by John Macco
15th of January 2012

The first major planetary discovery in nearly 50 years was announced on March 30, 1977 at NASA Ames Research Center with the discovery of a ring system orbiting Uranus. Flying in the Kuiper Airbourne Observatory, scientists observed the temporary disappearance of a faint star behind Uranus. The illustrated cover was autographed by Dr. James Elliot, Senior Research Associate at Cornell University's Center for Radiophysics and Space Research; graduate student, Edward Dunham and computer programmer, Douglas Mink.