Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		1      13 years ago, in 1949: Gerard Kuiper discovers one of Neptune's moons, Nereid.	2      182 years ago, in 1780: The first binary star system to be discovered, Xi Ursae Majoris, is found by William Herschel.	3      301 years ago, in 1661: Christiaan Huygens observes the planet Mercury transit the Sun.      247 years ago, in 1715: During an eclipse in England, Edmond Halley is the first to report the phenomenon later known as Baily's Beads.	4	5       1 year ago, in 1961: Alan Shepard is the first American to be in a suborbital flight around the Earth (Mercury/Freedom 7).
6      209 years ago, in 1753: Charles Messier makes his first documented observation; the Mercury transit of the Sun.      44 years ago, in 1918: The 72 inch Plaskett telescope at The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Saanich, British Columbia sees first light.	7	8        This year: The first Atlas-Centaur rocket is launched, but the Centaur stage ruptures at 53 seconds into the flight and disintegrates, taking the Atlas with it.	9      40 years ago, in 1922: Tthe IAU passes a resolution to formally adopt Annie Jump Cannon's stellar classification system.	10      16 years ago, in 1946: A White Sands modified V-2 rocket reaches 69 miles (111 kms).	11      181 years ago, in 1781: The Sombrero Galaxy (M104) is discovered by Pierre Méchain.	12      32 years ago, in 1930: The first planetarium in the United States, Adler Planetarium in Chicago, is opened to the public.
13      229 years ago, in 1733: Birger Wassenius of Sweden, observing an eclipse near Göteborg, is the first to report prominences visible to the unaided eye; he incorrectly attributes them to the Moon.      101 years ago, in 1861: John Tebbutt of Australia discovers the Great Comet of 1861 (C/1861 J1).      2 years ago, in 1960: The original Echo 1, a metalized balloon passive-communications satellite, is launched, but the rocket explodes after lift-off.	14	15      5 years ago, in 1957: The first launch of a Soviet R-7 Semyorka leads to an unintended crash 400 km (250 mi) from the launch site.      4 years ago, in 1958: Sputnik 3 is launched to explore the upper atmosphere and near space.      2 years ago, in 1960: Korabl-Sputnik 1 (Sputnik 4), the first and unmanned test flight of the Vostok, is launched.	16	17      80 years ago, in 1882: On an expedition in Egypt , Dr. Arthur Schuster sees a comet (Tewfik) near the Sun during a total eclipse.	18	19       1 year ago, in 1961: Venera 1 is the first craft to fly by Venus, though contact is lost.
20	21      178 years ago, in 1784: William Herschel discovers NGC 6287, a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.	22      178 years ago, in 1784: William Herschel discovers NGC 6284, a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.      16 years ago, in 1946: A White Sands WAC Corporal reaches the then-defined edge of space, 50 miles (80 kms).	23      4 years ago, in 1958: Explorer 1 makes its final transmission.	24      419 years ago, in 1543: Nicolaus Copernicus dies at age 70 in Frauenburg, Royal Prussia, Kingdom of Poland.      127 years ago, in 1835: John Herschel discovers NGC 6325, a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.        This year: Mercury/Aurora 7 orbits the earth with astronaut Scott M. Carpenter.	25       1 year ago, in 1961: President Kennedy makes his famous "Moon speech".	26
27	28      3 years ago, in 1959: Launched aboard a Jupiter ICBM, Able and Baker became the first monkeys to survive spaceflight.	29      43 years ago, in 1919: Arthur Eddington confirms Einstein's theory of general relativity during a total solar eclipse.	30	31      27 years ago, in 1935: The David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario, housing a 74-inch (1.88 m) reflector telescope (still the largest in Canada), has its official opening .