August 19, 2019 - Poseidon Adventure

Poseidon Adventure   Poseidon was the Greek god of seas, oceans, and earthquakes, and he was known to the Romans as Neptune. A powerful and moody god, Neptune could calm the sea when he was so inclined, or cause earthquakes and drowning when he wasn’t having a good day. Ancient sailors made sacrifices to him to ensure a safe voyage, and apparently he was smiling upon the Voyager 2 spacecraft when it passed by his planetary namesake thirty years ago this week. After a twelve-year journey that had already brought it past Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, Voyager 2 became the first (and only) spacecraft to visit the outermost gas giant. Seen here from only 7 million km (4.4 million mi) away, Neptune displays its Great Dark Spot and a smaller white storm feature known as Scooter.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Weekly Calendar

August 19 - 25, 2019

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 19

1646: John Flamsteed born
1891: Milton Humason born
1982: Soyuz T-7 launched, Svetlana Savitskaya is second woman in space

Tuesday 20

1953: First Redstone rocket launched
1960: Sputnik 5 launched
1975: Viking 1 launched
1977: Voyager 2 launched

Wednesday 21

Uranus 5° north of Moon

1965: Gemini V launched
1972: OAO-3 launched
2002: First Atlas V rocket launched

Thursday 22

Juno in conjunction with Sun

1963: X-15 sets world altitude record for a winged craft (354,000 feet)
1976: Luna 24 returns soil samples from Moon

Friday 23

Last Qtr Moon 10:56 AM ET

1966: Lunar Orbiter I returns first image of Earth from Moon

Saturday 24

Sunday 25

1965: President Johnson approves full-scale development of Manned Orbital Laboratory
1966: Apollo-Saturn 202 launched
1981: Voyager 2 flies past Saturn
1989: Voyager 2 flies past Neptune
2003: Spitzer Space Telescope launched