November 17, 2014 - High Honor

High Honor Few astronomers will ever be honored as highly as Edwin Hubble. Born 125 years ago this week, Hubble determined in the 1920s that so-called “spiral nebulae” were actually independent galaxies, not simply parts of our own Milky Way—a discovery that increased our estimate of the size of the Universe. Hubble also discovered that most galaxies were speeding away from each other, a phenomenon we now know to be caused by the Big Bang. Today, his legacy of discovery is perpetuated by a namesake, the Hubble Space Telescope, the largest optical telescope ever placed in orbit, and the one responsible for more discoveries than almost any other scientific instrument in history. This Hubble image of starbirth region NGC 602 combines data from the Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes.

Image credit: NASA / ESA / CXC / University of Potsdam / JPL-Caltech / STScI

Weekly Calendar

November 17-23, 2014

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 17

Leonid meteor shower

1970: Luna 17 lands on Moon; Lunokhod 1 rover becomes first wheeled vehicle on Moon

Tuesday 18

Saturn in conjunction with Sun
Leonid meteor shower

1923: Alan Shepard born
1989: Cosmic Background Explorer launched
2013: MAVEN spacecraft launched to Mars

Wednesday 19

1969: Apollo 12 makes second lunar landing
1996: STS-80 Columbia launched
1997: STS-87 Columbia launched
2005: Hayabusa spacecraft makes first liftoff from an asteroid

Thursday 20

1889: Edwin Hubble born
1998: Zarya module launched, first element of International Space Station
2002: First Delta IV launched
2004: Swift spacecraft launched

Friday 21

Saturday 22

New Moon 7:32 AM ET

1989: STS-33 Discovery launched

Sunday 23

1977: Meteosat 1 launched
1983: 149-day Salyut 7 mission ends
2002: STS-113 Endeavour launched