The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was the second of NASA's Great Observatories, after the Hubble Space Telescope, and was deployed from the Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-37. At the time it was the heaviest astrophysical payload flown, and carried four instruments covering a wide range of gamma-ray energies. It found that gamma-ray bursts come from all directions, showing that they occur far beyond the Milky Way, mapped the sky in gamma rays and discovered many active galaxies and pulsars. After one of its gyroscopes failed in 1999, NASA decided to bring it down in a controlled way, and it re-entered over the Pacific in June 2000.
Before and after
- 21 March 1991Birth of Antoine Griezmann
- from 23 March 1991 to 18 January 2002Sierra Leone Civil War
- from 31 March 1991 to 13 August 2001Yugoslav Wars
- from 31 March 1991 to 7 August 1995Croatian War of Independence
- 5 April 1991Launch of Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
- from 30 April 1991 to 15 May 1991Operation Ring
- from 27 June 1991 to 7 July 1991Ten-Day War
- from August 1991 to June 1992Battle of Osijek
- 14 August 1991Release of arXiv
More in Universe & space
- 16 February 1948Discovery of Miranda
- 5 September 1977Launch of Voyager 1
- 4 March 1979Discovery of Metis
- 5 March 1979Discovery of Thebe
- 8 July 1979Discovery of Adrastea
- 25 December 2021Launch of James Webb Space Telescope
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.