December 15, 2021 Today in 1923, physicist John Dyson was born. Dyson is best known for his speculative work on extraterrestrial civilizations. One of his theories proposed that a highly advanced civilization would be able to construct a giant shell around their host star to capture 100% of the star’s energy. A ‘Dyson Sphere’ was… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: December 13, 2021
December 13, 2021 Today in 1962, the communications satellite Relay 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Relay 1 was used to transmit telephone, television, teleprinter, and facsimile signals globally. Unfortunately, the leakage of a high-power regulator caused the satellite to revert to a low voltage state and communication was lost with the… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: December 11, 2021
December 11, 2021 Today in 1939, analytical chemist John W. Macklin was born. Macklin refined the technique of Raman spectrometry to test very small sample sizes. In the 1980s, he collaborated with NASA scientists to analyze meteorites and cosmic dust particles looking for complex carbon-based molecules. A close-up view of an engineering model of SHERLOC… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: December 9, 2021
December 9, 2021 Today in 1978, NASA’s Pioneer Venus Multiprobe (PVM) entered the atmosphere of Venus. The PVM contained one large and three small atmospheric probes. The radio signals from all four probes were used to characterize the winds, turbulence and propagation in the atmosphere. Artist illustration of the Pioneer Large Probe opening its parachute… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: December 7, 2021
December 7, 2021 Today 1995, the Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter and entered orbit after 6 years of travel including a flyby of Venus and two asteroids, Gaspra and Ida. Galileo spent a further 8 years examining Jupiter and its moons Io and Europa. In 1994, the Galileo orbiter was present to watch the fragments… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: December 5, 2021
December 5, 2021 Today in 1935, the first large hydroponicum was established in Montebello, California. The word hydroponics was coined in the early 1930s, by Professor Gericke at U.C.L.A. to describe the growing of plants with their roots suspended in water containing mineral nutrients. Hydroponics is used to grow plants on the International Space Station… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: December 3, 2021
December 3, 2021 Today in 1910, neon lighting, developed by French physicist Georges Claude, made its public debut at the Paris Motor Show. The colored light is produced by passing electrical current through inert gases in a vacuum tube. Neon gas glows a fiery orange-red; argon is soft lavender; argon gas enhanced with mercury is… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: December 1, 2021
December 1, 2021 Today in 2013, China launched the robotic lunar exploration lander Chang’e 3, with China’s first lunar rover, Yutu-hao (‘jade rabbit’). Rover Yutu explored its landing area in Mare Imbrium and sent back pictures of the surface of the Moon for several weeks. A complete description of the mission may be found here.… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: November 29, 2021
November 29, 2021 Today in 1962, the British Aircraft Corporation and French airline company, Sud Aviation, agreed to jointly design and manufacture a 100-seat supersonic passenger airliner that would become the Concorde. Within the decade, the first Concorde had broken the sound barrier on October 1, 1969. Passenger flights began on January 21, 1976 making… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: November 27, 2021
November 27, 2021 Today in 2005, the Japanese probe Hayabusa grazed the surface of the asteroid Itokawa, retrieving material to return to Earth for study. Tiny grains of asteroidal material were returned to Earth aboard the spacecraft in June of 2010. A concise description of the mission may be found here. Asteroid (25143) Itokawa as… Continue reading