The Week in Space

Double Martian Birthday  Born 175 years ago this week, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiapparelli became famous for his telescopic observations of Mars in 1877.  He discerned numerous linear surface patterns that he called “canali,” a word that means “channels” in Italian but was widely mistranslated as “canals.” Canals are artificial structures, and that is just what American astronomer Percival Lowell (born 155 years ago this week) believed he saw the more he observed and mapped Mars. He popularized a belief in the “Canals of Mars” and their presumed builders that would last for nearly a century. This Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image provides strong evidence that these gullies on a crater rim were formed by fluid flow of a natural sort, hinting that Mars indeed once had water flowing on its surface.

Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona

Weekly Calendar

March 8-14, 2010

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 8

1979: Active volcanoes found on Io
2001: STS-102 Discovery launched
2007: Orbital Express launched
2008: First Automated Transfer Vehicle launched

Tuesday 9

Wednesday 10

1977: Rings discovered around Uranus
2006: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars

Thursday 11

Mars appears stationary

Friday 12

Moon at apogee

1835: Simon Newcomb born
1981: Victor Savinykh becomes 100th person to travel in space, Soyuz T-4 mission

Saturday 13

Neptune 4° south of Moon

Sunday 14

Daylight Savings Time begins 2:00am

Mercury in superior conjunction

1835: Giovanni Schiaparelli born
1879: Albert Einstein born
1934: Gene Cernan born
1986: Giotto flies by Halley’s Comet
1995: Soyuz TM-21 launched, first Russian mission with American on board
2009: STS-119 Discovery launched

---

Article Tools - Share, subscribe, and bookmark this page: