The Week in Space

April 25 - May 1, 2011

Birthday Globule  One of the most prominent astronomers of the last century was born 105 years ago this week in the Netherlands. Bart Bok worked at Harvard University and directed both the Mt. Stromolo Observatory in Australia and the Steward Observatory in Arizona. Along with his wife, astronomer Priscilla Fairfield Bok, he studied the structure and evolution of star clusters and the galaxy, mapping the spiral arms of the Milky Way. He became best known for his work on small dark nebulae now known as Bok Globules. These condensing interstellar clouds of gas and dust are the future birthplaces of stars and star clusters. The Caterpillar, in this Hubble image, is a Bok Globule in the Carina Nebula, some 7,500 light-years away. Its glowing edge is the effect of radiation from energetic nearby stars.

Image Credit: NASA / ESA / N. Smith (UC Berkeley) / The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Weekly Calendar

April 25 - May 1, 2011

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 25

Easter Monday (Canada)

Tuesday 26

1993: STS-55 Columbia launched

Wednesday 27

Neptune 6° south of Moon

Thursday 28

1900: Jan Oort born
1906: Bart Bok born
1928: Eugene Shoemaker born
1991: STS-39 Discovery launched
2001: Soyuz TM-32 launched; Dennis Tito becomes first space tourist
2003: GALEX launched
2006: CloudSat and CALIPSO launched

Friday 29

Juno appears stationary
Moon at apogee

1985: STS-51B Challenger launched

Saturday 30

Sunday 1

Mars 0.4° north of Jupiter
Mars 6° south of Moon
Jupiter 6° south of Moon

1949: Gerard Kuiper discovers Nereid, moon of Neptune
1996: Comet Hyakutake closest approach to Sun

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