On this day · archive
A planet at the next star
The discovery of Proxima Centauri b placed a planet around the Sun’s nearest stellar neighbor, turning cosmic distance into the language of next door.
8
events in todayish file
2016
Proxima Centauri b, the closest exoplanet to Earth, is discovered by the European Southern Observatory.
The discovery of Proxima Centauri b placed a planet around the Sun’s nearest stellar neighbor, turning cosmic distance into the language of next door.
In 2016, astronomers announced a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the star nearest our Sun. Proxima Centauri b turned an abstract stellar neighbor into a place with a world of its own.
The discovery came through the star’s subtle motion, measured over time rather than seen as a bright disk. That method makes the finding feel almost clerical: repeated observations revealing a planetary tug.
August 24 also records earthquakes, a satellite launch, a landmark diplomatic appointment, an aviation first, public software, and the legal aftermath of violence. Proxima Centauri b opens the widest scale among them, with the nearest star still more than four light-years away.
The full record
8 entries from the day’s archive, filed year by year with a note on what each one leaves behind.
Taiwan’s National Space Agency launches the Formosat-5 observation satellite.
The mission placed a domestically developed Earth-observation satellite into orbit.
Space
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes central Italy, killing around 300 people.
The quake devastated towns across the central Apennines.
Disaster
The European Southern Observatory announces the discovery of Proxima Centauri b.
The finding placed a planet around the closest star to the Sun.
Space
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes the San Francisco Bay Area.
Centered near Napa, it was the region’s strongest earthquake since 1989.
Disaster
Anders Behring Breivik is sentenced to 21 years of preventive detention for the 2011 Norway attacks.
Preventive detention allowed confinement to continue while he was judged dangerous.
Law
Microsoft releases Windows 95 in North America.
The release helped define personal computing for a mass-market generation.
Technology
Edith Sampson becomes the first Black U.S. delegate to the United Nations.
Her appointment placed a Black American woman in a prominent international diplomatic role.
Diplomacy
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States.
The Los Angeles-to-Newark flight added a transcontinental record to her aviation career.
Aviation