Caroline Herschel discovers her first comet, Comet C/1786 P1 (Herschel).
2
829 years ago, in 1133:
King Henry's Eclipse occurs over England, with totality lasting for over four minutes, and coinciding with the death of King Henry I.
3
2393 years ago, in -431:
The oldest European record of a verifiable solar eclipse (annular) is given by the Greek historian Thucydides.
366 years ago, in 1596:
David Fabricius discovers the first known periodic variable star, Mira, in the constellation of Cetus.
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1 year ago, in 1961:
Aboard Vostok 2, Gherman Titov is the second person to orbit the Earth, orbiting 17 times.
This year:
The Friendship 7 spacecraft is placed on display at the Century 21 Exhibition in Seattle, Washington.
7
3 years ago, in 1959:
Explorer 6 is launched to study micrometeorites, cosmic rays, etc; it also takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit.
1 year ago, in 1961:
Vostok 2 lands back on Earth after a day in orbit.
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189 years ago, in 1773:
Charles Messier first observes NGC 205, also known in later years as M110.
11
This year:
Vostok 3 is launched into orbit to meet up with Vostok 4; the first time that two manned spacecraft are in orbit together.
12
85 years ago, in 1877:
Asaph Hall, Sr., an American astronomer, discovers the first of Mars' moons, Deimos.
2 years ago, in 1960:
Echo 1A, a metalized balloon passive-communications satellite, is launched.
This year:
Vostok 4 is launched into orbit to meet up with Vostok 3.
13
64 years ago, in 1898:
433 Eros, the first discovered and second-largest near-Earth asteroid, is discovered by the German astronomer Carl Gustav Witt at the Berlin Urania Observatory.
32 years ago, in 1930:
A meteor explodes in an air burst over the Curuca River area in Brazil.
14
165 years ago, in 1797:
Caroline Herschel and Eugene Bouvard independently discover Comet C/1797 P1 (Bouvard-Herschel).
15
This year:
After successful communication with each other and almost 4 days in orbit, Vostok 3 and 4 return home.
16
1 year ago, in 1961:
Explorer 12 is launched to measure the Solar Wind, Cosmic Rays, and interplanetary magnetic fields.
17
29 years ago, in 1933:
Under the leadership of Sergey Korolev, the Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD) launches the first Soviet liquid-fueled rocket.
4 years ago, in 1958:
Able 1 (Pioneer 0) is the world's first craft intended for launch out of Earth's orbit, but explodes 77 seconds after lift-off.
18
94 years ago, in 1868:
French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen discovers an unknown element, now known as helium, in the spectrum of the sun during a total eclipse.
85 years ago, in 1877:
Asaph Hall, Sr., an American astronomer, discovers the second of Mars' moons, Phobos.
19
4 years ago, in 1958:
Thomas Keith Glennan becomes the first Administrator of NASA.
2 years ago, in 1960:
Korabl-Sputnik 2 (Sputnik 5) is the first to return plants and animals (2 dogs; Belka and Strelka, 2 rats & 40 mice) alive from Earth orbit.
20
77 years ago, in 1885:
Ernst Hartwig, at the Dorpat Observatory in Estonia, discovers supernova SN 1885A in Andromeda, the first Type Ia detected outside our galaxy.
21
5 years ago, in 1957:
A Soviet R-7 Semyorka is launched and flies 6000 km (3700 mi) to become the world's first ICBM.
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1 year ago, in 1961:
Ranger 1 is launched to be placed in an eliptical orbit around the Moon, but burns up in low orbit four days later.
24
4 years ago, in 1958:
Explorer 5 is launched, but fails when the rocket's first stage collides with its second stage after separation.
1 year ago, in 1961:
Last contact is made with Explorer 7.
25
97 years ago, in 1865:
The Shergotty meteorite, the first example of the shergottite Mars meteorite family, falls to Earth in Shergotty (now Sherghati) in the Gaya district, India.
1 year ago, in 1961:
Explorer 13 is launched to study the effects of micrometeoroids on the spacecraft systems, but enters a lower than planned orbit.
This year:
The Sputnik 19 (Venera 2MV-1 No.1) atmospheric probe is launched for Venus, but its escape stage fails.
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189 years ago, in 1773:
Caroline Herschel independently discovers NGC 205, also known in later years as M110.
This year:
Mariner 2 is launched to Venus.
28
173 years ago, in 1789:
William Herschel discovers a moon of Saturn, Enceladus.
1 year ago, in 1961:
After just over two days in orbit, Explorer 13 reenters the Earth's atmosphere and burns up.
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30 years ago, in 1932:
G. G. Cillié of the United Kingdom and Donald H. Menzel of the United States use eclipse spectra to show that the Sun's corona has a higher temperature than the photosphere.
12 years ago, in 1950:
The first mouse is sent into space aboard a U.S. launched V-2, but dies when the rocket disintegrates due to parachute failure.
This year:
President Kennedy signs the Communications Satellite Act of 1962, which gives the framework for private companies in the United States to own and operate their own satellites.
It's been 3965 days
