Type: Astronomy Fact of the Day

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 atmosphere made mostly of helium. Read a concise record of the Mariner 10 mission at NASA’s page here.

Full moon occurs today. In March, the full moon is sometimes called the Full Worm Moon. This full moon is the third of twelve full moons that occur in 2021.

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 →

Venus reaches superior conjunction today. This is when Venus is on the other side of the Sun from our view on Earth. Soon Venus will climb out of the Sun’s glare becoming visible in the west just after sunset.

On this date in 1655, Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan, one of Saturn’s moons.

The constellation Leo the Lion can be found high in the east at 9:00pm tonight. To identify Leo, look for a ‘backwards question mark’ shape south of the Big Dipper. Leo is one of the Zodiac constellations, which means the Moon will pass through the lion every month.

In 1912 on this date, Werner von Braun was born in Wirsitz, Posen. Although he developed the V-2 rocket bomb, after the war he came to the United States, where he became the leader of America’s ‘Rocket Team.’ He developed the Redstone and Jupiter missiles, and the Saturn rockets that took the United States to… Continue reading →

At 8:00pm, you will find the Moon overhead in the constellation Gemini. Tonight, the Moon will exhibit a waxing gibbous phase with 57% of the lunar disk illuminated.

On this date in 1965, Ranger 9, an unmanned lunar probe, was intentionally crashed into the moon, broadcasting its descent back to earth. Millions of Americans followed the spacecraft’s descent and impact via real time television coverage; later, when the images were shown to the press as a continuous-motion movie, astronaut Wally Schirra yelled ‘bail… Continue reading →

Today marks the start of spring or the day called the Vernal Equinox. On this day, each year the Sun’s apparent path in the sky reaches its ascending node. This is the point in which the Sun’s apparent path crosses the celestial equator heading northward. After today, day will be longer than night as we… Continue reading →