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In August 1877, the American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered the two moons of Mars using a 660 mm (26 in) telescope at the U.S. Naval Observatory. [55] The names of the two satellites, Phobos and Deimos , were chosen by Hall based upon a suggestion by Henry Madan , a science instructor at Eton College in England.
The timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their natural satellites charts the progress of the discovery of new bodies over history. Each object is listed in chronological order of its discovery (multiple dates occur when the moments of imaging, observation, and publication differ), identified through its various designations (including temporary and permanent schemes), and the ...
First Mars flyby (11,000 km) but contact was lost. USSR Mars 1: 14 December 1962: First planetary flyby with data returned . First successful planetary science mission. USA (NASA) Mariner 2 [17] 16 June 1963: First woman in space (Valentina Tereshkova). USSR Vostok 6: 19 July 1963: First reusable crewed spacecraft (suborbital). USA (NASA) X-15 ...
Later in the same year, Norman Lockyer observed the same line in the solar spectrum, and concluded that it was caused by an element in the Sun unknown on Earth. This element is helium, which currently comprises 23.8% of the mass in the solar photosphere. [150] 1877 – Asaph Hall discovers Mars's moons Deimos and Phobos. [151]
Mars 1962A was a Mars flyby mission, launched on October 24, 1962, and Mars 1962B an intended first Mars lander mission, launched in late December of the same year (1962). Both failed from either breaking up as they were going into Earth orbit or having the upper stage explode in orbit during the burn to put the spacecraft into trans-Mars ...
The European Space Agency believes that it knows what caused its Schiaparelli lander to crash on the surface of Mars. It turns out that the spacecraft was hurtling towards the ground perfectly ...
A mineral grain from a meteorite preserved evidence that water was present on Mars 4.45 billion years ago, and it may have created hot springs habitable for life. ‘Black Beauty’ was found on ...
Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, an American astronomer at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. Cold, dark and distant, it was named after the Roman god of the underworld . In Greek ...