Portal:Astronomy/Events/2014


 * This page is about the year 2014 in astronomy.

Eclipses
Two solar and two lunar eclipses take place in 2014 as follows.
 * Total Lunar eclipse of April 15, 2014
 * Annular Solar eclipse of April 29, 2014
 * Total Lunar eclipse of October 8, 2014
 * Partial Solar eclipse of October 23, 2014

Spaceflight

 * 06 March: Cassini's 100th flyby of Titan (Closest approach: 1500 km).
 * 06 August: Rosetta / Philae (spacecraft) enters orbit of 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
 * 22 September: MAVEN Areocentric orbit injection.
 * 24 September: Mars Orbiter Mission Areocentric orbit injection (India's first mission to Mars).
 * 12 November: Rosetta / Philae (spacecraft) landing on 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (First soft landing on a comet).

March

 * March 27 – Comet Holmes (17P/Holmes) reaches perihelion.

April

 * April 15: A Total Lunar eclipse will occur.
 * April 29: An annular solar eclipse will occur.

May

 * May 29 – Faye's Comet reaches perihelion.

August

 * The International Cometary Explorer, a 1978 NASA solar probe that was repurposed for a mission to explore comets, approaches Earth for the first time in decades. On May 29, contact was made with the spacecraft in an attempt to repurpose it for a new mission. However, in July, thrusters failed to complete the desired orbit maneuvers, though plans were made for other possible scientific data collection.  Ultimately, though, contact was lost on September 16 and it is unknown if it can be brought back to life.  Should it ever be returned to Earth intact, it has already been donated to the Smithsonian Institution.
 * August 25 – NASA's New Horizons spacecraft crosses the orbit of Neptune after travelling for over eight years. New Horizons is scheduled to reach its mission target, Pluto, in 2015. Neptune is the fifth planetary orbit the spacecraft has crossed.

October

 * October 8: A Total Lunar eclipse will occur.
 * October 23: A Partial Solar eclipse will occur.

December

 * December 3: JAXA's Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return mission launched.
 * December 5: The first unmanned flight test of NASA's Orion spacecraft launched.