NHAS - Today in Astronomy History

	1868	French physicist Jean Bernard Leon Focault dies. He took the first photograph of the sun, invented the Focault test still used today for evaluating telescope mirrors, and built the Focault pendulum which demonstrated the rotation of the Earth. He also built a device that measured the speed of light using rotating mirrors and worked out how the human brain combines images from each eye, resulting in binocular vision.
	1970	The Ohsumi spacecraft becomes Japan's first satellite launch. Carried on a Lambda 4-S booster, the event makes Japan the fourth nation to launch its own satellite into orbit.
	1996	The Earth passes through the plane of Saturn's rings. This was the last of a triple ring crossing that began on 22 May 1995. When the Earth passes through the plane of Saturn's rings (about every 15 years), it is either a single crossing when Saturn and the Earth are on almost opposite sides of the Sun, or a triple crossing with the middle one near opposition (when Saturn and the Earth are closest to each other) and the other two near quadratures (when the Sun, Earth and Saturn form a 90° angle).
	1999	Pluto crosses the orbit of Neptune and becomes the farthest planet from the Sun. It will retain that status until 2227, when it passes inside of Neptune's orbit again.