November 3, 2014 - Thanks to Carl
Thanks to Carl The world’s best-known astronomer was born eighty years ago this week. Carl Sagan was a professor of astronomy at Cornell University who reached millions of people through his popular publications and broadcasts. His Cosmos series became the most-watched TV series in public television history, and he co-founded The Planetary Society. Sagan died in 1996, but his work has inspired generations of individuals, including Rob Gendler and Jay GaBany, two amateur astronomers who collaborated with Hubble Space Telescope researchers to create this stunning image of spiral galaxy M106. Hubble data of the nucleus and inner spiral arms were combined with ground-based images taken by Gendler and GaBany with their own telescopes located at remote, dark sky sites in New Mexico.
Image credit: Rob Gendler / R. Jay GaBany / NASA / ESA / The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Weekly Calendar
November 3-9, 2014
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 3
Mercury 5° north of Spica
Taurid meteor shower
1957: Sputnik 2 carries dog Laika, first living creature to orbit Earth
1966: Test flight of Manned Orbital Laboratory components
1973: Mariner 10 launched
1994: STS-66 Atlantis launched
Tuesday 4
Election Day
Uranus 1.3° south of Moon
Taurid meteor shower
Wednesday 5
2013: Mars Orbiter Mission launched, India's first interplanetary mission
Thursday 6
Full Moon 5:23 PM ET
1572: Tycho Brahe records bright new star (supernova SN 1572) in Cassiopeia
1966: Lunar Orbiter II launched
Friday 7
1963: First flight test of Apollo Launch Escape System
1967: Surveyor 6 launched
1996: Mars Global Surveyor launched
2013: Soyuz TMA-11M launched carrying ISS Expedition 38/39 crew
Saturday 8
1656: Edmund Halley born
1984: STS-51A Discovery launched
1995: STS-74 Atlantis launched
2005: ESA’s Venus Express launched
Sunday 9
1934: Carl Sagan born
1967: Surveyor 6 lands on Moon
1967: Apollo 4 launched, first Saturn V launch