October 2, 2017 - Observing an Anniversary

Observing an Anniversary  This week marks the fifty-fifth anniversary of one of the world’s leading astronomical research institutions, the European Southern Observatory, whose member nations include Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO operates some of the world’s largest and most advanced observational facilities at three sites in northern Chile: La Silla, Paranal, and Chajnantor. In this image, the ESO’s Yepun telescope points a powerful laser towards the center of the Milky Way, which appears like a galactic bridge between the domes of two of the Very Large Telescope’s other Unit Telescopes—Kueyen and Melipal.

Image credit: G. Hüdepohl (www.atacamaphoto.com) / ESO

Weekly Calendar

October 2-8, 2017

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 2

Tuesday 3

Neptune 0.7° north of Moon

1935: Charlie Duke born
1942: First V2 rocket launched
1962: Mercury Sigma 7 launched
1967: X-15A-2 flies at mach 6.7
1985: STS-51J Atlantis launched

Wednesday 4

World Space Week begins

1957: Sputnik 1 launched
1959: Luna 3 launched
2004: SpaceShipOne wins X Prize

Thursday 5

Full Moon 2:40 PM ET
Venus 0.2° north of Mars

1882: Robert Goddard born
1923: Edwin Hubble finds Cepheid variable stars in galaxy M-31
1962: European Southern Observatory founded
1984: STS-41G Challenger launched

Friday 6

Uranus 4° north of Moon

1990: STS-41 Discovery launched
1992: NASA and RASA sign Human Spaceflight Agreement to share astronauts and cosmonauts
2008: MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second flyby of Mercury

Saturday 7

1885: Niels Bohr born
1959: Luna 3 returns first images of the lunar far side
2002: STS-112 Atlantis launched
2010: Soyuz TMA-01M launched carrying ISS Expedition 25/26 crew

Sunday 8

Mercury in superior conjunction
Draconid meteor shower

1873: Ejnar Hertzsprung born