The Week in Space

October 25-31, 2010

Consolation Moons  Five years ago this week, a team of astronomers announced the discovery of what turned out to be two new moons orbiting Pluto in addition to its known moon, Charon. At the time, Pluto was embroiled in a worldwide debate after the July 2005 discovery of the trans-Neptunian object Eris—which was larger than Pluto—brought into question the definition of a planet. By 2006 the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to the rank of “dwarf planet,” but throughout all of this controversy, Pluto enjoyed the company of its two “new” companions, named Nix and Hydra. In this artist’s conception, Nix and Hydra are represented by the foreground landscape and bright distant moon at lower left; Pluto is the largest disk above center; and Charon appears to the upper right of Pluto.

Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon (STScI)

Weekly Calendar

October 25-31, 2010

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 25

1671: Giovanni Cassini discovers Iapetus, moon of Saturn
1877: Henry Norris Russell born
1975: Venera 10 lands on Venus
2006: STEREO spacecraft launched

Tuesday 26

Wednesday 27

1961: SA-1 launched, first Saturn rocket
2003: ISS Expedition 7 crew returns to Earth after 184 days in orbit

Thursday 28

Venus in inferior conjunction

Friday 29

1964: First flight of Lunar Landing Research Vehicle
1987: Cosmos 1894 becomes 2,000th satellite
1991: Galileo flies past Gaspra
1998: STS-95 Discovery launched

Saturday 30

Last Quarter Moon  8:46 AM ET

Sunday 31

Halloween

2005: Hubble Space Telescope discovers two new moons orbiting Pluto
2006: NASA announces SM4, the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission
 

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