It's been 3965 days
since New Horizons' closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015.
It's been 2698 days
since New Horizons' closest approach to 2014 MU69 on January 1, 2019.
Questions? Comments? Send me an email:

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Current Date
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63rd day of Spring
30 days until Summer
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Sunday
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Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
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46 years ago, in 1915:
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) is formed.
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2 years ago, in 1959:
Pioneer 4 is launched for a lunar flyby, becomes the first U.S. probe to escape Earth's gravity.
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286 years ago, in 1675:
John Flamsteed is appointed as the first Astronomer Royal; The King's Astronomical Observator.
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2 years ago, in 1959:
Pioneer 4 flies by the Moon, but doesn't come close enough to the Moon to trigger its camera.
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70 years ago, in 1891:
307 Nike, a minor planet in the asteroid belt, is discovered by Auguste Charlois at the Nice Observatory.
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3 years ago, in 1958:
Explorer 2 is launched, but a failure in the rocket's fourth stage prevents it from reaching orbit.
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146 years ago, in 1815:
Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers of Germany discovers a periodic comet, 13P/Olbers.
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2 years ago, in 1959:
Last contact is made with Pioneer 4.
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103 years ago, in 1858:
Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke 'rediscovers' comet 7P/Pons–Winnecke.
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27 years ago, in 1934:
Yuri Gagarin is born in Klushino, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
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This year:
The Soviet dog Chernushka makes one orbit on board Korabl-Sputnik-4 or Vostok-3KA No 1 (Sputnik 9) with a cosmonaut dummy, mice and a guinea pig.
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1 year ago, in 1960:
Able 6 (Pioneer 5) is launched for a heliocentric orbit between Earth and Venus, and confirms the interplanetary magnetic field.
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180 years ago, in 1781:
William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus; first planet discovered through a telescope.
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82 years ago, in 1879:
Albert Einstein is born in Ulm, Kingdom of Württemberg, in the German Empire.
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35 years ago, in 1926:
Robert H. Goddard launches the first ever liquid fueled rocket.
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109 years ago, in 1852:
16 Psyche, one of the ten most massive objects in the asteroid belt, is discovered by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis from Naples.
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62 years ago, in 1899:
Phoebe, a moon of Saturn, is the first moon to be discovered photographically (William Pickering).
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3 years ago, in 1958:
Vanguard 1, the first solar powered satellite, is launched and reaches orbit.
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180 years ago, in 1781:
M96 (NGC 3368), an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Leo, is discovered by Pierre Méchain.
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277 years ago, in 1684:
Giovanni Cassini discovers one of Saturn's moons, Tethys.
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121 years ago, in 1840:
John William Draper takes the first successful photograph (Daguerreotype process) of the Moon.
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19 years ago, in 1942:
5535 Annefrank, a minor planet in the inner asteroid belt, is discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory.
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180 years ago, in 1781:
M105 (NGC 3379), an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Leo, is discovered by Pierre Méchain.
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306 years ago, in 1655:
Christiaan Huygens discovers Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
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150 years ago, in 1811:
The French astronomer Honore Flaugergues discovers the Great Comet of 1811 (C/1811 F1), visible to the naked eye for about 260 days.
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This year:
The Soviet dog Zvyozdochka makes one orbit on board Korabl-Sputnik 5 or Vostok-3KA No 2 (Sputnik 10) with a wooden cosmonaut dummy.
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This year:
Explorer 10 is launched to investigate Earth's magnetic fields and nearby plasma.
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3 years ago, in 1958:
Explorer 3 is launched, and confirms the Van Allen Belts.
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This year:
After 52 hours, Explorer 10's batteries fail, as per expectations.
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This year:
Explorer 10 becomes the first satellite to measure the shock wave from a solar flare.
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159 years ago, in 1802:
Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers of Germany discovers the third largest asteroid, Pallas.
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154 years ago, in 1807:
Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers of Germany discovers the second largest asteroid, Vesta.
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25 years ago, in 1936:
Over 10,000 people watch the 200-inch mirror blank for the Hale Telescope passing by rail through Indianapolis.
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16 years ago, in 1945:
The last day of V-1 rocket bomb attacks on England occurs, only to be soon replaced by the V-2.
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