the most significant events in astonomy

The creation

3 BCE

there are a of theory of the creation of the universe the big bang that a single point explote

Movements of the planets

500

A thousand years of observations reveal that there are stars that move in the sky and follow patterns, showing that the Earth is part of a solar system of planets separate from the fixed stars.

The Earth Moves

Sep 13, 1543

Nicolaus Copernicus places the sun, not the Earth, at the center of the solar system.

Planetary Orbits Are Elliptical

Sep 13, 1605

Johannes Kepler devises mathematical laws that successfully and accurately predict the motions of the planets in elliptical orbits.

Jupiter Has Moons

Sep 13, 1612

Galileo Galilei discovers that Jupiter has moons like the Earth, proving that Copernicus, not Ptolemy, is right. Copernicus believes that Earth is not unique, but instead resembles the other planets, all of which orbit the sun.

Halley's Comet Has a Predictable Orbit

Sep 13, 1758

Edmund Halley proves that comets orbit the sun like the planets and successfully predicts the return of Halley's Comet. He determines that comets seen in 1531 and 1607 are the same object following a 76-year orbit.

. The Milky Way Is a Gigantic Disk of Stars

Sep 13, 1780

Telescope-maker William Herschel and his sister Carolyn map the entire sky and prove that our solar system resides in a gigantic disk of stars that bulges in the center called the Milky Way.

General Relativity

Sep 13, 1915

Albert Einstein unveils his theory of general relativity in which he proposes that mass warps both time and space, therefore large masses can bend light.