Editing 1996 in science (section)

==Astronomy and space exploration==
[[Image:Dolly clone.svg|thumb|right|250px|The [[cloning]] process that produced [[Dolly (sheep)|Dolly]].]]
* January 30 – [[Comet Hyakutake]] is discovered.<ref>{{cite web|title=Comet Hyakutake in March 1996|url=http://epod.usra.edu/library/comet_011510.html|website=epod.usra.edu|accessdate=20 February 2018}}</ref>
* February 17 – [[NEAR Shoemaker]] [[spacecraft]] launched. The craft landed on [[asteroid]] [[433 Eros]] in [[2001 in science|2001]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Shoemaker|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Near-Earth-Asteroid-Rendezvous-Shoemaker|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|accessdate=2018-02-20|language=en}}</ref>
* May – First naked-eye observation of [[Comet Hale-Bopp]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/spacewatch/comets.html|website=www.pbs.org|accessdate=20 February 2018}}</ref>
* June 4 – The [[European Space Agency]]'s [[Cluster (spacecraft)|Cluster]] is lost when the maiden flight of the [[Ariane 5]] rocket fails, self-destructing 37 seconds after launch from the [[Guiana Space Centre]] because of a [[software bug]] in the computer control system.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gleick|first=James|title=A Bug and A Crash|url=http://www.around.com/ariane.html|work=New York Times Magazine|accessdate=2012-04-07|date=1996-12-01|archive-date=2012-04-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420204657/http://www.around.com/ariane.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* October 3 – [[Reinhard Genzel]] and [[Andrea Ghez]] demonstrate the existence of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy, later identified as a [[black hole]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Eckart|first1=A.|last2=Genzel|first2=R.|doi=10.1038/383415a0|title=Observations of stellar proper motions near the Galactic Centre|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=383|issue=6599|pages=415|year=1996|bibcode=1996Natur.383..415E|s2cid=4285760|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* November 7 – [[NASA]] launches the ''[[Mars Global Surveyor]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mars Global Surveyor|url=https://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/past/globalsurveyor/|website=mars.nasa.gov|accessdate=20 February 2018}}</ref>
* The second 9.8 m [[reflecting telescope]] opens at [[Keck Observatory]], [[Mauna Kea]], Hawaii.<ref>{{cite web|title=Keck telescopes|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Keck-telescopes|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|accessdate=20 February 2018|language=en}}</ref>