James W. Christy discovers Charon, moon of Pluto, on U.S. Naval Observatory photos. Walter Baade, expert on galaxies, died. In 1952 he demonstrated that intergalactic distances had been underestimated by a factor of at least two. Walter Baade discovered the unusual asteroid Icarus, whose perihelion lies well inside the orbit of Mercury. The Earth passed through the tail of a great comet.
Many Astronomers believe it was a small comet.
The 300 foot radio telescope at Green Bank, West Virginia becomes operational. A great meteor shower with recorded rates of up to 350 meteors per minute was observed coming from a radiant in the constellation Draco. Neptune's larger satellite Triton discovered by English amateur astronomer William Lassell. He accomplished this by inventing the mercury barometer, which which he used to calculate the height of the atmosphere. Saturn's shadow eclipsed its outer satellite Iapetus.