This Day In Space History: August 24

With one new planet and one 'old' planet, we've got some pretty cool stuff happening today in the world of space...check it out!

1966

The Soviet Union's orbiter Luna 11 is launched. Read about the mission here: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/luna_11/indepth

1985

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-51I.html
Due to poor weather conditions, STS 51-I is cancelled at T-5 minutes and rescheduled.

1981 & 1989

http://www.yearinspace.com/the-week-in-space
Launched a few days ago in 1977, Voyager 2 -the spacecraft we've been following the past couple days- flies by Saturn and in 1989, flies by Neptune.

2006

The conclusion of the 26th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) made the conclusion that the planet Pluto would now be considered a Dwarf Planet, as they refined their definition of what a "planet" is. I remember watching the news with in my parents' room when this happened. A sad day for those who support Pluto's existence as a planet! The excerpt below is from the press release which can be read here: https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau0603/

The IAU members gathered at the 2006 General Assembly agreed that a "planet" is defined as a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

This means that the Solar System consists of eight "planets" Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A new distinct class of objects called "dwarf planets" was also decided.

2016

A telescope at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile discovered an Earth-like exoplanet called Proxima B, which orbits Proxima Centauri, our closest star (besides our Sun). While the planet is closer to its sun than Mercury is to ours, it has the potential to have liquid water, but the potential for life would also depend on radiation from its sun and whether or not it has an atmosphere. These are two among a list of unknowns which can be found here: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/eso-discovers-earth-size-planet-in-habitable-zone-of-nearest-star  Who knows, maybe this discovery will be the push we needed to get a spacecraft out there, into another solar system!



For a complete list of today’s Space History, see  http://www.astronautix.com/a/august24.html