Pluto Atmosphere
Color observations show that Pluto's high-altitude atmospheric haze appears blue when viewed in scattered sunlight.
Permanent historical records · Updated 2026-11-03
2015 in United States of America — Page 2
Explore 70 historical events and records for United States of America in 2015.
Historical records for United States of America in 2015
Sorted by month and day. Records with no month are shown last. Showing 30 of 70 unique records.
70Unique records
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26Named events on this page
24Named people on this page
6Places on this page
October
2016 Race Declined
Announces he will not run for president in 2016.
November
First New Horizons JR1 Observations
New Horizons obtains its first distant spacecraft observations of Kuiper Belt object 1994 JR1.
Pluto
Topographic analysis identifies Wright Mons and Piccard Mons as possible large cryovolcanoes formed by icy volcanic activity.
Pluto
The New Horizons team reports more than fifty Pluto-system discoveries four months after the flyby as stored data continue reaching Earth.
Pluto Moons
Analysis of the small moons shows rapid, non-synchronous rotation rather than the simple tidal locking seen in Pluto and Charon.
December
Pluto
Highest-resolution images show erosion and faulting sculpting rugged badlands and a major canyon system in Pluto's northern terrain.
Pluto
Close-up imagery reveals aligned pits in Pluto's nitrogen-rich ice, probably formed through fracturing and volatile-ice loss.
First Post-Crisis Federal Funds Rate Increase
The Federal Open Market Committee raises the federal funds target range to 0.25 to 0.50 percent, the first increase after seven years near zero and an important step in the normalization of monetary policy.
Predicted Supernova Refsdal
Kelly helps predict and then identify the reappearance of gravitationally lensed Supernova Refsdal in Hubble images.
GW151226 Detection
Advanced LIGO records GW151226 from two lower-mass black holes, providing a second robust direct gravitational-wave detection and showing that the first observation was not an isolated event.
Other events (month unknown)
Arrokoth Selected as Flyby Target
The New Horizons team selects 2014 MU69 as the preferred Kuiper Belt object for the spacecraft's post-Pluto flyby.
Arrokoth Trajectory Corrections
New Horizons performs a sequence of course corrections that redirects the spacecraft toward the selected Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69.
Direct Imaging of 51 Eridani b
Leads direct imaging discovery of young giant exoplanet 51 Eridani b.
Discovery of Kepler-452 b
Leads analysis announcing Kepler-452 b, a small planet orbiting a Sun-like star.
Grand Budapest BAFTA Screenplay
Won the BAFTA for original screenplay for The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Grand Budapest Director Nomination
Received his first Academy Award nomination for directing The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Grand Budapest Picture Nomination
Shared a best picture Academy Award nomination as producer of The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Hamilton Broadway Opening
Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton opened on Broadway, retelling the life of Alexander Hamilton through hip hop and other musical styles.
Irrational Man Film
In 2015, Woody Allen made Irrational Man, a philosophical mystery about a professor wrestling with moral choices.
MESSENGER Final Campaign
MESSENGER conducts an exceptionally low-altitude final campaign, obtaining measurements from only tens of kilometres above Mercury.
Mistress America
Co-writes and stars in Mistress America, a comedy about friendship, ambition and reinvention.
Mr Robot Premiere
Sam Esmail created Mr Robot, a psychological thriller about a cybersecurity engineer entangled in radical hacking schemes.
Neptune Dark Vortex Monitoring
Wong helps track bright companion clouds associated with a developing dark vortex on Neptune.
Neptune OPAL Monitoring
The Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy programme begins annual global monitoring of Neptune's changing weather.
Nobel Prize
Shares the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for mechanistic studies of DNA repair.
Pluto Moons
New Horizons detects Pluto's moon Nix during approach, adding another small satellite to its own imaging record.
Single-Atom Electron Spin Resonance
Helps develop scanning-tunnelling electron spin resonance capable of probing the spin of individual atoms.
The Hateful Eight
Plays Major Marquis Warren in Quentin Tarantino's western The Hateful Eight.
The Revenant
Plays frontiersman Hugh Glass in The Revenant, enduring a physically demanding wilderness role.
How these records were prepared
Generated from the World History Database historical_events table. Identical display records are collapsed; descriptions otherwise retain the stored text. Coverage and source quality vary. Check primary and specialist sources before citing individual historical claims.