January 19
Bound for Pluto
Sun Position
The Sun lies in Capricornus, about 20.6ยฐ south of the celestial equator. In the Northern Hemisphere the days are still short but lengthening; in the Southern Hemisphere this is high summer with long, warm evenings.
Sky Highlight
Canopus, the second-brightest star in the sky, stands high in the Southern Hemisphere evening and never rises for most of the north. A key navigation star for spacecraft.
Deep Sky Object
The Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy about 163,000 light-years away, naked-eye from dark southern skies. Southern Hemisphere only.
Featured Star
Canopus (ฮฑ Car), a white-yellow bright giant in Carina, about 310 light-years away. Canopus, the southern beacon, guiding spacecraft as it once guided ships.
Around This Date
- January 19, 2006NASA's New Horizons launched toward Pluto, the fastest spacecraft ever to leave Earth at the time.
- January 19, 1965Gemini 2 flew a successful suborbital test of the spacecraft heat shield, a critical unmanned step before crewed Gemini missions began the following month.
A spacecraft set out for a world it would not reach for nine years.