... Explorers 1/3 . ... Orbit . ... Launch of Explorer 1 . ... The USSR was first, sending off its first "Sputnik" ("satellite") on October 4, followed by Sputnik II on November 3. ... The spacecraft, named Explorer 1, was launched 31 January 1958 and was designed and built by a group of scientists from the University of Iowa, led by James Van Allen . ... the launch of Explorer 1;Click . ... Explorer 2 failed to orbit, but Explorer 3, launched March 26, was successful, and it did carry a tape recorder. ...

... Explorers 1/3 . ... Orbit . ... Launch of Explorer 1 . ... The USSR was first, sending off its first "Sputnik" ("satellite") on October 4, followed by Sputnik II on November 3. ... The spacecraft, named Explorer 1, was launched 31 January 1958 and was designed and built by a group of scientists from the University of Iowa, led by James Van Allen . ... the launch of Explorer 1;Click . ... Explorer 2 failed to orbit, but Explorer 3, launched March 26, was successful, and it did carry a tape recorder. ...

... Jupiter's big moon Ganymede is not only the size of a planet -- it sounds like one too, as heard in audio recordings made from data returned by NASA's Galileo spacecraft released today. ... Characterized by a soaring whistle and hissing static, Ganymede's song reveals that the Solar System's largest moon is also the only one known to possess a planet-like, self-generated magnetic cocoon called a magnetosphere , which shields the moon from the magnetic influence of its giant parent body, Jupiter. ...

Next: The Nature letter of Up: The discovery of pulsars Previous: Neutron stars . Three sources of scintillation of radio sources: . ... interplanetary gas . ... Hewish and Bell [ 14 ] observed the recordings . ... Figure 2: Discovery observations of the first pulsar. (a) The first recording of PSR 1919+21; the signal resembled the radio interference also seen on this chart. (b) Fast chart recording showing individual pulses as downward deflections of the trace. ... Jon Bell . ...

... Tonight's Sky . ... SUN MOON MERCURY VENUS MARS, JUPITER SATURN . ... Observing . ... Astronomy for Kids . ... MAVEN spacecraft returns first Mars observations . ... NASA s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has obtained its first observations of the extended upper atmosphere surrounding Mars. ... MAVEN is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the tenuous upper atmosphere of Mars. ... Only registered members of Astronomy.com are allowed to comment on this article. ...