July 6, 2015 - The World Listens

The World Listens  High on the Chajnantor plateau in the Chilean Andes, a consortium of international partners is operating the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA)—a state-of-the-art interferometer of radio telescopes designed to study radiation from some of the coldest objects in the Universe, at wavelengths of around a millimeter, between infrared light and radio waves. ALMA comprises sixty-six high-precision antennas, spread over distances of up to 16 km (10 mi). This global collaboration is the largest ground-based astronomical project in existence. Partner organizations include the European Southern Observatory (which itself is made up of fifteen member nations), the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (US), and the National Astronomy Observatory of Japan.

Image credit: ESO / B. Tafreshi

Weekly Calendar

July 6-12, 2015

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 6

Neptune 3° south of Moon
Pluto at opposition
Earth at aphelion

1687: Isaac Newton publishes his Principia

Tuesday 7

1995: Final test flight of DC-X rocket
1998: First satellite launch from a submarine
2003: Mars rover Opportunity launched

Wednesday 8

Last Qtr Moon 4:24 PM ET
Uranus 0.8° north of Moon

1994: STS-65 Columbia launched
2009: First flight test of Max Launch Abort System
2011: STS-135 Atlantis launched, final shuttle mission

Thursday 9

1945: White Sands Missile Range opens
1979: Voyager 2 flies past Jupiter

Friday 10

Venus at greatest illuminated extent

1962: Telstar 1 launched, allowing transatlantic transmission of TV signals
1992: Giotto spacecraft flies past comet Grigg-Skjellerup

Saturday 11

1962: NASA selects lunar orbit rendezvous method for lunar landings
1969: X-24A lifting body rolled out for first time
1979: Skylab reenters atmosphere

Sunday 12

Aldebaran 0.9° south of Moon

1966: First glide test of M2-F2 lifting body
2000: Zvezda Service Module launched to ISS
2001: STS-104 Atlantis launched