Year: 1975

Categories
Astronomy Science & Technology

Themisto

  • September 30, 1975

ThemistoAstronomers catch fleeting glimpses of a new natural satellite of Jupiter, Themisto, though the initial estimates of its orbit are “off” enough that Themisto becomes “lost” and isn’t observed again until 2000. With a diameter of roughly five miles, Themisto marks the dividing line between the larger inner moons of Jupiter and the widely-scattered menagerie of asteroid-like outer moons orbiting the planet. Astronomers Elizabeth Roemer and Charles Kowal (who discovered another new Jovian moon in 1974) share credit for discovering the moon. Themisto is the last Jovian satellite to be discovered by ground-based telescope in the 20th century.

Categories
Science & Technology Uncrewed Spaceflight Weather & Climate

GOES-1 goes up

  • October 16, 1975

Earth seen from GOES-1The first in a new generation of weather satellites operating in geosynchronous orbit for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, GOES-1, is launched from Cape Canaveral. An acronym for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-1 is positioned over the Indian Ocean, where it is expected to become but the first in a constellation of weather satellites monitoring Earth’s atmosphere in both visible and infrared light. In 1978, GOES-1 will be repositioned over the Pacific Ocean, which it will monitor until it is decommissioned in 1985, after almost ten full years of operation.

Categories
Uncrewed Spaceflight Venera

Venera 9: first pictures from another planet

  • October 22, 1975

VeneraThe Soviet Venera 9 unmanned space probe touches down on the surface of Venus, the first spacecraft to soft-land on another planet and send back pictures. With atmospheric pressure measured at almost 100 times Earth sea level pressure, and temperatures over 900 degrees Fahrenheit, Venera 9 manages to stay intact for barely an hour, sending back a single panoramic picture of Venus before the environment overcomes its systems.