15 May
1998: On 15 May 1998, astronomers obtained an unprecedented look at the nearest example of galactic cannibalism - a massive black hole hidden at the centre of a nearby giant ...
27 FEB. 2004
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1998: On 16 May 1998, ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) mission finished. Scientists communicated with the satellite for the last time, forcing it to change its orbit so that it would burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
ISO continued to give scientific surprises to the very end. ISO's last observation - taken with the SWS instrument just before midnight on 10 May - was of emission lines from hydrogen in the hot supergiant star Eta Canis Majoris.
ISO was launched by an Ariane 44P launcher from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 17 November 1995. Initially it was supposed to be operational for 18 months, but thanks to meticulous engineering and some good fortune, the satellite's working life was stretched to more than 28 months until May 1998.
1969: On 16 May 1969, the USSR spacecraft Venera 5 landed on Venus. On arrival at Venus, a capsule weighing 405 kilograms and containing scientific instruments was jettisoned from the main spacecraft. During descent towards the surface of Venus, a parachute opened to slow the rate of descent. For 53 minutes, while the capsule was suspended from the parachute, data from the Venusian atmosphere were returned.
1934: On 16 May 1934, Roy Kerr was born. He was a New Zealander mathematician who, in 1963, solved Einstein's field equations of general relativity to describe rotating black holes.
Mediemodal
14 May
2003: On 14 May 2003, ESA's comet-chasing Rosetta mission was given a new destination, Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, at a meeting of ESA's Science Programme Committee.The rendezvous with the new target comet ...
13 May
1997: On 13 May 1997, XMM-Newton's telescope went on show to the public for the first time.ESA's XMM-Newton mission carries three identical telescopes. An assembly of 58 mirrors, carefully sized, ...
12 May
1910: On 12 May 1910, Sir William Huggins died. William Huggins was an English amateur astronomer and the pioneer of spectroscopy. He built a private observatory in 1856 at Tulse ...
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