ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN

ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN
     On this day in 1778 The English navigator James Cook has discovered a new group of islands in the Pacific Ocean on his 3rd voyage of discovery aboard his ship Resolution. The islands, inhabited by a powerful race of Polynesians, are called Hawaii in the local tongue, but Captain Cook today claimed the territory for the Crown and name them the Sandwich Islands.

      In his attempt to discover a northwest passage from Europe to the Orient from the Pacific side, Captain Cook sailed from the Cap of Good Hope in 1776 to meet the survey vessel Discovery; and then onward to the North American coast via the  Pacific. His plan is to force a passage through Bering Straits into the Arctic Ocean, and return to Europe this way. If no such passage exists, then the Resolution can return the way it came. Cook aims to use the newly-discovered islands as ports of call. However, the islands inhabitants have shown some animosity toward their first European visitors.

A SAFE LANDING ON THE SURFACE OF AN OBJECT IN THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM.

SATURN IS WITHIN OUR REACH
      2005 Launched in October 1997, The Cassini-Huygens is a Flagship-Class NASA-ESA-ASI  robotic spacecraft sent on a mission to study Saturn. The name Huygens is derived from the Huygens atmospheric entry probe sent along with the spacecraft. It was supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA) and named after the dutch 17th century astronomer Christian Huygens. Today, the probe has successfully landed on Titan, one of Saturn's moons. It is the first probe to accomplish a safe landing on the surface of an object in the outer Solar System. In the meantime, the spacecraft has been studying Saturn and its many natural satellites since arriving at the planet in 2004. It has also been observing Jupiter, the heliosphere, and testing the theory of relativity.