2004 in Science - Astronomy

Astronomy

• January 19 - The Hubble Space Telescope Program receives notification of the cancellation of all further HST on-orbit servicing.
• March 15 - Astronomers announce the discovery last year of trans-Neptunian object 90377 Sedna, one of the most distant objects in the Solar System.
• April 19 - Partial solar eclipse
• May 18 - Scientists using the Chandra X-ray Observatory announced their findings that supports the notion that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating.
• June 8 - Transit of Venus across the Sun.
• September 13 - Astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) announce images that appear to show a planet orbiting a brown dwarf about 230 light years away. The system is believed to be only around 8 million years old.
• October 14 - Partial solar eclipse
• November 20 - Launch of the Swift satellite to investigate gamma-ray bursts (GRB) and perform an X-ray all sky survey.
• December 27 - A flare of radiation from an explosion on the super-magnetic neutron star (Magnetar) SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth - astronomers later calculate that it is the largest explosion observed in the Milky Way galaxy for 400 years.