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168
Ptolemy
Ptolemy produced the first predictive model of the solar system. He wrote the Almagest which is a textbook in mathematical astronomy. It was so successful that it became the new standard in mathematical astronomy for 1400 years. -
322
Aristotle
Aristotle argued that each part of the earth is trying to be pulled to the center of the earth, and so he believes earth is round. Aristotle said, ¨If the earth were moving through space, if you tripped, you would not be in contact with the earth, and so would get left behind in space. Since this obviously does not happen, the earth must not move.¨ Aristotle's ideas become very important because they become incorporated into the Catholic Church's theology. -
1543
Copernicus
Mostly everyone believed that the earth was the center on the solar system. Copernicus believed that the earth was and that the earth was just another planet orbiting the sun. Copernicus's model was not completely right but, his idea helped other scientists finish the job. -
Tycho Brahe
Brahe proved that the supernova had never adjusted with regard to the surrounding stars, and that the comet orbited far from the moon, which made him believe that the heavens never changed. Brahe created a giant observatory and a new model of the moon orbiting the earth along with other known planets circling the sun. -
Hans Lippershey
Hans got a patent for the telescope, one of the most important inventions. But, no one really knows how he came up with the idea. To this day it is still a mystery about who was the first to create the first telescope but, Hans was credited since he was first to get a patent for it. -
Johannes Kepler
Kepler discovered the laws of planetary motions. His descriptions about planetary motions were known as Kepler’s laws. Mars was appearing to be moving backwards but, Kepler figured out that planets travel in huge circles that are known as eclipses. -
Galileo
Galileo used his telescope and was first to see craters on the moon, some deep sunspots and even was able to track down the different phases of planet Venus. Galileo noticed Neptune but, never classified it as a planet. Using the information of the phases of Venus he published work on the Copernican system and was arrested. -
Difference between refracting and reflecting telescopes
The difference between them is that reflecting telescopes are used for astronomy and refracting telescopes are used for photography. Also, refracting telescopes use lenses and reflecting telescopes use mirrors. Some reflecting telescopes are made huge because the mirrors can be made bigger than lenses can. -
Giovanni Cassini
Giovanni Cassini discovered the 4 moons of Saturn. Using the information he provided they sent a spacecraft to study Saturn. The Cassini Spacecraft orbited Saturn in 2004 and lasted till 2017. In this mission they discovered that Saturn has water jets. -
Sir Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton wrote laws called The Laws of Motion. The first law is how objects move at the same velocity unless another force acts upon it. The second law was that he provided a calculation for how forces contact each other. The last law was for every action in nature there is an equal one and opposite reaction. -
William Herschel
William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus. Also created a telescope with the magnifying power of about 6,500 times. He also believed that there was “island universe” which is now referred to as a galaxy. -
Percival Lowell
Lowell believed that there were other planets around Neptune. To find out if he was correct he built an observatory to study Neptune and all around it. In his observatory is where Pluto was discovered. -
Karl Jansky
Jansky discovered radio waves which developed radio astronomy. That unidentified radio interference that came from the stars. The telescope needed to be flown into space because it could not see the atmosphere. -
Edwin Hubble
Edwin Hubble proved that there is more than one galaxy. Before that everyone believed that the Milky Way is the only galaxy. He discovered that the universe is expanding based on the level of redshift in light coming from one galaxy. -
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein created the theory of relativity changed modern astrophysics. He created an equation that estimates the distance between a star and the earth. He also proved that mass and energy are equivalent to each other. -
Sputnik
Sputnik was the first artificial satellite to successfully orbit the earth. It was launched at Tyratuam and burned in the atmosphere. About a moth later they sent up another that orbited for five hours and overheated. -
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri was the first person to go into outer space. His mission was called Vostok 1. He orbited the earth once in the Vostok spacecraft. -
John Glenn
John Glenn was the first american to orbit the Earth. He piloted the Friendship 7 and orbited about 3 times. Once it returned to Earth, Glenn became a hero for orbiting the Earth and making it back safe. -
Ejnar Hertzsprung
Ejnar was a Danish chemist and astronomer. He developed the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. He also classified the different types of stars. -
Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon. He also flew on a successful test pilot, the Gemini 8 mission in 1966. He was also on Apollo 11. One of Armstrong's famous quotes "That is one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.¨ -
The Apollo Program
The Apollo Program sent space shuttles into space for different missions. Such as, Apollo 8, Apollo 11, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, etc. The program was created to land humans on the Moon and have them return to earth safety. -
First Space Shuttle flight
The shuttle program was called the "Space Transportation System". It was the first orbiter in space. The mission had two on the on board, John Young and Bob Crippen. -
Mars Pathfinder Expedition
The Pathfinder was designed to work for one month. Gathering data about mars atmosphere and climate and also the planet's rocks. The robots found plenty of information on mars. -
Cassini orbiter
The Cassini orbiter's mission was to orbit Saturn which they did complete. The Cassini is the first to orbit Saturn and the fourth to visit it. -
Snowman in Space
On the edge of our solar system is an area that has objects revolving around are sun. It is called the Kuiper Belt. On January 1st 2019 NASA took a picture of a snowman shaped object.
