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This article is about the year 2015 in astronomy.

Equinox & Solstice

• March 20: March Equinox - This is also the first day of spring (vernal equinox) in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of fall (autumnal equinox) in the Southern Hemisphere.
• June 22:June Solstice - This is the first day of summer (summer solstice) in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of winter (winter solstice) in the Southern Hemisphere.
• September 23: September Equinox - This is also the first day of fall (autumnal equinox) in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of spring (vernal equinox) in the Southern Hemisphere.
• December 22: December Solstice - This is the first day of winter (winter solstice) in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of summer (summer solstice) in the Southern Hemisphere.

Eclipses

Two solar and two lunar eclipses take place in 2015 as follows.

• Total Solar eclipse of March 20, 2015
• Total Lunar eclipse of April 04, 2015
• Partial Solar eclipse of September 13, 2015
• Total Lunar eclipse of September 28, 2015

Spaceflight

• March: NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrived at the dwarf planet Ceres. First visit to a dwarf planet.^[1]
• April: NASA's MESSENGER to impact to Mercury.
• July: The ESA and NASA plan to launch the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, a gravity research probe and technology testbed.
• July 14 – NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is expected to fly by Pluto and Charon and explore the area for five months, until the distance becomes too great. The space probe will then continue farther into the Kuiper belt and perform another flyby on suitable KBO during New Horizons' Kuiper-belt mission.^[2] It is the first flyby of Pluto and Charon & 2nd visit to a dwarf planet.
• November: Japanese space probe Akatsuki, formerly known as the Venus Climate Orbiter (VCO) and Planet-C, 2nd flyby of Venus and 2nd attempt at Venus Orbit insertion.

Events

January

February

March

• March 6: NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrived at the dwarf planet Ceres. First visit to a dwarf planet.
• March 20: A Total Solar eclipse occurred.

April

• April 04: A Total Lunar eclipse occurred.
• April 30: MESSENGER impacted Mercury.

May

June

July

• July 14 – NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto and Charon, exploring the area for five months until the distance became too great. New Horizons is now in the Kuiper belt and will eventually leave the Solar System. First flyby of Pluto and Charon & 2nd visit to a dwarf planet.

August

September

• September 13: A Partial Solar eclipse occurred.
• September 28: A Total Lunar eclipse occurred.

October

November

December

• December 3: ESA and NASA launched the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, a gravity research probe and technology testbed.
• December 7: Japanese space probe Akatsuki, formerly known as the Venus Climate Orbiter (VCO) and Planet-C, attained Venus Orbit insertion.

See also

References