St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 19, 2022

On this date in 1970, Nikolai Kamanin, head of the Soviet Cosmonaut Corps, writes in his diary that he had another run in with Valentina ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 18, 2022

On this date in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh, a young astronomer from Kansas, discovered Pluto. Although Tombaugh had no formal education, he wa ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 17, 2022

On this date in 2005, the spacecraft Cassini performed its first successful flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Enceladus has an icy crust ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 16, 2022

On this date in 1948, Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper discovered Uranus' moon Miranda. Miranda is covered in a series of complex fault sc ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 15, 2022

On this date in 2005, the spacecraft Cassini successfully completed a flyby of Saturn's moon Titan. Prior to the Cassini-Huygens mission ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 14, 2022

Stars run on a process called nuclear fusion, where elements such as hydrogen and helium are fused together under immense heat and press ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 13, 2022

During the winter months, the constellation Taurus the Bull can be found overhead after dark. Between the horns of the bull is M1, also ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 12, 2022

On this date in 2001, the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft landed on the asteroid Eros almost 1 year to the day of enter ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 10, 2022

On this date in 1961, a voice message was sent from Washington D.C. to Woomera, Australia via the moon. NASA Deputy Administrator Dryden ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 9, 2022

On this date in 1960, Peggy Annette Whitson, American biochemist and astronaut, was born. She was the first female commander of the Inte ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 8, 2022

The gas giant planet Neptune hosts a moon named Triton. This is the largest moon of Neptune, but it has the unusual characteristic of or ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 6, 2022

The Kuiper Belt is a region that extends beyond the orbit of Neptune and is believed to contain at least hundreds of thousands if not mi ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 5, 2022

In February 1968, Jocelyn Bell Burnell and her advisor Anthony Hewish published their discovery of pulsars. A pulsar is a quickly spinni ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 4, 2022

Uranus' moon Miranda is home to a series of massive fault canyons which are some of the largest in the solar system. Some reach depths 1 ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 3, 2022

On this date in 1966, the uncrewed Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first man-made object to make a soft landing on the Moon. Although the ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 1, 2022

This month begins with a new moon, illuminated by only about 0.5 percent this morning. This is the beginning of a new lunar cycle, which ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 31, 2022

On this date in 1971, Apollo 14 launched from Kennedy Space Center with a crew of Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Stuart A. Roosa, and Edgar D. Mi ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 30, 2022

Although the moon's orbit around Earth is nearly circular, when in fact it is an ellipse. This means that, although the average distance ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 28, 2022

If you're up early this morning at about 5:45 am, Venus, Mars, and a waning crescent moon are all visible in the southeastern sky. The m ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 26, 2022

At any point throughout the year it is possible to find the North Star, Polaris in the same location in our northern sky. Unlike other s ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 25, 2022

On this date in 2004, the Opportunity rover successfully landed on the surface of Mars. Although this rover was only designed to last ap ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 24, 2022

On this date in 1986, Voyager 2 successfully completed a flyby of Uranus at 9:59 PST where it came within 50,600 miles of the uppermost ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 23, 2022

The moon is the only celestial body other than Earth that humans have stepped foot on. To this day, only 12 people have walked on the mo ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 22, 2022

On this date in 2003, NASA received the last signal from Pioneer 10. This was the first space probe to explore beyond the asteroid belt, ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 20, 2022

The closest star to us is Proxima Centauri, which is approximately 4.37 light years away from the Sun and hosts two known exoplanets. Wi ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 19, 2022

On this date in 2006, the New Horizons spacecraft was launched, with the primary objective to explore Pluto and its moons. New Horizons ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 18, 2022

The Sun goes through solar cycles that last 11 years. During these cycles, activity on the sun increases as it heads towards solar maxim ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 17, 2022

At 8:30 pm, the constellation Orion should be clearly visible in the southeastern sky. This constellation hosts the Orion Nebula, which ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 16, 2022

The moon is host to bright, sinuous patterns called lunar swirls. The formation of these swirls is not understood; however, NASA is send ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 15, 2022

Astronomy flourished during the Golden Age of Islam from the 8th century to the 13th century. As such, many common star names have their ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 14, 2022

Tonight the moon exhibits a waxing gibbous phase as it makes its way towards full moon over the coming nights. At 8 pm, the moon will be ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 14, 2022

Tonight the moon exhibits a waxing gibbous phase as it makes its way towards full moon over the coming nights. At 8 pm, the moon will be ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 13, 2022

On this date in 1990, astronauts aboard the space shuttle mission STS-32 were woken up using the song Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Thi ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 11, 2022

On this date in 1787, only 6 years after his discovery of Uranus, William Herschel discovered Uranus' largest moons Titania and Oberon. ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 9, 2022

Mercury and Venus are both considered inferior planets, which means they orbit closer to the Sun than the Earth. Due to this, both plane ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 8, 2022

Tonight the moon will be in a waxing crescent phase. It will be clearly visible in the southwest around 8 pm. If you have an unobstructe ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 7, 2022

Galileo Galilei discovered four moons of Jupiter on this date in 1610. This is one of the most significant discoveries ever made with a ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 6, 2022

A waxing crescent moon can be found in the southwest after sunset. About 23% of the lunar disk will be illuminated.

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 5, 2022

On this date in 1972, President Richard Nixon signed a bill that marked the start of the space shuttle program. In total, five different ...

St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: January 4, 2022

Today, the Earth reaches perihelion. This is when we are closest to the Sun. Earth is at its greatest distance from the Sun in July. Thi ...