September 14, 2015 - Found in Space

Found in Space  Fifty years ago this week, the science fiction television series “Lost In Space” premiered. The show chronicled the misadventures of the constantly ill-fated Robinson family (John, Maureen, Judy, Will, and Penny), Major Donald West, Professor Zachary Smith, and their faithful robot, Robot. They spent three seasons stranded on various exotic worlds, outwitting angry aliens, and trying to return to Earth in their Jupiter 2 spaceship. The Jupiter 2’s namesake is seen here in a composite image that combines X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory with optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Chandra captured the powerful X-ray aurorae observed near the poles of Jupiter, which are thought to occur when the solar wind interacts with sulfur and oxygen ions in Jupiter’s magnetic field.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA / CXC / SwRI / R.Gladstone et al; Optical: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage (AURA/STScI)

Weekly Calendar

September 14-20, 2015

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 14

Moon at apogee

1966: Gemini XI, docked with Agena booster rocket, reaches 850-mile-high orbit

Tuesday 15

Mercury 5° south of Moon
Ceres appears stationary

1965: “Lost in Space” premieres
1968: Zond 5 launched, first circumlunar spaceflight with living creatures (tortoises)

Wednesday 16

1848: First observation of Hyperion, moon of Saturn
1996: STS-79 Atlantis launched

Thursday 17

Mercury appears stationary

1789: William Herschel discovers Mimas
1857: Konstantin Tsiolkovsky born
1930: Ed Mitchell born
1959: First powered flight of X-15
1976: First rollout of space shuttle Enterprise

Friday 18

Saturn 3° south of Moon

1964: Saturn SA-7 launched
1977: Voyager 1 takes photo of Earth and Moon together in space
2006: Anousheh Ansari becomes first woman space tourist
2013: Cygnus 1 supply ship launched to ISS

Saturday 19

Astronomy Day (Fall)

Sunday 20

1945: Wernher von Braun arrives in United States
1966: Surveyor 2 launched
1970: Luna 16 lands on Moon
1979: HEAO-3 launched
1988: Israel launches its first satellite