Space: Discovery of new Saturnian moon - timeline
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Timeline
- April 2007. It is widely reported that astronomers have detected the most “Earth-like” planet ever discovered, orbiting a red dwarf star named Gliese 581 in the constellation of Libra, some 20.5 light years distant.
- January 2007. It is reported that radar observations of the northern hemisphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, provide “definitive” evidence of the existence on the moon's surface of some 75 lakes, composed largely of liquid methane.
- September 2006. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially names the “dwarf planet” beyond the orbit of Pluto, formerly known as 2003 UB313, Eris.
- August 2006. The 2006 (26th) general assembly of the International Astronomical Union ( IAU) votes to approve a resolution demoting Pluto from its status as the ninth and most remote planet of the Solar System to a new category of “dwarf planet”.
- February 2006. It seems likely that either UB313, the object discovered in 2005 in the Kuiper Belt, a region on the edge of the Solar System object, will be classified as the 10th planet or that Pluto's status will be downgraded.
- January 2006. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s unmanned New Horizons space probe mission to Pluto is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA.
- December 2005. The landing in January of the European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft Huygens on Saturn's moon Titan is regarded by the journal Science as one of the top 10 scientific achievements of 2005.
- August 2005. It is reported that the NASA spacecraft Cassini has discovered a permanent atmosphere of water vapour and carbon dioxide on one of Saturn's smaller moons, Enceladus.
- January 2005. The European Space Agency (ESA) Huygens probe is successfully launched from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Cassini spacecraft and descends through the atmosphere of Titan.
- December 2004. Mars Exploration Rovers discover evidence of water on Mars.
- August 2004. The discovery of the smallest planet yet detected outside the Solar System is announced.
- July 2004. The Cassini spacecraft, launched by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1997, becomes the first space vehicle to go into orbit around the planet Saturn.
- March 2004. A NASA-funded team of astronomers at the Mount Palomar observatory in California claim to have discovered the Solar System's 10th planet, which is currently some 17 billion km from Earth.
- February 2004. It is reported that the Hubble space telescope and the Arecibo radio telescope have provided the first detailed images of the surface of Saturn's moon Titan, on which the ESA's Huygens probe is due to land in January 2005.
- November 2003. Voyager 1, the space probe launched in 1977 is reported to have become the first man-made object to have reached the edge of the solar system.
- August 2003. NASA launches the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), the most powerful and sensitive infrared telescope ever sent into space, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- July 2003. Astronomers announce the discovery of the oldest and most distant known planet in the universe; astronomers announce the discovery of a planet with about twice the mass of Jupiter orbiting the star HD70642, some 90 light years from Earth.
- March 2003. It is announced that astronomers have discovered eight new small moons orbiting Jupiter, bringing the planet's total of known satellites to 48.
- December 2002. It is reported that astronomers in the UK and Argentina have calculated that the well-defined edge of the Kuiper belt of rocky debris beyond the orbit of Pluto could be caused by the gravitational effect of an as yet undiscovered 10th planet in the Solar System.
- October 2002. It is widely reported that astronomers have discovered a 1,280 km diameter object orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper Belt region of the Solar System beyond Pluto.
- June 2002. Astronomers announce the discovery of 13 more planets orbiting other stars.
- March 2002. It is reported that, by analysing the clustering pattern of some 250,000 galaxies, astronomers have found independent evidence that the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate.
- January 2002. The Gemini South reflector telescope is inaugurated in Chile.
- November 2001. It is reported that astronomers using the Hubble space telescope have for the first time discovered an atmosphere around a planet orbiting another star.
- September 2001. NASA's space-based Chandra X-ray Observatory detects a violent X-ray flare associated with the radio source Sagittarius A that astronomers believe is the first direct evidence of a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.
- August 2001. Astronomers announce the discovery of a new solar system comprising two planets orbiting the star 47 Ursae majoris in the Ursa Major constellation.
- March 2001. NASA announces the discovery of the first example of the type II quasar some 9 billion light years from Earth.
- January 2001. It is reported that Cassini has passed Jupiter at a distance of 9.7 million km, on its way to its final destination, Saturn, which it is due to reach in 2004.
- August 2000. Astronomers announce the discovery of the nearest planet to the solar system found so far, some 10.5 light years distant.
- February 2000. NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) probe goes into orbit round the asteroid 433 Eros, some 250 million km from the Earth.
- April 1999. Astronomers announce that a solar system, the first to be found apart from our own, of three massive planets has been discovered orbiting the star Upsilon Andromeda, 44 light years’ distance from Earth.
- March 1998. Lunar Prospector confirms the presence of water on the Moon.
- October 1997. Cassini is launched on a seven-year journey to the planet Saturn.
- December 1995. After a six year journey the US spacecraft Galileo goes into orbit around Jupiter.
- July 1994. A series of 21 giant rock and ice particles from the fragmented comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collide with the planet Jupiter.
- April 1992. NASA announces the discovery of huge wispy clouds of matter or “ripples” at a distance of nearly 15,000 million light years, at the edge of the known universe.
- July 1991. Astronomers announce that they had made the first discovery of a planet orbiting a star outside the solar system.
- April 1990. The US$1,500 million Hubble Space Telescope is successfully launched.
- July 1985. Satellites are launched to investigate Halley's comet.
- August 1980. Voyager I begins transmitting pictures from the vicinity of Saturn.
- August/September 1975. NASA launches two rockets carrying spacecraft known as Viking 1 and Viking 2, designed to land two identical automated laboratories on the surface of the planet Mars and to place two satellites in orbit round Mars.
- May 1971. Mars 3 becomes the first space probe to land on Mars.
- August 1969. US astronauts Neil Armstrong and Col Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, become the first men to set foot on the Moon mission.
- November 1964. The spacecraft Mariner IV, designed to fly past the planet Mars in mid-July 1965 and transmit pictures of the Martian surface to Earth, is launched at Cape Kennedy, USA.
- April 1961. The first manned space flight in human history is successfully undertaken on April 12 by Major Yuri Alexeivich Gagarin (27), a Soviet Air Force officer.
- March 1960. An artificial planetoid (Pioneer V), designed to go into an orbit between Earth and Venus, is successfully launched at Cape Canaveral, USA.
- March 1958. A panel of US scientists recommends that the US government implement a programme of space research, including the exploration of the Moon.
- March 1958. The second US Earth satellite to orbit the earth is successfully launched by a Navy Vanguard rocket from Cape Canaveral, USA.
- November 1938. Astronomer Dr Seth Nicholson discovers two satellites of Jupiter.
- February 1938. Astronomer Dr O. Struve discovers a colossal “dark star” which is a component of the previously-known “binary” star Epsilon Aurigae.
- October 1937. “Object Reinmuth U.B. 1937”, a recently discovered planet, narrowly escapes colliding with the Earth.
