© J R Stockton, ≥ 2010-03-07
Links within this site :-
- Merlyn Home Page
- Site Index, E-Mail, Copying
- This Page :-
- On other pages of this site :-
Topics Not Covered
(except as indexed above, and incidentally) :-
- Optical instruments; their construction,
purchase, housing, handling, storage, and repair
- Non-optical instruments - radio, photon, gravity, particle
- The Galaxy, the Universe, Cosmology
- Clubs and Societies
- Publications
- Hoaxes : Apollo landings not one, the old Cape of Good Hope one
There is a ZIPped snapshot including
these and other pages related to Astro and Gravity etc. (172kB+),
taken on or after 2010-02-18; unZIP it in an empty directory.
These are by no means complete lists. Visibility ignores weather.
Preference is given to those of UK interest.
- Sunrise, Sunset, other Almanac -
HMNAO Websurf
- Astronomy Weather
Forecasts for the British Isles.
- Seasons :-
- 2009-06-21 Sun - 05:45 UT, Solstice
- 2009-09-22 Tue - 21:28 UT, Equinox
- 2009-12-21 Mon - 17:47 UT, Solstice
==========
- 2010-03-20 Sat - 17:32 UT, Equinox
- 2010-06-21 Mon - 11:28 UT, Solstice
- 2010-09-23 Thu - 03:09 UT, Equinox
- 2010-12-21 Tue - 23:38 UT, Solstice
- 2011-03-20 Sun - 23:21 UT, Equinox
- See also
Earth's Seasons Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion
2000-2020 at USNO.
+
- Summer Time
- Leap Seconds :
previous 2008-12-31 23:59:60 UTC, next ?
Dates and times are not all necessarily UK or GMT/UTC; and may be
Earth-received times - popular US sources are often ambiguous at
best.
- 1908/06/17 Tue - Tunguska, Central Siberia (Julian date)
- 1919-05-29 Thu - Solar Eclipse, Principe (Eddington)
- 1927-06-29 Wed - Solar Eclipse, Northern UK
- 1999-08-11 Wed - Cornish Solar Eclipse -
"Official" page via
Eclipses Online at HMNAO.
Next in UK : 2090
- 2005-10-30 Sun - Mars nearest to Earth until 2018
- 2005-12-15 Thu - Moon Northernmost in 18 years about now
- 2006-03-22 Wed - Moon Southernmost in 18 years about now
- 2006-04-05 Wed - 05:11:36 UTC : Moon's limb nearly
visible in the North from northernmost UK land,
see Astronomy / Astronautics 2
- 2007-03-02 Fri - Moon occulted Saturn (from parts of UK),
part of a series
- 2008-06-30 Mon - Tunguska, Russia, 100th anniversary
- 2008-08-01 Fri - Total Eclipse, Greenland, Mid Russia,
China. UK 20-40%, 10:15, observed
- 2008-10-07 Tue - Aten asteroid 2008 TC3 hit over N Sudan,
02:46 UT; ~ 1kT airburst, harmless. First ever predicted impact.
Wikipedia.
- 2009-07-22 Wed - Total Eclipse, India, China, S Japan, and Indonesia
- 2009-09-04 Fri - Earth crosses Saturn ring-plane
- 2009-12-31 Thu - Partial lunar eclipse, centre 19:23 UT (soon after moonrise)
115/57
==========
- 2010-07-11 Sun - Total Eclipse : South Pacific, Chile, Argentina
- 2010-12-21 Tue -
Total Lunar Eclipse - UK: sets eclipsed
- 2012-06-05/6 . - Solar Transit of Venus :
Pacific (partly: UK sunrise). Previous, 2004-06-08.
Next: 2012-06-05/06; then 2117-12-10/11, 2125-12-08
- 2012-??-?? ??? - NEA 99942 Apophis distant Earth pass
- 2012-07-15 Sun - Moon occults Jupiter, SE UK
- 2015-09-28 Mon - Next UK complete total Lunar eclipse
- 2029-04-13 Fri - NEA 99942 Apophis visible Earth
encounter, Mag 3.3, >29Mm over mid-Atlantic. See 2036.
- 2030-09-23 Mon - NEA 2000 SG344 (possibly Apollo or
Luna 16 relic), expected to miss Earth by 5 Gm;
next visit 2071-09-16, impact 1:1000.
- 2034-11-21 Tue - Moon occults Jupiter, UK, late evening
- 2036-04-13 Sun - Easter Sunday. NEA 99942 Apophis,
Torino ≤1, impact 1:250000, size 300 m <100 Tg,
altitude ~32Mm. Also 2068.
- 2061-07-28 Thu - Halley's Comet next perihelion (predicted)
- 2081-09-03 Wed - Total Eclipse, Channel Islands
- 2084-11-10 Fri - Solar Transit of Earth, visible from Mars
- 2090-09-23 Sat - Total Eclipse, SW England
- 2102-??-?? ??? - Polaris closest to Pole for ~25570 years
- 2102-05-04 Thu - NEA 2004 VD17, Torino 2, 1:1000,
500 m <1000 Tg.
- 2135-10-07 Fri - Total Eclipse, UK
- 2292-07-?? ??? - Next Cruithne closest pass, 0.08 AU
(previous, 1902)
Most future dates/times may change. "A" is used for "Arrive", "B" for
Berth, D for "Dock", "H" for "History", "L" for "Launch", "P" for
"Pass", R for "Re-entry".
- 2003-10-15 Wed - L Shenzhou 5, China, LEO, one crew; landed 16th
- 2005-10-12 Wed - L Shenzhou 6, China, LEO, two crew; landed 16th
- 2007-01-01 Mon -
International Lunar Decade began
- 2007-09-14 Fri - L Selene/Kaguya, JAXA, 1+2 lunar orbiters;
hard-landed 2009-06-10
- 2007-10-24 Wed - L Chang'e-1, China, lunar orbiter;
hard-landed 2009-03-01
- 2008-03-09 Sun - L ATV-1 Jules Verne, ESA, ISS support;
docked -04-03, undocked -09-05, re-entered -29
- 2008-09-25 Thu - L Shenzhou 7, China, LEO, three crew,
one walk, landed -28
- 2008-09-28 Sun - L Falcon 1 #4, SpaceX, Demo flight, first SpaceX orbited
- 2008-10-22 Wed - L Chandrayaan-1, ISRO, Lunar polar orbiter +
impactor. Orbiter contact lost 2009-08-28
- 2008-11-20 Thu - H 10th Anniversary, ISS first launch, Zarya on Proton
- 2008-12-30 Tue - A CCAFS, Falcon 9 #1, SpaceX, assembled
- 2009-02-02 Mon - L Omid satellite, Safir-2, Iran. Reentered late April.
- 2009-04-05 Sun - L North Korea Taepodong-2 missile, OR
Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite on Unha-2 launcher. No orbit detected.
- 2009-07-14 Tue - L Falcon 1 #5, SpaceX, RazakSAT
- 2009-07-20 Mon - H 40th anniversary, first moon landing, NASA, 20:17:40 UT
- 2009-08-25 Tue - L KSLV-1 #1, (South) Korea Space Launch Vehicle 1, STSAT-2A : No orbit
- 2009-09-10 Thu - L HTV-1, Japan : ISS supply. -09-17, grappled, berthed; undocked -10-30
- 2009-09-29 Tue - P Messenger, NASA, Mercury flyby 3, previous 2008-10-06
- 2009-10-28 Wed - L Ares I-X, NASA, flight test #1, suborbital, unmanned
- 2009-11-10 Tue - L Soyuz, Russia, Baikonur, Poisk (ISS Mini Research Module 2), docked
- 2009-11-13 Fri - P Rosetta, ESA, Earth flyby 3
- 2009-12~18 Fri - L Ariane, ESA : Helios 2B (Fr)
- 2009-12-20 Sun - L Soyuz TMA-17, Russia, Baikonur, ISS taxi, 21:52 UT
- 2010-01-07 Thu - H 400th anniversary, approx., Galileo saw Jovian Moons
- 2010-02-08 Mon - L STS-130, Endeavour, NASA, ISS, Tranquility, Cupola
- 2010-03-03 Wed - L ATV rocket, ISRO, Sriharikota, dummy scramjet payload
==========
- 2010-??-?? ??? - L? Cryosat-2, ESA, Dnepr, Baikonur
- 2010-03-22 Mon - L?? Falcon 9 #1, SpaceX US, Dragon (Earliest)
- 2010-03-24 Wed - L? Ariane, ESA : Astra 3B (Lux comms), ComsatBw-2 (DE mil)
- 2010-2Q-?? ??? - L? Falcon 1e #1, SpaceX US
- 2010-04-?? ??? - L?? GSLV-D3, ISRO, Sriharikota, GSAT-4
- 2010-04-02 Fri - L? Soyuz TMA-18, Russia, Baikonur, ISS taxi, Skvortsov Korniyenko Caldwell
- 2010-04-05 Mon - L? STS-131, Discovery, NASA, ISS, MPLM, 10:21 UT
- 2010-04-?? ??? - L? PSLV, ISRO, Sriharikota, Cartosat-2B
- 2010-04-20 Tue - L? X-37B OTV spaceplane, USAF, CCAFS - VTOHL, orbit, land California, 03:00+ UT
- 2010-05-14 Fri - L? STS-132, Atlantis, NASA, ISS, MRM-1, parts
- 2010-05-20 Thu - L? Venus Climate Orbiter, JAXA, "PLANET-C" now "AKATSUKI"
- 2010-05-28 Fri - L? Minotaur 4, Kodiak, misc sats
- 2010-06-?? ??? - L? KSLV-1 #2, (South) Korea Space Launch Vehicle, STSAT-2B
- 2010-06-?? ??? - R? Hayabusa, JAXA, Asteroid Explorer, capsule re-entry (AU)
- 2010-??-?? ??? - L? Falcon 9 + DragonLab, SpaceX
- 2010-07-10 Sat - P Rosetta, ESA, passes asteroid 21 Lutetia
- 2010-07-29 Thu - L? STS-134, Endeavour, NASA, ISS, Anti-Matter Spectrometer
- 2010-??-?? ??? - L??, Falcon 9, SpaceX, Dragon, ISS, May-Nov
- 2010-09-16 Thu - L? STS-133, Discovery, NASA, ISS, MPLM, parts
- 2010-??-?? ??? - L? Soyuz, Russia, Sinnamary (Kourou) #1; Hylas (UK)
- 2010-10-?? ??? - L? Chang'e-2, China, Moon Orbiter ?
- 2010-11-02 Tue - H 10th Anniversary, ISS Expedition 1 docking, Soyuz, 09:21:03 UTC
- 2010-11-04 Thu - P EPOXI (ex Deep Impact), NASA, to pass comet 103P/Hartley 2
- 2010-11-10 Wed - L? ATV-2 Johannes Kepler, ESA, ISS supply
- 2010-??-?? ??? - L? Minotaur 4, SBSS, OSC, VAFB
- 2010-12-?? ??? - L? Vega, ESA Kourou, #1, LARES, ALMASat, 9 CubeSats
- 2011-??-?? ??? - L? Tiangong 1, China, LEO, Space Lab ?
- 2011-??-?? ??? - L? Shenzhou 8, China, LEO, unmanned docking Tiangong ?
- 2011-02-15 Tue - A Stardust-NExT, NASA, to pass comet Tempel 1, 04:42 UT
- 2011-03-18 Fri - A? Messenger, NASA, Mercury orbit insertion
- 2011-03-?? ??? - L? Taurus 2, Orbital, Wallops VA US, Cygnus spacecraft demo
- 2011-04-12 Tue - H Yuri Gagarin, USSR, first Earth orbit, 50th anniversary
- 2011-08-11 Thu - L? Juno, Nasa, Jupiter polar orbiter
- 2011-??-?? ??? - L? ATV-3 ESA, ISS supply
- 2011-09-06 Tue - L? GRAIL, NASA lunar gravity orbiter pair
- 2011-11-?? ??? - L? Mars Science Laboratory, NASA, rover
2011-??-?? ??? - L??? NASA: Ares 1-Y test flight
- 2011-??-?? ??? - L???? Northern Light, Canada, Mars lander/rover ?? 2013?
- 2011-??-?? ??? - L? Fobos-Grunt, Russia with China, Phobos sample return 2012, Yinghuo-1 orbiter
- 2011-??-?? ??? - L?? New Shepard, Blue Origin US, unmanned suboebital research
- 2012-02-20 Mon - H John Glenn, USA, Earth orbits, 50th anniversary
- 2012-??-?? ??? - L? LEO, Germany, Lunar Exploration Orbiter ?
- 2012-??-?? ??? - L?? Luna-Glob; Russia, Orbiter + 4 Japanese penetrators
2012-??-?? ??? - L??? Ares I-X', NASA, flight test #2, unmanned
- 2012-??-?? ??? - L? IXV re-entry demonstrator, ESA
- 2012-??-?? ??? - L? Chang'e-3, China, Moon Rover, Sinus Iridium
- 2012-12-14 Fri - H Eugene Cernan, USA, last man on Moon, 40th anniversary
- 2012-??-?? ??? - L?? New Shepard, Blue Origin US, manned suboebital research
- 2013-1Q-?? ??? - L? Chandrayaan-2, ISRO & Russia,
GSLV, Lunar orbiter, lander, rover
- 2013-??-?? ??? - L? ISRO, 2 pax in purchased Soyuz, Rus Cmdr.
- 2014-??-?? ??? - L? Bepi-Colombo, ESA/Japan, Mercury orbiters
2014-??-?? ??? - L????? Ares I-Y, NASA, flight test #2, unmanned
- 2014-05-22 Thu - A? Rosetta, ESA, to arrive at 67P/C-G
- 2014-06-?? ??? - L? James Webb Space Telescope, NASA (Ariane 5)
- 2014-??-?? ??? - L?? Luna-Grunt; Russia, Orbiter + lander
- 2014-11-10 Mon - A? Rosetta, ESA, Philae to land on 67P/C-G
- 2015-05-?? ??? - L? Solar Probe+, NASA
- 2015-07-14 Tue - A New Horizons, NASA, to reach Pluto
2015-??-?? ??? - L??? Constellation, NASA, first manned flight
- 2016-01-?? ??? - L? ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter & demo lander, ESA (+NASA)
- 2016-??-?? ??? - L?? ISRO, India, first manned flight
- 2016-??-?? ??? - L? Chang'e-4, China, Moon sample return
- 2018-??-?? ??? - L? Exo-Mars rover, ESA
- 2018-??-?? ??? - L? NASA Mars rover
- 2018-??-?? ??? - L? ESA: Laplace (Jupiter) OR Tandem (Saturn)
2018-06-?? ??? - L???? NASA: Ares V test flight
- 2020-??-?? ??? - L?? Mars mission : ESA+NASA
- Usenet discussion newsgroups :-
- Links to recent news articles :-
- FAQs :-
- Measurements and Units - see in
Kaye & Laby Online
- Some British Isles Web Sites :-
- Observatories :-
- Societies :-
- Other Sites :-
- The Solar System :-
- Tutorial :-
- International :-
- IAU - The International Astronomical Union
- Various :-
There are many other sites.
Countries which have launched satellites into orbit
| Country | Year | Satellite | Launcher |
| USSR | 1957 | Sputnik 1 | Sputnik-PS | → Russia Ukraine |
| USA | 1958 | Explorer 1 | Juno-1 |
| France | 1965 | Astérix | Diamant | → ESA |
| Australia | 1967 | Wresat | US Redstone |
| Japan | 1970 | Ohsumi | Lambda-4S |
| China | 1970 | Dong Fang Hong I | Long March 1 |
| UK | 1971 | Prospero X-3 | Black Arrow | → ESA |
| India | 1980 | Rohini | SLV |
| Israel | 1988 | Ofeq 1 | Shavit |
| Ukraine | 1995 | Sich-1 | Tsyklon | ? |
| Iran | 2009 | Omid | Safir-2 |
Soon : S Korea, N Korea ?
Links
The following lists of links are by no means exhaustive.
- Satellite Visibility :-
- Astronautics :-
- General :-
- What may be or was launched soon or recently, and when :-
- What is the UK doing :-
- What is Europe doing :-
- Arianespace,
launching from French Guiana :-
- ESA Ariane 5, Kourou
- Some Starsem
Soyuz, Sinnamary, from 2010
- ESA Vega, Kourou, from 2010
- EADS -
European Aeronautics Defense and Space Company :-
- Astrium
Satellite Builder, etc. (UK, FR, DE, ES) :-
- Skynet - UK military comms
- SSTL
- Thales Alenia
- ESA :-
- YouTube Channel
- Programmes :-
- Aurora -
Solar System exploration programme
- Galileo -
global position system (EU/ESA)
- Kopernikus -
GMES Programme (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) (EU/ESA)
- Launchers
- Some Current and Recent Missions :-
- ATV
- Jules Verne, launched March 2008, docked to ISS April,
undocked, reentered Sept
- Cluster
- magnetics, launched summer 2000, operating 2007
- Columbus
- ISS lab, launched Feb 2008
- Double Star
- magnetics, with China, launched 2003-12-29, 2004-07-25 ;
TC-1 terminated 2007-10-14
- GIOVE - Galileo test - A, B launched
- Integral
- gamma-ray observation - operating 2007, funded to 2010-12-16
- Mars Express (orbiting)
http://mars.esa.int/
- Rosetta
- via asteroids 2867 Steins 2008-09-05 &
21 Lutetia 2010-07-10), to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko ("Chury")
- dep. 2004-03-02, arr. May 2014, lander "Philae" Nov 2014?
- Smart-1 - moon
orbiter - Launch 2003-09-27, arr. Feb 2005, hard-landed 2006-09-03
- SOHO
- operating, S-E L1, 2007
- Ulysses
- solar polar orbiter - terminated, 2009-06-30
- Venus
Express - launched 2005, final orbit reached 2006
- XMM-Newton
- X-rays - operating 2007, funded to 2010-03-31
- Some Future Missions :-
- ATV 2-5
- BepiColombo
- Mercury orbiters, launch Soyuz Sinnamary (Kourou) Aug 2013 arr 2019
- Darwin -
S-E L2, Planet finder, 2015-20?
-
Exo-Mars - Rover, Pasteur biology payload (2016?)
- Gaia
- star/asteroid mapper, at L2 (launch 2012?)
- GOCE
- Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer
- Herschel
- Sun-Earth L2 halo IR observatory
- LISA -
gravity-wave detector, with NASA
- Planck
- cosmic microwave background polarisation
- Solar Orbiter -
elliptical orbit, tilting by Venus (May 2015?)
- ESO -
European Southern Observatory (Observatories: Chile; HQ: Germany)
- EU -
Galileo
- Norway - Andøya
Rocket Range
- SSC - Swedish Space Corporation,
Esrange Space Center,
Kiruna, N Sweden
- Other European space vehicles :-
- Italy : Three MPLM, cargo-carrier by Shuttle to ISS -
Leonardo, Raffaello and Donatello
- France : CNES : CoRoT
(Space observatory, stellar seismology, exoplanet search)
(ESA overview)
- There is also activity by some other European countries,
individually or grouped - Pleiades, ... .
- What are others doing :-
- Multinational :-
- Canada, ESA, Japan, Russia, USA - ISS
- Russia etc. - Starsem -
Soyuz
- Ukraine/Norway/Russia/USA :-
- Russia/EADS - Eurockot
- Brazil - developing a launcher
- Canada - CSA :-
- China - CNSA :-
- Launchers, satellites
-
Chang'e, Moon probes
- Shenzhou, manned orbiters
- etc.
- Germany - German Aerospace Centre
- India - ISRO - satellites
(INSAT, IRS), launchers (GSLV, PSLV, Agni), Gagan GNSS, Moon plans, etc.
- Iran - ISA - Launcher, etc.
- Isle of Man - Excalibur
Almaz - Tourist orbiter
- Israel -
ISA
- Shavit launcher, satellites
- Japan - JAXA :-
- H2A launcher
- HTV, to ISS
- Hayabusa asteroid probe (launched 2003)
- Kibo, ISS lab
- Satellites
- Selene/Kaguya
lunar orbiter, launched
- etc.
- South Korea - developing a launcher
- Russia :-
- Ukraine - Tsyklon from Brazil
- USA :-
- NASA (more or less) :-
- General
(Home/Index) :-
- GSFC - Maryland
- JSC - Houston
- KSC - Canaveral
- JPL - Pasadena
- NMC -
National Space Science Data Center Master Catalog
- Science
- TV - Webcasts
- Missions
(Index) :-
- Cassini - Saturn system
Constellation - Shuttle successor - Ares launchers, Orion capsule
- Dawn - launched, pass Mars 2009,
orbit Vesta 2011/12, pass Ceres 2015 : at
JPL,
NASA,
UCLA.
- GPS
- HubbleSite,
Space Telescope Science
Institute, ...
- Juno, Jupiter orbiter, launch 2011?
- Kepler, launched
exo-planet transit photometry telescope
- Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter - orbiting Moon
- Mars Exploration Program
- Messenger -
Launched; Mercury polar orbit March 2011
- Phoenix -
Mars lander/digger, 2007/8 (NASA)
- etc.
- SpaceX - Falcon 1 -
developing Falcon 1e, 9, 9 Heavy; Dragon, ISS supply
- Bigelow -
expanded orbiters - Genesis I, II, Sundancer, ...
- PlanetSpace - OTV, COTS
- Orbital Sciences Corporation -
Pegasus, Taurus, Minotaur; Cygnus
- XCOR - Lynx sub-orbital
- etc.
- etc.
- Peter Duffett-Smith of Cambridge :-
- I have :-
- "Practical Astronomy with your Calculator", CUP 1981
- "Easy PC Astronomy", CUP 1997
- "Astronomy with your Personal Computer", for
programmers, CUP 1990
- I have repeatedly read that
"Astronomical
Algorithms" (2nd ed, Dec '98) by Jean Meeus, Willmann-Bell
Publishers, ISBN 0-943396-61-1, is a good reference (EFG, etc.).
Also "Astronomische Algorithmen" ISBN 3-335-00400-0.
- Jean Meeus: Astronomical morsels; ISBN 978-0-943396-51-4 ?
- Whitaker's Almanac is a useful reference.
- "On the Shoulders of Giants", Ed. Stephen Hawking, Running Press, ISBN
0-7624-1348-4 - Writings of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton,
Einstein. Massive.
- My Date/Time Links include some.
- Try a search via the book suppliers' links on my
General Links; Abuse of the Net page!
Others may be mentioned in specific sections.
©
Dr J R Stockton, near London, UK.
All Rights Reserved.
These pages are tested mainly with Firefox 3.0
and W3's
Tidy.
This site,
http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/,
is maintained by
me.
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