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413 BCE
Lunar Eclipse
Lunar eclipse delays evacuation of Athenian army from Sicily. The Greeks regarded eclipses as uncertain omens. The delay doomed the Athenian army. -
134 BCE
Hipparchus
Hipparchus discovers precession, prepares stellar catalog. Hipparchus compared his own observations with earlier ones to discover precession, the slow change in the direction of the Earth's polar axis. He also made what was probably the first catalog of the positions and brightnesses of the stars. -
1066
Comet Halley
Comet Halley considered ill omen for King Harold. The appearance of Comet Halley in 1066 was considered an ill omen for Harold, King of England. Later that year Harold was killed in the Norman invasion of England. p. 309-310, F 10.8, F 10.9, F 10.10 -
1300
"Divine Comedy"
Dante describes medieval picture of universe in "Divine Comedy". Dante's picture of the universe has the Earth at its center, surrounded by the spheres of the Moon, Sun, planets, the fixed stars, a crystalline sphere and, finally, paradise. -
1504
Columbus
Columbus uses lunar eclipse prediction to influence Arawaks. From his almanac, Columbus knew that a lunar eclipse would occur on February 29. He impressed the Arawaks with his accurate prediction that the Moon would rise "inflamed with wrath". -
Galileo
Galileo uses telescope for astronomical observations. Galileo didn't invent the telescope but he was among the first to use a telescope to examine the heavens. He carried out important observations of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars. -
Edmund Halley - moving stars
Edmund Halley discovers stars move through space. Halley found that the positions of stars change with time. He explained the changes in position as due to the individual motions of stars through space. -
William Herschel
William Herschel uses star counts to map Milky Way. Herschel assumed that the galaxy extended farther in directions in which he could see more stars. He found the galaxy to be flattened with the Sun near the middle. -
Christian Johann Doppler
Christian Johann Doppler describes the Doppler effect. Doppler discovered that the wavelength and frequency of a wave change if the source of the wave moves toward or away from the observer. -
Huggins - chemical elements
William Huggins identifies chemical elements in stars. Huggins studied the spectra of bright stars and found that the dark lines in their spectra matched the wavelengths of atoms measured in terrestrial laboratories. -
Landed on the Moon!
Astronauts Edwin Aldrin and Neil Armstrong land on Moon. On July 20, 1969 Aldrin and Armstrong became the first people to land on the Moon. -
Spacecraft NEAR
Spacecraft NEAR-Shoemaker makes historic first landing on the asteroid (Eros).
