Venus will be visiting the famous Seven Sisters star cluster on April 2nd and 3rd. A sight that only occurs every eight years! Join Will, our James S. McDonnell Planetarium Manager, as he shares what to watch for in the St. Louis sky. One of our planetarium presenters was able to get a picture of… Continue reading
In 1958 on this date, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a message to Congress, proposed the establishment of a National Aeronautics and Space Agency into which the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics would be absorbed. Learn more about NASA
On this day in 1960, the TIROS-1 satellite transmits the first television picture from space. Learn more about the TIROS Science Mission
#OTD in 1966, the unmanned Soviet lunar probe, Luna 10, was launched toward the Moon from an Earth-orbiting platform. It later entered lunar orbit for 460 lunar orbits and 219 active data transmissions before radio signals were discontinued on May 30, 1966. Learn more about the Luna Program
Tomorrow morning the planets Mars and Saturn will be in conjunction. This is when they will share the same right ascension and will appear close together. Look southeast after 5am to see this. What is right ascension?
On this date in 1974, the unmanned probe Mariner 10 made its flyby of Mercury, passing at an altitude of 756 km. Photographs taken during the pass revealed an intensely cratered, Moon-like surface and a faint exosphere made mostly of helium. Learn more about Mariner 10. Image courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)… Continue reading
Tonight at 8pm you will find the brightest star in the night sky due south. This star is called Sirius and is part of the constellation Canis Major. Learn more about Sirius. Image courtesy of Torsten Bronger. derivative work: Kxx / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
For weekly updates on Comet ATLAS, please visit McDonnell Planetarium Night Sky Updates. After a two-decade drought of bright comets in the Northern Hemisphere, newly discovered Comet ATLAS stands a chance of brightening our sky – and our lives – this spring. Comets are frozen hunks of gas, ice, and dust that orbit our Sun… Continue reading
This is the Saint Louis Science Center’s NIGHT SKY UPDATE for the week of Friday, March 27, 2020. Information updated weekly or as needed. Times given as local St. Louis time (CDT). For definitions of terminology used in the night sky update, click the highlighted text. Our next star party scheduled for Friday, April 3,… Continue reading
In 1968 on this date, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the first person in space, died in an airplane crash. Due to his fame following his space flight, the Soviet leadership did not want to risk him on another flight, but they later relented; while requalifying for flight status, he crashed his MiG-15 trainer, and was killed… Continue reading
