In this short little Web page, we will provide some of the latest news relating to astronomy and space exploration. Most of the material found here is available elsewhere on the Internet, but we thought that it would be helpful to provide the information all in one place. You can obtain more information on a given topic by clicking on the date of its release.

Links to elsewhere

This Month in Space History

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Spacecraft news

May 3, 1996

Galileo discovers that Io has a giant iron core

March 19, 1996

Further analysis of Galileo data yields that Jupiter's composition is closer to that of the Sun that originally thought.

March 15, 1996

Galileo Perijove Raise Maneuver successful!

March 13, 1996

Galileo mission overview chart

January 22, 1996

The data from Galileo's atmospheric probe is now in. It made a great deal of important discoveries, including the facts that Jupiter is drier, windier, and has less lightning than originally thought.

November 1, 1995

The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft remain healthy. Barring malfunctions, it is expected that their power source will continue to keep these interplanetary travellers alive until at least the year 2025.

October 1, 1995

The spacecraft Ulysses has completed its primary role in exploring the polar regions of the Sun.

Solar System Objects

March 13, 1996

The Hubble Space Telescope obtains the first direct images of Pluto! Hubble has imaged nearly the entire surface of this distant planet in late June and early July 1994. The pictures were released to the general public on March 7, 1996.

March 2, 1996

Comet Hyakutake seems destined to be the brightest comet since Comet West in 1976. It will be at its most impressive on March 25, 1996!

October 5, 1995

Chaos theory is alive and well in our solar system. Two radio astronomers have discovered that the asteroid known as 4179 Toutatis is tumbling irregularly instead of spinning about an axis as do most other members of the Sun's family.

Elsewhere

January 17, 1996

Two planets have been discovered orbiting around sunlike stars, with surface temperatures believed to allow liquid water to exist.

October 21, 1995

A planet has been discovered by Swiss astronomers, orbiting around a sunlike star known as 51 Pegasi.

November 2, 1995

Astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to show newly-created stars in the process of emerging from their parent nebulae. These "evaporating gaseous globules", or EGGs, are located 7000 light years away in the Eagle nebula.