Ten Facts About Space Mistakes

FACT ONE
Mercury and Venus are the only two planets in the Solar System not to have moons in their orbits. However, it was once believed the Venus did have a moon. Observations of this "moon", which even had a name (Neith) were made numerous times between 1672 and 1892 until scientists realised that what they were seeing were stars, many many millions of miles away from Venus!

FACT TWO
The discoverer of Uranus (1781), William Herschel, also discovered some of the planet's moons. He announced in 1787 that he had found six moons in orbit of the planet. In fact, he had discovered two (Titania and Oberon). The other "moons" were stars.

FACT THREE
Many astronomers observing Mars towards the end of the Nineteenth Century believed the planet to be inhabited. They thought they could see channels on the surface of Mars and areas of lush vegetation towards the equator. Theories were that the channels were used to transport food and water from the equator to the drier and colder poles. Such was the belief that life existed on Mars that in 1900, the French Academy of Science offered 100000 francs as a prize to the first person to discover extraterrestrial life, just as long as the alien wasn't from Mars!

FACT FOUR
In December 1998, Mars Climate Orbiter was sent to Mars to observe its climate while in orbit (its name kind of gives that away!). Scientists and engineers got their units of measurement mixed up, getting confused between imperial and metric. Scientists attempted to fire the craft's engines to get it to enter into an orbit of Mars, but due to the mathematical mix-up, the craft was in the wrong place. The burn failed, control of the craft was lost, and it is likely the Mars Climate Orbiter flew past Mars and is now lost in space somewhere.

FACT FIVE
Mars Climate Orbiter (see fact above) was also meant to be a relay satellite for Mars Polar Lander, a probe that was sent to Mars to land in a polar region and have a look around, again as its name suggests. The Polar Lander was expected to get to Mars after Mars Climate Orbiter, but as the Climate Orbiter was lost, scientists would have to find another way to get the Polar Lander to communicate its findings with Earth. This problem didn't trouble scientists for long though as Mars Polar Lander was also lost while descended to the surface of the planet. Even today, nobody knows why it stopped communicating and where it ended up.

FACT SIX
In December 1969, Apollo 12 became the second manned spacecraft to land on the surface of the Moon. Astronauts took a colour television camera with them so that they could send back high quality colour images of their trip to the Moon as opposed to the black and white grainy images of the Apollo 11 mission. Unfortunately, astronaut Alan Bean accidentally pointed the camera towards the Sun while setting it up, destroying its target tube and putting an end to video broadcasts immediately!

FACT SEVEN
In 1781, William Herschel discovered Uranus. Observations of the planet's orbit suggested there was something beyond Uranus having a gravitational influence on it and affecting its orbit. The location of another planet was predicted and Neptune was found in the expected place in 1851. Calculations of Neptune's mass suggested that there was something else affecting Uranus' orbit beyond Neptune. Astronomer Percival Lovell went in search of this planet from 1906, a planet that he termed "Planet X". After Lovell's death in 1916, American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh resumed the search for Planet X in 1929, eventually finding a world that would become known as Pluto in February 1930. However, this discovery was pure luck. Firstly, Pluto was too small to have any effect at all on the orbit of Uranus, so couldn't be the planet that Lovell was looking for. Secondly, Uranus' orbit could be explained by Neptune. The reason? Neptune's mass had initially been miscalculated! But, had it been calculated correctly in the first place, who knows when, or even if, Pluto would have been discovered?

FACT EIGHT
People have often claimed that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from space. This is not true. It can be spotted by astronauts in low-Earth orbit (for example, on the International Space Station or in a Space Shuttle orbiting about 100-200 kilometres above the surface of Earth), but apparently it is no more visible than many other man-made objects and you need to know where you are looking to be able to locate it. It is impossible to see it from the Moon.

FACT NINE
Up to the 16th Century, it was an accepted fact that Earth was at the centre of the universe. Orbiting Earth were seven planets (The Moon, Mercury, Venus, The Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) with the stars being in fixed positions most distant from Earth. The image to the left demonstrates this. Nicholas Copernicus was one of the first astronomers to point out that things didn't quite work right if Earth was in the middle of everything, and that things made a lot more sense if the Sun was at the centre, but didn't publish his theories until after his death in 1543 for fear of persecution. Scientists and religious leaders gradually accepted the true layout of the Solar System, although the Vatican continued to ban Copernicus' book containing his theories until 1758! Galileo Galilei was another astronomer who advocated a Sun-centred system, but had to stand trial in 1633 for his heretical beliefs and was placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life. Luckily, he received a formal apology by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

FACT TEN
In 1997, the comet Hale-Bopp came close enough to Earth and the Sun to become a clearly visible object in the night sky. An early image of the comet taken by an amateur astronomer showed a "Saturn-like object" object behind it. A cult, known as Heaven's Gate, believed that this Saturn-like object was actually a UFO accompanying the comet. By killing themselves, their souls would be able to escape Earth and their physical bodies, board the UFO and be taken to the Next Level. On 26th March 1997, the 39 members of Heaven's Gate, including the cult's leader, committed mass suicide. It turned out the the Saturn-like object was simply a star.