The Cosmic Mirrorof News events across the Universe |
Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer, Skyweek - older "Mirrors" in the Archive
Daniel Fischer also won the Bruno-H.-Buergel-Preis 1997 of the AG |
Current mission news: MPF + MGS (science!) + Cassini + Galileo + Equator S + Prospector |
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Jan. 15 | Return of the Stardust capsule full (?) of collected comet dust | Univ. Wash. Press Release |
Jan. 17 | Launch of New Horizons, the first mission to the planet (?) Pluto and into the Kuiper Belt | Homepage |
Jan. 25 | Saturn occults an 8th mag. star by its disk and ring system (visible from Europe) | Details |
Feb. | Launch of Astro-F, a Japanese astronomy satellite | Homepage |
March | Launch of TAUVEX, an Israeli space telescope, on an Indian satellite | Homepage |
Mar. 10 | Orbit Insertion of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the next NASA Mars orbiter | Homepage |
Mar. 29 | Total Eclipse of the Sun in Northern Africa and Western & Central Asia | Map |
April 11 | Orbit Insertion of Venus Express, Europe#s first Venus Orbiter | Homepage |
May | First launch window for Discovery for STS-121, the 2nd test flight | Homepage |
May 26 | Launch of STEREO, a satellite pair for solar studies in 3D | Homepage |
June 30 | Launch of METOP, Europe's 1st low-orbit weather satellite | Homepage |
Aug. 17 | Impact of SMART-1 on the Moon, ending the mission of the 1st European orbiter | Details |
Sep. | Launch of SOLAR-B, a Japanese solar satellite | Detauls |
Sep. 22 | Annular eclipse of the Sun over the Atlantic; landfall only at sunrise in S America | Map |
Oct. | Launch of COROT, a European astrophotometry satellite | Homepage |
Oct. 24 | First Venus Flyby of MESSENGER, behind the Sun & no science | Homepage |
Nov. 19 | Potential small outburst of the Leonids from a 1932 dust trail | Trail details |
Dec. 10 | Tight planet triangle low (in mid-northern lat.) in the dawn sky, called best constellation of the year | |
Dec. 14 | Peak of the Geminids, the first certain meteor show w/o Moon interference since the 2005 Perseids |
