Percival Lowell, of Martian "canals" fame, born. Lowell misinterpreted the Italian word "canali" (channels) as canals.
Mar. 13 1930 Announcement of the finding of Pluto on Lowell Observatory plates by Clyde Tombaugh.
Mar. 13 1933 R. T. A. Innes, famous discoverer of southern double stars, died at the age of 71.
Mar. 14 1835 Giovanni Schiaparelli, of Martian "canali" fame, born.
Mar. 14 1879 Albert Einstein born.
Mar. 14 1936 "The whole procedure of [shooting rockets into space] ... presents difficulties of so fundamental a nature, that we are forced to dismiss the notion as essentially impractic- able, in spite of the author's insistent appeal to put aside pre
Mar. 15 1713 Nicholas Lacaille was born. He named many of the Southern Hemisphere constellations.
Mar. 15 1964 Periodic comet Schwassmann-Wachmann suddenly brightened by six magnitudes, from 18 to 12.
Mar. 16 1750 Caroline Herschel, sister of William Herschel, was born. An astronomer in her own right, she discovered 8 comets.
Mar. 17 1725 Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter were so near to each other in the sky as to be visible in the same telescopic field of view.
Mar. 17 1846 F. W. Bessel, who determined the distance to the star 61 Cygni, died. Director of Koenigsberg Observatory in Germany, he revolutionized the art of precise astronomical measurements.
Mar. 18 1934 A great fireball, widely seen in Western Canada, exploded over Alberta.
Mar. 19 1045BC Babylonian Astronomers note history's first recorded Lunar Eclipse.
Mar. 20 1727 Isaac Newton born.
Mar. 22 1799 F. W. A. Argelander, German astronomer who catalogued and charted 324,000 stars and founded the science of variable star study, was born.
Mar. 25 1655 Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovered Saturn's moon Titan, with a non-achromatic refractor 12 feet long.
Mar. 25 1960 Ralph Wilson, expert in stellar positions, proper motions, and radial velocities, died.
Mar. 26 1859 Lescarbault's supposed discovery of an intra-Mercurial planet, Vulcan.
Mar. 27 1749 Pierre Simon de Laplace, astronomer and mathematician, born.
Mar. 28 1802 Amateur astronomer Olbers discovers the asteroid Pallas. It was his first.
Mar. 29 1807 Amateur astronomer Olbers discovers the brightest asteroid, Vesta, at Bremen. It was his second.
Mar. 30 1961 P. J. Melotte, discoverer of Jupiter's eighth satellite, died. He discovered the satellite in 1908, on photographs taken with the 30-inch reflector at Greenwich Observatory.
Mar. 30 1977 5 rings discovered around the planet Uranus.
Apr. 1 1949 Gerald Kuiper discovered Neried, a moon of Neptune.
Apr. 1 1951 Ralph Wilson retired from the staff of Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories. He was an expert in stellar positions, proper motions, and radial velocities.
Apr. 2 1780 William Herschel discovered that Xi Ursae Majoris is a double star. This visual binary has completed three orbital revolutions since then.
Apr. 2 1925 Johann Palisa, vice-director of Vienna Observatory, died. He discovered 120 asteroids by visual searches during the years 1872 through 1923.
Apr. 6 1852 Sir Edward Sabine, British expert in terrestrial magnetism, announces that the 11 year sunspot cycle coincides with the geomagnetic cycle.
Apr. 6 1960 Andrew McKellar, Canadian astrophysicist noted for his work on comet spectra, died.
Apr. 9 1960 Pieter van Rhijn, Dutch investigator of galactic structure, died at the age of 74.
Apr. 9 1970 Transit of Mercury across the Sun's disk, widely observed in the U.S.
May. 11 1871 Sir John Herschel died. He was noted for his discoveries of double stars, clusters, and nebulae. He was the only son of Sir William Herschel.
May. 11 1956 Walter S. Adams, noted for his work in stellar spectroscopy, died. He was the director of Mount Wilson Observatory from 1923 through 1945.
May. 12 1866 Irish amateur astronomer John Birmingham discovered a 2nd magnitude nova in Corona Borealis. T Coronae Borealis erupted again in 1946.
May. 15 1836 Francis Bailey observed "Bailey's Beads" during an annular eclipse of the sun. Unbeknownst to him, Samuel Williams of Harvard had observed the same phenomenon in Maine during the total eclipse of 1780.
May. 16 1934 Aristarch Belopsky, Russian astrophysicist noted for his work at Pulkovo Observatory on the sun and stellar spectra, died.
May. 19 1877 German selenographer Hermann Klein of Cologne observed a seemingly new lunar crater, which became famous as Hyginus N. Currently regarded as previously overlooked feature.
May. 21 1860 Arthur Auwers detected a nova (T Scorpii) inside M-80 (a globular cluster).
May. 21 1897 The Yerkes 40-inch refractor sees first light, accompanied by G. E. Hale, E. E. Barnard, and F. Ellerman.
May. 24 1822 First predicted return of Encke's Comet to perihelion. Though seen in 1786, 1795, and 1805, it was not recognized as periodic until 1818.
May. 30 1933 W. L. Elkin, former director of Yale Observatory, died at the age of 79. He measured stellar parallaxes and made precise measurements of the relative positions of stars in open clusters.
Jun. 1 1898 James E. Keeler became director of Lick Observatory. He proved that Saturn's rings are composed of a swarm of tiny particles by spectroscopic observations.
Jun. 2 1858 Donati's comet, among the finest of the century, discovered by G. B. Donati at Florence, Italy.
Jun. 3 1948 Dedication of the 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar.
Jun. 4 1961 G. A. Davis Jr., an expert on Arabic star names, died.
Jun. 5 1819 John Couch Adams, co-discoverer of Neptune, was born at Laneast, Cornwall.
Jun. 8 2004 Transit of Venus across the sun. This will be the first since December 6, 1882.
Jun. 9 1803 Sir William Herschel announced the existence of binary stars at a meeting of the Royal Society.
Jun. 9 1901 French Selenographer C. M. Gaudibert died.
Jun. 10 1952 Test photos taken through the 200-inch Hale telescope reveal stars of photographic magnitude 23.
Jun. 11 1986 Chesley Bonestell, the dean of astronomical artists, died at the age of 98.
Jun. 15 1770 Charles Messier discovered a comet that came to within 1.4 million miles of the Earth on July 1st of that year. The comet was known as Lexell's Comet, after the person who computed its orbit.
Jun. 18 1799 William Lassell, noted English amateur astronomer known for building a highly successful 48-inch reflector, was born.
Jun. 22 1903 Astronomer Carl Hubbell is born.
Jun. 22 1978 James W. Christy discovers Charon, moon of Pluto, on U.S. Naval Observatory photos.
Jun. 25 1960 Walter Baade, expert on galaxies, died. In 1952 he demonstrated that intergalactic distances had been underestimated by a factor of at least two.
Jun. 26 1949 Walter Baade discovered the unusual asteroid Icarus, whose perihelion lies well inside the orbit of Mercury.
Jun. 30 1861 The Earth passed through the tail of a great comet.
Jun. 30 1908 Tunguska meteorite fall in central Siberia. Many Astronomers believe it was a small comet.
Oct. 1 1962 The 300 foot radio telescope at Green Bank, West Virginia becomes operational.
Oct. 3 1911 The "Earth-grazing" asteroid 719 Albert discovered by J. Palisa at Vienna Observatory. It was lost after a few days
Oct. 4 1957 Russia orbits the first artificial satellite, Sputnik.
Oct. 9 1933 A great meteor shower with recorded rates of up to 350 meteors per minute was observed coming from a radiant in the constellation Draco.
Oct. 10 1846 Neptune's larger satellite Triton discovered by English amateur astronomer William Lassell.
Oct. 11 1758 H. W. M. Olbers, German amateur who made many observations, cometary and asteroid orbit calculations, and discoveries, was born.
Oct. 11 1852 The first verified case of a nebula that varies in brightness (NGC1555, associated with the star T Tauri) was found by J. R. Hind of London.
Oct. 1 1608 Evangelista Torricelli "discovered" outer space. He accomplished this by inventing the mercury barometer, which which he used to calculate the height of the atmosphere.
Oct. 17 1963 Saturn's shadow eclipsed its outer satellite Iapetus.
Oct. 19 1859 The faint diffuse nebula surrounding Merope in the Pleiades discovered by Wilhelm Tempel.
Oct. 19 1955 Eugene J. Delporte died at the age of 73. He drew up the internationally adopted constellation boundaries for the northern half of the heavens.
Oct. 21 1914 Adam Massinger, a Heidelberg astronomer who specialized in photographing galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters, died in battle at Ypres.
Oct. 22 1942 Vienna selenographer Karl Muller died. He was an expert on lunar history and nomenclature, and co-authored the IAU atlas of the moon (1935).
Oct. 22 2137BC First recorded solar eclipse, in China.
Oct. 24 1851 William Lassell discovered two inner satellites of the planet Uranus: Ariel and Umbriel.
Oct. 28 1959 Walther Bauersfeld, inventor of the first modern projection planetarium, died at the age of 80. He was the chairman of the board of directors of Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, West Germany.
Oct. 29 1937 K. Reinmuth discovered the unusual asteroid Hermes. Two days later, the asteroid passed within a half a million miles of Earth. At closest approach, Hermes appeared like an 8th magnitude star moving 5 degrees per hour.
Oct. 29 1951 Robert G. Aitken, discoverer of over 3,100 visual double stars, died.
Oct. 31 1961 The Governor-General of Australia officially commissioned the 210 foot radio telescope at Parkes, New South Wales.
Dec. 1 1935 Bernhard Schmidt, highly talented astronomical optician who invented the Schmidt telescope, died.
Dec. 2 1924 Hugo von Seeliger died. He pioneered work in statistical studies of stars. Was also director of Munich Observatory.
Dec. 2 1934 Successful casting of the pyrex blank for the 200 inch Hale reflector, under direction of G. V. McCauley at the Corning Glass Works.
Dec. 3 1714 Uranus discovered by John Flamsteed (first time).
Dec. 5 1879 William Abney's photographic chart of the infrared solar spectrum presented to the Royal Society. Dr. Abney prepared emulsions sensitive to wavelengths as great as 12,000 A - a feat not duplicated for many years.
Dec. 6 1882 Transit of Venus visible from the U.S.
Dec. 6 1957 Attempted launching of the first American artificial satellite, Vanguard I. Blew up ignominiously on the launch pad.
Dec. 7 1905 Gerard P. Kuiper born at Harencarspel, Netherlands.
Dec. 8 1845 Amateur Astronomer K. L. Hencke discovers the fifth minor planet (asteroid), subsequently named Astraea.
Dec. 12 1871 Total eclipse of the sun observed in India. Jules Janssen discovered dark lines in the coronal spectrum during this eclipse.
Dec. 13 1871 Russell Porter is born.
Dec. 13 1920 F. G. Pease measured the diameter of Betelgeuse with a 20 foot interferometer attached to the 100 inch Mt Wilson reflector.
Dec. 14 1564 Danish astronomer and mathematician Tycho Brahe is born.
Dec. 14 1881 William R. Birt, noted British selenographer, died.
Dec. 14 1962 Mariner 2 flew by Venus at a distance of 21,594 miles from its surface.
Dec. 15 1859 G. R. Kirchhoff described the chemical composition of the sun from spectroscopic observations.
Dec. 17 1807 Meteorite fell at Weston, Connecticut. President Jefferson is said to have commented, "I could more easily believe that two Yankee professors would lie than that stones would fall from heaven."
Dec. 22 1870 Total solar eclipse well oberved from Sicily. C. A. Young discovered the flash spectrum at this eclipse. To observe this eclipse, Jules Janssen escaped by balloon from Paris, which was under siege by Germany. He was clouded out.
Dec. 23 1672 Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, moon of Saturn.
Dec. 23 1963 Rudolf Kuhn, Munich astronomer known for publicizing Astronomy on German television, was killed in an automobile accident.
Dec. 24 1957 The Zurich daily daily sunspot number reached 355, an all- time record (Ditto Dec 25)
Dec. 25 1642 Isaac Newton is born.
Dec. 27 1571 Johannes Kepler is born.
Dec. 28 1882 Sir Arthur S. Eddington, a great English astrophysicist, was born.
Dec. 28 1973 Comet Kohoutek reaches perihelion.
Dec. 29 1845 Herrick and Bradley at Yale University noted the separation of Biela's comet into two parts.
Dec. 30 1963 One of the darkest total eclipses of the moon on record was visible from North America.
Dec. 31 1864 Robert G. Aitken was born. He discovered over 3,100 visual double stars with the Lick 36-inch and 12-inch refractors.
