October 21, 2013 - The Universe Under One Roof
The Universe Under One Roof Devices to replicate the motion and appearance of the night sky have existed since ancient times, including a metal sphere designed by Archimedes that replicated the Moon’s path around the Earth. Mechanical devices eventually gave way to optical machines that could project a dynamic image of the sky on a dome. Ninety years ago this week, the first public planetarium show took place at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany. Today, more than 2,000 planetaria exist worldwide, not including mobile ones that can bring the starry sky to schools, events, and other public venues, and planetarium software that allows users to visualize the night sky at any point in time or space. Free Stellarium software created this view of the sky above Munich on October 21, 1923.
Image credit: Stellarium / www.Stellarium.org
Weekly Calendar
October 21-27, 2013
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 21
Mercury appears stationary
Orionid meteor shower
1923: First public planetarium show, Deutsches Museum in Munich
1998: Hubble Heritage Project website launched
2008: Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe launched
Tuesday 22
Orionid meteor shower
2136 BC: First record of solar eclipse
1905: Karl Jansky born
1966: Luna 12 launched
1975: Venera 9 orbits Venus
1992: STS-52 Columbia launched
Wednesday 23
1968: First powered flight of the HL-10 lifting body
2007: STS-120 Discovery launched
2012: Soyuz TMA-06M launched carrying ISS Expedition 33/34 crew
Thursday 24
United Nations Day
1851: William Lassell discovers Uranus moons Umbriel & Ariel
1968: 199th and final X-15 flight
1998: Deep Space 1 launched
2001: Mars Odyssey arrives at Mars
2007: Chang'e-1 lunar spacecraft launched
Friday 25
Moon at apogee
Jupiter 5° north of Moon
1671: Giovanni Cassini discovers Iapetus, moon of Saturn
1877: Henry Norris Russell born
1975: Venera 10 lands on Venus
2006: STEREO spacecraft launched
Saturday 26
Last Quarter Moon 7:41 PM ET
1977: Fifth and final glide test of Space Shuttle Enterprise
2004: Cassini spacecraft completes first flyby of Titan
Sunday 27
1961: SA-1 launched, first Saturn rocket
2003: ISS Expedition 7 crew returns to Earth after 184 days in orbit