MARYLAND AT A GLANCE

SCIENCES

ASTRONOMY

[photo, Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St., Baltimore, Maryland]
  • Observatories
  • Planetariums

  • Goddard Space Flight Center
  • Maryland Science Center
  • Space Telescope Science Institute

    • Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St., Baltimore, Maryland, June 2006. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    [photo, Moderator Michael Akkerman (left) & author David Grinspoon (right) discuss Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto, Annapolis Book Festival, Key School, Annapolis, Maryland] Maryland's relation to astronomy dates to the 17th century. Arthur Storer (c. 1642-1686), the first astronomer in the American colonies, moved to Calvert County, Maryland, in 1678. Storer was among the first to sight and record data describing Halley's Comet on its return in 1682. Last seen in 1986, Halley's Comet orbits the sun approximately every 76 years and it will return in 2061.

    Moderator Michael Akkerman (left) & author David Grinspoon (right) discuss Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto, Annapolis Book Festival, Key School, Annapolis, Maryland, April 2019. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    [photo, Rocketship, modeled from recycled plastic bottle, Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore, Maryland]

    In Maryland are a number of institutions concerned with astronomy, aeronautics, and space research, including the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt; the Maryland Science Center, Baltimore; and the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore.

    GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
    Formed in May 1959,     Goddard Space Flight Center is in Greenbelt. The Center was named for Robert Hutchings Goddard, the father of modern rocket propulsion. As part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Center was the first space flight complex established by NASA.

    The Center is the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers, and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study Earth, the sun, our solar system and the universe.


    Rocketship, modeled from recycled plastic bottle, Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore, Maryland, August 2019. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    MARYLAND SCIENCE CENTER
    Founded in 1797, the Maryland Academy of Sciences opened its new home, the     Maryland Science Center, in June 1976. The Center, including its Davis Planetarium and IMAX Theater, borders the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.

    SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE
    For the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) operates the     Space Telescope Science Institute at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

    The Institute is responsible for the science program of the Hubble Space Telescope. It will conduct the science and mission operations for its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, which launched on December 25, 2021, as well as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is slated to launch in late 2026. The Institute also supports other astronomy programs and conducts scientific research.

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