Beyond Earth History Blog

Discovery of X-rays A print of one of the first X-rays by Wilhelm Röntgen of the left hand of his wife Anna Bertha Ludwig. It was presented to Professor Ludwig Zehnder of the Physik Institut, University of Freiburg, on 1 January 1896. Credit: Wikimedia Commons The German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen ( 1845– 1923)  discovered X-rays at the Physical Institute of the University of Würzburg on November 8, 1895. He wrote an initial report "Ueber eine neue Art von Strahlen. Vorläufige Mitteilung" ("On a new kind of ray: A preliminary communication") and on December 28, 1895, submitted it to Würzburger Physikal.-medic. Gesellschaft journal. To signify an unknown type of radiation, Röntgen named the discovery X-radiation.    There are conflicting accounts of his discovery because Röntgen had his lab notes ...

 1631 transit of Mercury   Gassendi’s diagram showing the motion of Mercury across the face of the Sun from Mercurius in sole visus & Venus invisa (1632). Credit: Todd Timberlake. Observing Transits of Mercury from 1631 to Now   The first recorded transit of Mercury was observed on November 7, 1631, in Paris, by the French theologian, philosopher and astronomer Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655).     After completion in 1627 of the Rudolphine Tables , describing in numbers the position of the heavenly bodies using his new theory of elliptical planetary orbits, Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) predicted that both Mercury and Venus will transit over the Sun's disk in 1631 — on November 7 for Mercury and on December 6 for Venus. He wrote an "admonition" to astronomers, that was published in 1630. Kepler died that year, never witnessing his predictions.     Many astronomers in Europe attemp...

 SN 1572. Tycho's Supernova   A star map of the constellation Cassiopeia showing the position of the supernova of 1572, the topmost star, labelled I, from Tycho Brahe's De nova stella . Credit: Tycho Brahe/Wikimedia Commons Supernova SN 1572, also known as Tycho's Supernova or Tycho's Nova, was a supernova of Type Ia in the constellation Cassiopeia, one of eight supernovae visible to the naked eye in historical records. It appeared in early November 1572 and was independently discovered by many individuals. Its discovery marked a milestone in the history of science, challenging the Aristotelian dogma of the immutability of the realm of stars.       SN 1572 was well observed in Europe, as well as in the Far–East, for 16 months before fading from sight. The supernova was not yet noticeable on November 2, and its first observation was done on November 6 by German ...

Mariner 10. The last of Mariners Artist's rendering of NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech In 1969, NASA approved a plan to send a spacecraft to Mercury in 1973, using Venus for a gravity assist. The mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, became Mariner 10. It was the last in the highly successful Mariner series of planetary spacecraft that revealed many secrets about the inner solar system. Using gravity assist, a technique theorized for decades but never used before, under favorable conditions a spacecraft sent to one planet can use that planet’s gravitational force to essentially slingshot on to its next target. The method saved the cost of additional fuel and a larger rocket that would be necessary to launch the heavier spacecraft as well as time to get to the ultimate destination.     Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to use this technique to reach another planet. Its orbit was determined by Italian scien...

 Great Comet of 1577   The Great Comet of 1577, seen over Prague on November 12, 1577. In addition to the comet, five zodiac symbols appear in the sky: (L-R) Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Sagittarius. Below the comet's tail are the crescent moon and Saturn, depicted as a star with the astronomical symbol ♄. At the bottom center, a man draws the comet by the light of a lantern. Engraving made by Jiri Daschitzky. Credit: Wikimedia Commons The Great Comet of 1577 (C/1577 V1), one of the most important comets in the history of astronomy, was discovered in early November 1577. It was the first comet for which its location outside Earth's atmosphere was conclusively proven. The date of its first observations is uncertain. The comet could be first sighted in Peru on November 1 at dusk (November 2 UT), and in Mexico on November 4 or 6. On November 8, the Japanese recorded it as being as bright as the Moon and with a curved white tail stretching 50º. The glorious form of the ...