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The Big Bang is thought to have happened |
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BETWEEN 13 AND 20 BILLION YEARS AGO |
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2800 The construction of
Stonehenge is started. It was completed around 1000 BC (UK) |
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~2,000 B.C |
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280 Aristarchus had the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun, the Heliocentric
Hypothesis. (Samos, Greece) |
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~280
BC |
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| |
~240
BC |
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240 Eratosthenes makes a near accurate measurement of the circumference of the Earth.
(Cyrene, now in Libya) |
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| |
~130
BC |
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140 Hipparchus classed over 850 stars by their brightness, into 6 groups or magnitudes. (Greece) |
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140 Ptolemy put forward the theory that all the planets and the Sun orbit the Earth.
This is called the Geocentric Theory and it was believed for around 1500 years! (Eygpt) |
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140
AD |
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1543 Copernicus publishes "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" (Poland) |
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1500
AD
 |
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1572 Tycho Brahe observes a "new star" in the Cassiopeia constellation. (Denmark) |
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1550
AD
|
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1582 Pope Gregory XIII introduces a new calendar,
the Gregorian Calendar (Italy)
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1596 David Fabricius
discovers Mira, the first known periodic variable star. (Frisia, now Germany) |
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1603 Johann Bayer publishes Uranometria that introduced a new way of representing
stars by assigning Greek letters to each of them. (Germany) |
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1609 Galileo uses a telescope to look at the night sky. He discovers the Milky Way,
craters on the Moon and the moons around Jupiter.(Italy) |
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1611
Johannes Fabricius
identifies
sunspots.
(Germany) |
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1600
AD
|
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1608 Han Lippershey, a spectacle maker, invents the telescope (Netherlnds) |
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1609 Kepler publishes Astronomia Nova, that describes his frist two laws of planetary
motion.(Germany) |
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1619 Kepler publishes Harmonice Mundi (Harmony of the World)that describes his third law
of planetary motion. (Germany) |
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| 1656
Christiaan Huygens discovers Saturn's fourth moon, Titan, and identifies Saturn's rings. (Netherlands) |
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1666
Giovanni Cassini
measured the
period of
rotation of
Mars and
identified its
polar ice
caps. (Italy) |
|
1676
Ole Roemer,
a Danish
astronomer
living in
Paris, while
observing the
moons of
Jupiter,
discovers that
light has a
speed.
Measures the
speed of light
at
200000 Km/sec
(France) |
|
1687
Newton
publishes is
book about
Universal
Gravitation,
Philosophiae
Naturalis
Principia
Mathematica.
This is
considered the
start of
Modern
Astronomy.
(England) |
|
1650
AD
|
1659
Christiaan Huygens records features on the surface of the planet Mars. (Netherlands) |
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1668
Newton built
the first
reflecting
telescope.
(England) |
|
1669
Geminiano Montanari discovers the
brightness of
the star Algol
is
variable.(Italy) |
|
1675
Cassini
identifies a gap
in the rings of
Saturn, now
called the
"Cassini
Division".
(France) |
|
|
1705
Halley
predicts that
a comet will
return in the
year 1758.
This comet is
now known as
Halley's
comet.
(England) |
|
1700
AD
|
|
| 1758
Halley's comet is observed by the astronomer Johann Palitzsch on the night of December 26-27, 1758. (Germany) |
|
1750
AD
|
1781
William Herschel discovers Uranus. (UK) |
|
1781
Charles Messier
catalogues the
Messier
Objects
(galaxies,
nebulae and
star clusters)
he discovers.
(France) |
|
| 1801
Giuseppe Piazzi
discovers the asteroid, Ceres. (Italy) |
| 1843
Samuel Heinrich Schwabe
recognises sunspot cycles. (Germany) |
|
1800
AD
|
1842
Christian Doppler
discovers the "Doppler Effect". (Austria) |
1846
Johann Gottfried Galle
discovers Neptune. (Germany) |
|
| 1860-1863
Sir William Huggins
studies the chemical composition of stars using spectral analysis. (UK) |
| 1877 Giovanni Schiaparelli observed lines on the surface of Mars. These were later called "Canals". (Italy) |
|
1878 The Great Red Spot
on Jupiter is
named. During
this year it
increases in
size. |
|
1850
AD
|
1868 Pierre Janssen and Norman Lockyer used the spectroscope to study solar prominences. (UK) |
1872 Henry Draper photographs a stellar spectrum. (US) |
|
1877
Asaph Hall identifies the
moons of Mars, Deimos and
Phobos. (US) |
|
| 1904 Mount Wilson Observatory is founded. Its prime objective is to study the sun. (US) |
| 1908 Ejnar Hertzsprung indentifies giant and dwarf stars. (Denmark) |
| 1911-1914 Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell build a diagram that plots the stars brightness against their temperature. This is called the HR diagram. (Denmark & US) |
| 1916 Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of Relativity (Germany) |
| 1926 Robert Goddard uses liquid rocket fuel to power a test rocket. (US) |
| 1930 Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto (US) |
| 1937 Grote Reber builds the first radio telescope (US) |
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1900
AD
|
1905 Albert Einstein publishes his special theory of Relativity (Germany) |
1908 Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovers stars that go through cycles of brightness and darkness, the cepheid variables. (US) |
1914 Robert Goddard launches a ten foot rocket that begins the rocket era. (US) |
|
1923
Edwin Hubble
identifies
galaxies other
than the Milky
Way (US) |
|
1927
Jan Oort
showed that
the Milky Way
galaxy rotates
(Netherlands) |
|
1931
Karl Jansky
discovers
radio waves
that are
extra-terrestrial
in origin (US) |
|
| 1957 Sergei Korolyov launches Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the Earth (Russia) |
| 1960
Archaeoastronomy, the study of the history of astronomy, is introduced (UK) |
| 1962 John Glen pilots the Mercury- Atlas 6 ("Friendship 7) spacecraft into a three-orbit flight around the Earth (US) |
|
1966
Luna 9
makes the
first soft
landing on
the Moon's
surface.
(Russia)
|
1968
Apollo 8,
carrying Frank
Borman, James
Lovell and
William
Anders, was
the first to
orbit the Moon
see the dark
side . (US) |
| 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first men to walk on the surface of the Moon. (US) |
| 1972 Pioneer 10, destination Jupiter, was launched (US) |
| 1974 Mariner 10 sends photos of Venus and Mercury back to Earth (US) |
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1977
The first of
Uranus' rings
are
photographed
by Voyager 2
(US) |
|
1980
Voyager 1
passes Saturn
and sends back
photos of
Saturn's
rings. (US) |
|
1986
The Space
Shuttle
Challenger
explodes 73
seconds after
its launch.
(US) |
|
1994
The
Shoemaker-Levy
comet crashes
into Jupiter |
|
1996
Yuji Hyakutake
makes the
first sighting
of Comet
Hyakutake
(C/1996 B2).
(Japan) |
|
1997
The spacecraft
Cassini is
launched
towards Saturn
(US) |
|
1998
The
International
Space Station
construction
begins. |
|
1999
The real
Hubble Constant,
the speed at
which the
universe is
expanding, is
calculated. (US) |
|
1999
The Mars Polar
Lander is lost
at the south
pole of the
planet.
(US) |
|
1950
AD
|
|
1958
The first US
satellite,
Explorer I, is
launched. It
identifies the
Van Allen
radiation belt
in the Earth's
magnetosphere. |
|
1961
Vostok I is
the first
spaceship to
carry a man
into space.
The
cosmonaut's
name is Yuri
Gagarin.
(Russia) |
1963 Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, made 48 orbits of the Earth in the Vostok 6 spaceship (Russia) |
|
1966
Surveyor 1
makes a
soft
landing in
the Ocean
of Storms,
on the
Moon's
surface
(US) |
1970 The Venera 7 spacecraft becomes the first man-made object to return information to the Earth, after a soft landing on Venus. (Russia) |
1976 Viking 1 and Viking 2 make soft landings on Mars (US) |
1978 James Christy and Robert Harrington discover Pluto's moon, Charon. (US) |
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1986
Voyager 2
reaches
Uranus.
(US) |
|
1990
The space
shuttle
Discovery puts
the Hubble
telescope into
orbit. (US) |
|
1995
The Galileo
space probe
reaches
Jupiter's
atmosphere
(US) |
|
1997
Pathfinder
lands on Ares
Vallis, Mars
(US) |
|
1998
The Lunar
Prospector maps
the surface of
the Moon from a
distance of 100
kilometres. (US) |
|
1998
The Galileo
spacecraft
helps
scientists to
discover the
origins of
Jupiter's
rings (US) |
|
1999
The space
shuttle
Columbia,
piloted by
Col. Eileen
Collins, puts
the Chandra
X-Ray
Observatory
into orbit.
(US) |
|
| 2000 The space shuttle Endeavor set out on its radar topography mission of the Earth. (US) |
| 2001 Evidence that water existed on the surface of Mars comes from the study of the Shergotty meteorite. (US) |
|
2004
The spacecraft
Cassini
arrives at
Saturn
(US) |
|
2005
The European
Space Agency
probe,
Huygens,
launched from
the spacecraft
Cassini,
lands on Titan
(US/EU) |
|
2000
AD
|
2000 The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft sends back images of the asteroid Eros (US) |
2001 The Mir Space Station, after 15 years in orbit, is crashed into the South Pacific Ocean. |
2004 Mars Expedition Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" landed on Mars and started sending back images and information about the surface rock. (US) |
|
2006
Launch of
the New
Horizon's
spacecraft
to Pluto
and
beyond. |
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The Open Door Web Site