March 12, 2018 - Splitting up the Ship

Splitting up the Ship A French astronomer born 305 years ago this week changed the way we talk about constellations. During a multi-year scientific expedition to South Africa in the mid-1700s, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille calculated the shape of Earth’s southern hemisphere, measured the lunar and solar parallax, and observed 10,000 southern stars. He also created fourteen new constellations and split up Argo Navis, the largest constellation of all, which had been recognized since Ptolemy’s time. Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts in Greek mythology, became four smaller nautical constellations: Carina (the keel of the ship), Puppis (the stern), Vela (the sails), and Pyxis (the compass). This star-forming region is embedded deep within the Carina Nebula, in the erstwhile Argo Navis.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Weekly Calendar

March 12 - 18, 2018

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 12

1835: Simon Newcomb born
1981: Victor Savinykh becomes 100th person to travel in space, Soyuz T-4 mission
2015: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission launched

Tuesday 13

1781: William Herschel discovers Uranus
1855: Percival Lowell born
1989: STS-29 Discovery launched

Wednesday 14

1835: Giovanni Schiaparelli born
1879: Albert Einstein born
1934: Gene Cernan born
1986: Giotto flies by Halley’s Comet
1995: Soyuz TM-21 launched, first Russian mission with American on board
2016: ExoMars launched

Thursday 15

Mercury at greatest elongation (18° E)

1713: Nicolas de Lacaille born
1932: Alan Bean born
1975: Helios 1 launched
2009: STS-119 Discovery launched

Friday 16

1750: Caroline Herschel born
1926: Robert Goddard launches first liquid fuel rocket
1966: Gemini VIII launched
1975: Mariner 10’s 3rd Mercury flyby

Saturday 17

St. Patrick’s Day

New Moon 9:12 AM ET
Mercury 4° north of Venus

1930: Jim Irwin born
1958: Vanguard 1 launched, first solar-powered satellite
1972: NASA issues request for proposals for Space Shuttle
2011: MESSENGER becomes first spacecraft to orbit Mercury