November 9, 2020 - Recognizing Red Shift
Recognizing Red Shift An astronomer who you’ve probably never heard of has a name that is nonetheless unforgettable: Vesto Melvin Slipher. Born 145 years ago this week, Slipher spent his entire professional career at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, where in 1912 he was the first astronomer to measure the shift in spectral lines of galaxies. This “red shift” gave astronomers a way to measure the immense speed at which galaxies are receding from us. The first galaxy that Slipher measured was the Andromeda Galaxy (above). Slipher’s red shift data was later combined with accurate distance measurements by Edwin Hubble and Milton Humason, who noticed a relationship between distance and speed which formed the basis for a new and profound concept: the expanding universe.
Image credit: Gianni / CC BY-ND 2.0
Weekly Calendar
November 9 - 15, 2020
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 9
1934: Carl Sagan born
1967: Surveyor 6 lands on Moon
1967: Apollo 4 launched, first Saturn V launch
Tuesday 10
Mercury greatest elongation (19° W)
1970: Luna 17 launched
Wednesday 11
Remembrance Day (Canada)
Veteran’s Day
1875: Vesto Slipher born
1966: Gemini XII launched
1982: STS-5 Columbia launched
Thursday 12
Venus 3° south of Moon
1833: Great Leonid Meteor Shower
1980: Voyager 1 flies past Saturn
1981: STS-2 Columbia launched
2014: Philae probe becomes first spacecraft to land on a comet
Friday 13
Mercury 1.7° south of Moon
1971: Mariner 9 becomes first spacecraft to orbit Mars
1978: Einstein Observatory (HEAO-2) launched
Saturday 14
Moon at perigee
1969: Apollo 12 launched, second lunar landing mission
2008: STS-126 Endeavour launched
2011: Soyuz TMA-22 launched carrying ISS Expedition 29/30 crew
Sunday 15
New Moon 12:07 AM ET
Venus 4° north of Spica
Mars stationary
1738: William Herschel born
1973: First powered flight of X-24B lifting body
1988: Green Bank 300-foot radio telescope collapses
1988: Soviet Shuttle Buran launched
1990: STS-38 Atlantis launched