Today in the History of Astronomy | Page 2 of 30 | Astronomy.com

A medium shot shows a man in a dark suit leaning down with both hands resting gently on the shoulders of an elderly woman seated in the center foreground. The smiling woman wears a dark jacket, a bright orange shirt, and a gold medal around her neck attached to a blue ribbon, looking up toward the man. Other seated guests surround them against a cream-colored background, all under bright interior lighting that creates sharp detail throughout the frame.

Human Spaceflight, Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 26, 1918: The birth of Katherine Johnson

A grid of twelve brightly colored images displays various deep-space formations against dark, star-filled backgrounds. Each panel features distinct shapes and vibrant hues, including spiraling red and blue light, glowing green gas clouds, ring-like structures, and scattered clusters of tiny stars. High contrast throughout the grid highlights the brilliant, luminous centers and delicate wisps of light in each scene.

Robotic Spaceflight, Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 25, 2003: The Spitzer Space Telescope launches

A detailed, full-disk view of a celestial body fills almost the entire frame against a solid black background. The textured surface displays a patchwork of distinct colors, featuring a large, smooth, light cream-colored region in the lower center bordered by heavily cratered, deep rust-red terrain to the left and pale bluish-grey areas near the top and right. Soft lighting across the sphere highlights fine surface crevices and crater rims, creating gentle shadows near the lower-right edge.

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 24, 2006: Pluto is demoted

A bright, pixelated circle of mottled yellow and green glowing hues sits centered against a dark, speckled blue-and-black background. Small red-orange spots mark the top, bottom, and center of the bright sphere, with a tiny, isolated red dot floating just off its top edge. High contrast separates the vibrant yellow-green disc from the surrounding cool-toned background.

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 23, 1991: Water on Mercury

A monochrome, high-contrast image shows two thin, glowing white concentric rings arching across a black, star-speckled background. In the lower-right corner, a bright, solid white crescent curves upward toward the inner ring. Tiny, distant points of white light dot the dark space inside and around the rings, giving the scene high visual contrast.

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 22, 1989: Voyager 2 reveals Neptune

A vintage black-and-white photograph captures a crowd of adults and children standing gathered outdoors, looking up toward the sky. Most individuals hold small rectangular cards, dark glass plates, or paper up to their eyes to shield their vision. Bright daylight illuminates the figures in the foreground, contrasting against the darker storefront with a large white awning and signage in the background.

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 21, 1914: Total solar eclipse tensions

A black-and-white portrait shows a man wearing thick-rimmed glasses, a dark suit jacket, and a tie, smiling broadly in the center of the frame. Direct daylight illuminates his face and the front of his white shirt, creating clear contrast against his dark jacket. In the blurred background, trees and a multi-story building featuring a domed tower stand under a bright sky.

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 20, 2001: Cosmologist Fred Hoyle dies

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 19, 1646: The birth of John Flamsteed

An vintage, wide black-and-white map depicts coastal regions from East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula across India and Southeast Asia on light beige paper. A light blue, curved band sweeps horizontally across the center, marking a path across the landmasses and bodies of water. The map is overlaid with French labels, grid lines, and black line drawings of geographical features, lit evenly across the page.

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 18, 1868: Helium is discovered

A close-up photograph shows the dusty, cratered surface of a moon filling most of the frame against a black space background. A bowl-shaped crater dominates the upper right, featuring steep walls lined with reddish-brown and pale tan streaks. A bright, pale blue-grey glow highlights the textured, grooved terrain surrounding smaller craters across the center and lower-left regions.

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 17, 1877: Asaph Hall discovers Phobos

A close-up black-and-white image displays the heavily pockmarked, grey surface of a rocky moon set against a solid black background. Bright light from the upper right illuminates the terrain, casting deep black shadows inside dozens of circular craters and depressions. High contrast creates bright highlights along the right side while leaving the left side mostly in darkness.

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 16, 1898: Phoebe makes an appearance

A close-up image shows printed black alphanumeric characters arranged in sparse vertical columns on lined, light green computer paper. To the left of the columns, the word "Wow!" is written vertically in bright red ink, with a red line circling a specific vertical sequence of characters—"6EQUJ5"—nearby. A few other numbers within the columns are circled in red or black ink, creating clear contrast against the light paper.

Alien Life, Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 15, 1977: The Wow! Signal arrives