The debate continues unabated – e. g. S. Georg 2004, A. Vovin 2005, S. Georg 2005 ( anti-Altaic ); S. Starostin 2005, V. Blažek 2006, M. Robbeets 2007, A. Dybo and G. Starostin 2008 ( pro-Altaic ).

* 2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.

* 1932 – Helmut Griem, German actor ( d. 2004 )

* 1912 – Walt Gorney, American actor ( d. 2004 )

* 1923 – Ann Miller, American actor and dancer ( d. 2004 )

* 1952 – Ralph Wiley, American journalist ( d. 2004 )

* 2004 – U. S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

* 1909 – Juliana of the Netherlands ( d. 2004 )

* 1923 – Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna ( d. 2004 )

* 1923 – Jess Collins, American artist ( d. 2004 )

* 2004 – Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm, strikes Punta Gorda, Florida and devastates the surrounding area.

* 2004 – 156 Congolese Tutsi refugees are massacred at the Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi.

* 2004 – Paul Atkinson, British guitarist ( The Zombies ) ( b. 1946 )

* 2004 – Aaron Bank, American Office of Strategic Services officer and founder of the US Army Special Forces ( b. 1902 )

* 2004 – Ioannis Kyrastas, Greek footballer and manager ( b. 1952 )

* 2004 – Carrie Snodgress, American actress ( b. 1946 )

* 2004 – Nilo Soruco, Bolivian singer-songwriter ( b. 1927 )

* 2004 – A supermarket fire kills 396 people and injures 500 in Asunción, Paraguay.

* 1941 – Étienne Roda-Gil, French songwriter and screenwriter ( d. 2004 )

* 2004 – The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.

* 1905 – Franz König, Austrian cardinal ( d. 2004 )

* 1926 – Anthony Sampson, English journalist ( d. 2004 )

* 1946 – Syreeta Wright, American singer-songwriter ( d. 2004 )

* 2004 – Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer ( b. 1908 )

* 2004 – Bob Murphy, American sportscaster ( b. 1924 )

Space probes have been placed into orbit around all the five planets known to the ancients: first Mars ( Mariner 9, 1971 ), then Venus ( Venera 9, 1975 ; but landings on Venus and atmospheric probes were performed even earlier ), Jupiter ( Galileo, 1995 ), Saturn ( Cassini / Huygens, 2004 ), and most recently Mercury ( MESSENGER, March 2011 ), and have returned data about these bodies and their natural satellites.

The Cassini – Huygens mission, which went into orbit around Saturn in 2004, provided still better views, and allowed more in-depth analysis of the moon, including views of the surface under different lighting conditions.

No centaur has been photographed up close, although there is evidence that Saturn's moon Phoebe, imaged by the Cassini probe in 2004, may be a captured centaur.

The Cassini probe has been in orbit around Saturn since 2004, successfully returning mountains of scientific data.

Huygens separated from the Cassini orbiter on December 25, 2004, and landed on Titan on January 14, 2005 near the Xanadu region.

* Huygens probe separated from Cassini orbiter at 02: 00 UTC on December 25, 2004 in Spacecraft Event Time.

Huygens detached a month later than originally planned ( December 2004 instead of November ) and approached Titan in such a way that its transmissions traveled perpendicular to its direction of motion relative to Cassini, greatly reducing the Doppler shift.

Mimas has been imaged several times by the Cassini orbiter, which entered into orbit around Saturn in 2004.

Phoebe was the first target encountered upon the arrival of the Cassini spacecraft to the Saturn system in 2004, and is thus unusually well-studied for a natural satellite of its size.

Cassini – Huygens | Cassini spacecraft closeup of Phoebe from 13 June 2004 ; the crater Euphemus is at top center.

tDR was also commissioned to create a logo and general graphic design by French musician-producer Julien Civange for its Music2Titan mission to take music on the European Space Agency's Cassini – Huygens probe to the moon Titan in 2004.

The Cassini mission, which arrived at Saturn in the summer of 2004, initially discovered three small inner moons including Methone and Pallene between Mimas and Enceladus as well as the second Lagrangian moon of Dione — Polydeuces.

A survey starting in late 2000 and conducted using three medium-size telescopes found thirteen || || ||| || || || || Alkyonides || 2004 || Cassini – Huygens

| 12 || || Pallene || || style =" background: black ;"| alt = A dot in the glare of Saturn || || ||| || || || || Alkyonides || 2004 || Cassini – Huygens

|| || || || || || || trailing Dione trojan || 2004 || Cassini – Huygens

Recent images by Cassini during encounters in October and December 2004 reveal complex albedo patterns in the western portion of Xanadu.

Saturn's moon Phoebe as imaged by Cassini spacecraft June 7, 2004.

Photomosaic of Cassini images taken Dec. 31, 2004, showing the dark Cassini Regio, large craters, and the newly discovered equatorial ridge

In 2004, it was discovered that a 1, 300 km long ridge of 20 km ( 12 miles or 60, 000 ft .) high mountains runs down the centre of Cassini Regio, almost perfectly following Iapetus's equator.

Discovery image of Pallene in 2004 from the Cassini probe

Pallene was discovered by the Cassini Imaging Team in 2004, during the Cassini – Huygens mission.