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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

Moon phase 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

Moon phase 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

Moon phase 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

Moon phase 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

Moon phase 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

Moon phase 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

Moon phase Sunday 27

1961: SA-1 launched, first Saturn rocket
2003: ISS Expedition 7 crew returns to Earth after 184 days in orbit

Suggestions for new history dates or better links? Corrections for errors on this page? Please e-mail me.