Astronomy Fact of the Day: February 3, 2021

In 1966 on this date, the unmanned Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first man-made object to make a soft landing on the Moon. While the entire spacecraft descended to the surface, a landing capsule was ejected just before impact (16 feet, or 5 meters, above) for the soft landing, and sent back photographs of… Continue reading

Astronomy Fact of the Day: February 2, 2021

Astronomers study objects in all wavelengths of light. Radio waves are one type of light humans are unable to see without special telescopes. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) defines radio astronomy as “The study of celestial objects that give off radio waves. With radio astronomy, we study astronomical phenomena that are often invisible or… Continue reading

Astronomy Fact of the Day: February 1, 2021

On this date in 2003, Space Shuttle Flight STS-107 (Columbia) disintegrated over Texas during re-entry. At an altitude of 63.15 km and a speed of Mach 18, all seven astronauts aboard were lost. NASA suspended space shuttle flights for more than two years as it investigated the disaster.

Astronomy Fact of the Day: January 31, 2021

In 1961 on this date, the Mercury flight MR-2, carrying Ham, a 37-pound chimpanzee on a ballistic flight to space, was launched. The 15-minute suborbital flight proved to be a rough one; it was later observed that some time after the flight, when Ham was showed the capsule, “it was visually apparent that he had… Continue reading

Astronomy Fact of the Day: January 30, 2021

Since Mercury is closer to the Sun than the Earth, Mercury will exhibit phases much like the Moon and Venus. Right now, Mercury is exhibiting a crescent phase as it heads towards inferior conjunction on Feb 8.

Astronomy Fact of the Day: January 29, 2021

On this date in 1964, the USAF launched a Minuteman 1B ICBM on a ‘demonstration and shakedown’ launch, helping to prove the system worked. A brief article about the Minuteman system may be found at Britannica’s website here.

Astronomy Fact of the Day: January 28, 2021

Tonight is the first full moon of the year. The moon phase was what many relied on to keep time. Unfortunately, a calendar based on the cycle of moon phases comes up 11 days short of the 365.24-day year we currently observe. This type of year is solar based, and it tracks the cycle of… Continue reading

Astronomy Fact of the Day: January 27, 2021

In 1967 on this date, the crewmembers of Apollo 1 — Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee — were killed in a fire during equipment testing inside their capsule. The original mission was still weeks away from launch. A very concise page about the event, along with links to extensive… Continue reading

Astronomy Fact of the Day: January 26, 2021

A day on Mercury is complicated. One full rotation of Mercury on its axis takes 58.6 Earth days. This is a sidereal day, or one rotation with respect to the stars. To go from one sunrise to the next takes 176 Earth days; officially, a day on Mercury is twice as long as its year.

Astronomy Fact of the Day: January 25, 2021

On this date in 1964, NASA launched Echo 2, a passive communications satellite. Effectively a simple aluminum-mylar balloon, Echo 2, like its predecessor Echo 1, acted as a simple reflector, allowing other weather and communications satellites to bounce their signals to various points on the globe. A concise summary of the Echo program may be… Continue reading