February 5

5 February 1843

A painting of the sungrazing Great Comet of 1843, as seen from Tasmania, by Mary Morton Allport

The Great Comet of 1843 (C/1843 D1), sometimes known as the Great March Comet, was discovered on February 5, 1843. The comet was a member of the Kreutz sungrazers, a family of comets resulting from the breakup of a parent comet (possibly X/1106 C1) into multiple fragments in about 1106, and passed a perihelion of less than 830,000 km (~131,000 km from the surface of the Sun) on February 27, 1843. At this time it was observed in broad daylight roughly a degree away from the Sun.

The comet passed closest to Earth on March 6, 1843, at a distance of 0.84 au, and was at its greatest brilliance the following day. It was last observed on April 19, 1843. The comet has an orbital period of 600 to 800 years.

A night-time view showing an eyewitness account of the Great Comet of 1843, painted by the astronomer Charles Piazzi Smyth

5 February 1967

Engineering mock-up of the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: National Air and Space Museum

On February 5, 1967, Lunar Orbiter III was launched. It entered the lunar orbit on February 8, and acquired photographic data from February 15 to 23, 1967. The spacecraft concentrated its photography of the lunar surface on confirmation of landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions. The frames were read out successfully until 4 March when the film advance motor burned out, leaving about 25% of the frames on the takeup reel, unable to be read. A total of 149 medium resolution and 477 high resolution frames were returned, with resolution down to 1 meter. The mission ended on October 9, 1967, with the spacecraft impacting the lunar surface.

Launch of Lunar Orbiter 3 from an Atlas-Agena rocket on February 5, 1967. Credit: NASA

Full Description from NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive:

The Lunar Orbiter 3 spacecraft was designed primarily to photograph areas of the lunar surface for confirmation of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions. It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data. The spacecraft was placed in a cislunar trajectory and injected into an elliptical near-equatorial lunar orbit on 8 February at 21:54 UT. The orbit was 210.2 km x 1801.9 km with an inclination of 20.9 degrees and a period of 3 hours 25 minutes. After four days (25 orbits) of tracking the orbit was changed to 55 km x 1847 km. The spacecraft acquired photographic data from February 15 to 23, 1967, and readout occurred through March 2, 1967. The film advance mechanism showed erratic behavior during this period resulting in a decision to begin readout of the frames earlier than planned. The frames were read out successfully until 4 March when the film advance motor burned out, leaving about 25% of the frames on the takeup reel, unable to be read.

A total of 149 medium resolution and 477 high resolution frames were returned. The frames were of excellent quality with resolution down to 1 meter. Included was a frame of the Surveyor 1 landing site, permitting identification of the location of the spacecraft on the surface. Accurate data were acquired from all other experiments throughout the mission. The spacecraft was used for tracking purposes until it impacted the lunar surface on command at 14.3 degrees N latitude, 92.7 degrees W longitude (selenographic coordinates, some references give 14.6 N, 91.7 W or 14.3 N, 97.7 W) on October 9, 1967 at 10:27:11 UT.

Lunar Orbiter III image of the far side of the Moon. Credit: NASA

Spacecraft and Subsystems

The main bus of the Lunar Orbiter had the general shape of a truncated cone, 1.65 meters tall and 1.5 meters in diameter at the base. The spacecraft was comprised of three decks supported by trusses and an arch. The equipment deck at the base of the craft held the battery, transponder, flight progammer, inertial reference unit (IRU), Canopus star tracker, command decoder, multiplex encoder, traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA), and the photographic system. Four solar panels were mounted to extend out from this deck with a total span across of 3.72 meters. Also extending out from the base of the spacecraft were a high gain antenna on a 1.32 meter boom and a low gain antenna on a 2.08 meter boom. Above the equipment deck, the middle deck held the velocity control engine, propellant, oxidizer and pressurization tanks, Sun sensors, and micrometeoroid detectors. The third deck consisted of a heat shield to protect the spacecraft from the firing of the velocity control engine. The nozzle of the engine protruded through the center of the shield. Mounted on the perimeter of the top deck were four attitude control thrusters.

Power of 375 W was provided by the four solar arrays containing 10,856 n/p solar cells which would directly run the spacecraft and also charge the 12 amp-hr nickel-cadmium battery. The batteries were used during brief periods of occultation when no solar power was available. Propulsion for major maneuvers was provided by the gimballed velocity control engine, a hypergolic 100-pound-thrust Marquardt rocket motor. Three-axis stabilization and attitude control were provided by four one-lb nitrogen gas jets. Navigational knowledge was provided by five Sun sensors, Canopus star sensor, and the IRU equipped with internal gyros. Communications were via a 10 W transmitter and the directional 1 meter diameter high gain antenna for transmission of photographs and a 0.5 W transmitter and omnidirectional low gain antenna for other communications. Both antennas operated in S-band at 2295 MHz. Thermal control was maintained by a multilayer aluminized mylar and dacron thermal blanket which enshrouded the main bus, special paint, insulation, and small heaters.

High resolution image of lunar surface from Lunar Orbiter III. Credit: NASA

5 February 1971

Astronaut Alan Shepard holding the American flag on the Moon. Photo by Edgar Mitchell. Credit: NASA

On February 5, 1971, during the Apollo 14 mission, launched on January 31, Lunar Module "Antares" made the most precise landing to date in the hilly uplands of the Fra Mauro crater. It was the third successful human lunar landing, and the first in the lunar highlands.

The Lunar Module (LM), with astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr. (1923–1998) and Edgar D. Mitchell (1930–2016) aboard, separated from the Command and Service Module (CSM) "Kitty Hawk", piloted by Stuart A. Roosa (1933–1994), at 04:50:44 UT on 5 February and landed at 09:18:11 UT in the hilly upland region 24 km north of the rim of Fra Mauro crater at 3.64589º S latitude, 17.47194º W longitude (as determined from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images). The LM landed on the slope of a small depression, tilted at 8 degrees.

Shepard and Mitchell spent a total of 33.5 hours on the Moon and performed two extra-vehicular activities (EVAs), totaling 9 hours and 23 minutes. The first EVA began at 14:42:13 UT and ended at 19:30:03 UT. During this first EVA the astronauts deployed the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) and other experiments. During the second EVA, which took place from 8:11:15 to 12:45:56 UT on 6 February, the astronauts walked almost to the rim of nearby Cone crater, collecting samples along the traverse. At the end of this walk Shepard used a contingency sampler with a 6-iron connected to the end to hit two golf balls. The astronauts traversed a total of 3.45 km and collected 42.28 kg of lunar samples.

View of the Lunar Module Antares to the north. Image was taken during EVA 1 of the Apollo 14 mission. Credit: NASA

During the moon landing, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa remained in lunar orbit in the Command Module, "Kitty Hawk". The LM lifted off the Moon on 6 February at 18:48:42 UT after 33 hours 31 minutes on the lunar surface. After docking with the CSM (piloted by Roosa) at 20:35:53 UT, the LM was jettisoned at 22:48:00 UT and impacted the Moon at 3.42º S, 19.67º W, between the Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 seismic stations, at 00:45:25 UT on 7 February.

Altogether, Apollo 14 spent 2.8 days in lunar orbit, circling the Moon 34 times. The crew returned safely to Earth on February 9, 1971, landing in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa after a flight of 9 days and 2 minutes.

After installing the line of geophones of the Apollo Seismic Experiment (ASE), astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Lunar Module pilot, operates a hand-held thumper as he walks back toward the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP) central station. Credit: NASA

Astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14 Lunar Module pilot, walking between the Lunar Module and Cone crater ridge during the Lunar Surface EVA 2. Credit: NASA

5 February 1974

Artist's rendering of NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

On February 5, 1974, Mariner 10 spacecraft flew by Venus, the closest approach being 5,768 kilometers at 17:01 UT, and made a gravity assist on its way to Mercury. A total of 4,165 TV images were transmitted to Earth, many of which showed spectacular ultraviolet cloud formations and motions. Mariner 10 became the first spacecraft to use a gravity assist to change its flight path in order to reach another planet.

Layers of haze above the clouds of Venus. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A false color composite image of Venus created by combining images taken using orange and ultraviolet spectral filters on the spacecraft's imaging camera. These were used for the red and blue channels of the color image, respectively, with the green channel synthesized by combining the other two images. The images used to create this view were acquired by Mariner 10 on Feb. 7 and 8, 1974, a couple of days after the spacecraft's closest approach to Venus on Feb. 5. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Kevin M. Gill

5 February 1987

Artist's rendering of Ginga satellite. Credit: JAXA

On February 5, 1987, Ginga (ASTRO-C), Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite, was launched from the Kagoshima Space Center using M-3SII launch vehicle. The primary instrument for observations was the Large Area Counter (LAC). There were also All-Sky Monitor (ASM) and Gamma-ray Burst Detector (GBD) instruments onboard. The satellite had a mass of 420 kg.

The primary mission objective was the study of the time variability of X-rays from active galaxies such as Seyfert galaxies, BL Lac objects, and quasars. Accurate timing analysis of galactic X-ray sources was also planned. Ginga was the third Japanese X-ray astronomy mission, following Hakucho and Tenma. The satellite reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 1 November 1991.

5 February 2002

Artist's depiction of the RHESSI satellite

On February 5, 2002, at 20:58 UT, RHESSI (Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager), a solar flare observatory, was launched by a Pegasus XL rocket which was released from a L-1011 aircraft flying out of the Cape Canaveral AFS. The 293 kg (with fuel), 414 W, 2.2 m (height) x 1.1 m (width) satellite was equipped to image at high resolution solar flares in X-rays and gamma rays.

RHESSI's primary mission was to explore the basic physics of particle acceleration and explosive energy release in solar flares. This is achieved through imaging spectroscopy in X-rays and gamma-rays with fine angular and energy resolution to reveal the locations and spectra of the accelerated electrons and ions and of the hottest plasma. RHESSI covered more than a complete 11-year solar cycle, recording over 100,000 events, 42 with gamma-ray emission above 300 keV, and 27 with gamma-ray line emission.

Following communication difficulties, RHESSI ceased science operations on April 11, 2018, and was decommissioned on August 16, 2018. The spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere on April 20, 2023.

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