History of Astronomy Timeline

By Alyssa Fuller
  • 384 BCE

    Aristotle

    Aristotle
    384-322 B.C.
    Proved Earth was spherical and believed that the sun and planets were stuck to shells and that earth was the geocenter
  • 190 BCE

    Hipparchus

    Hipparchus
    190-120 B.C.
    Compiled first star catalog, first astronomer to realize equinoxes and distance between Earth and the moon
  • 165 BCE

    Ptolemy

    Ptolemy
    165-85 B.C.

    Geocentric theory/Ptolemaic model, wrote the book Almagest
  • 1473

    Copernicus

    Copernicus
    1473-1543 A.D.

    Heliocentric system in which the sun rather than the earth being the center, Created scientific method of investigation
  • 1546

    Tycho Brahe

    Tycho Brahe
    1546-1601 A.D. The most accurate planetary which included a comprehensive study of the solar system in his data in a book
  • 1564

    Galileo

    Galileo
    1564-1642 A.D. His discoveries with one of the first telescopes revolutionized astronomy, first person to realize sunspots, recorded data from motion of the sun and planets, there are 4 moons of Jupiter, Io, Europa, Calisto, Ganymede
  • 1571

    Johannes Kepler

    Johannes Kepler
    1571-1630 A.D.

    Planets orbit in ellipses not circles

  • Hans Lippershey

    Hans Lippershey
    1570-1619 A.D.
    He was a lens maker and patented the first telescope at 3X magnification

  • Refracting Telescope

    Refracting Telescope
    1608
    A telescope that uses a lens to collect light

  • Giovanni Cassini

    Giovanni Cassini
    1652-1712 A.D.
    Discovered Saturn’s moons and that there is a separation between them

  • Isaac Newton

    Isaac Newton
    1643-1724 A.D.
    Discovered 3 laws of motion and worked off Copernicus and Kepler using math, invented the reflecting (involves mirrors) telescope

  • Reflecting Telescope

    Reflecting Telescope
    1668 A.D.
    Telescope that uses mirrors to form an image

  • William Herschel

    William Herschel
    1738-1822 A.D. Discovered the planet Uranus and its moons. Also, 2 more of Saturn’s moons. Energy = Wavelength = Size. Light reflects on temperature of colors as well as wave lengths

  • Percival Lowell

    Percival Lowell
    1855-1916 A.D.
    Discovered the planet Pluto and studied “Canals” on Mars

  • Ejnar Hertzsprung

    Ejnar Hertzsprung
    1873-1916 A.D.
    The HR diagram shows difference between brightness and the type of star

  • Edwin Hubble

    Edwin Hubble
    1889-1953 A.D.
    Discovered the universe is expanding

  • Albert Einstein

    Albert Einstein
    1879-1955 A.D.
    Theory of relativity and gravitation

  • Karl Jansky

    Karl Jansky
    1905-1950 A.D.
    Discovered radio waves are emanating from space

  • Sputnik

    Sputnik
    1957 A.D.
    Soviet Union launched the world’s first satellite, because they beat U.S. the U.S. made NASA

  • Yuri Gagarin

    Yuri Gagarin
    1961 A.D.
    First human (Soviet) to orbit space

  • John Glenn

    John Glenn
    1962 A.D.
    First U.S. citizen to orbit space 3 times

  • Apollo Missions

    Apollo Missions
    1963-1972 A.D.
    Mission to send humans to the moon and bring them back safely. Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 achieved their goal

  • Neil Armstrong

    Neil Armstrong
    1930-2012 A.D.
    American engineer, astronaut and first man to walk the moon

  • First Space Shuttle Flight

    First Space Shuttle Flight
    1981 A.D.
    The shuttle launched like a rocket and landed like a plane it lasted 108 minutes and was the first re-usable space craft

  • Mars Pathfinder

    Mars Pathfinder
    1996-1997
    It was a new technology that developed a way to show the people on earth what mars actually looks like

  • Cassini Orbiter

    Cassini Orbiter
    1997 A.D.
    Collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency to send a probe to study the planet Saturn and its rings

  • SpaceX Falcon Heavy

    SpaceX Falcon Heavy
    2018 A.D.
    Manufactured by SpaceX and derived from the Falcon 9