Astronomy timeline

By blakerthebaker
  • 2000 BCE

    c2000 BC

    c2000 BC
    Temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak. The Temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak, Egypt was built so that its main axis points to the sunset at the summer solstice.
  • 550 BCE

    c550 BC

    c550 BC
    Pythagoras and students develop model of solar system. The model of Pythagoras used circular paths for the celestial bodies and assumed most celestial bodies are spheres
  • 1066

    1066

    1066
    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.
  • 1572

    1572

    1572
    Tycho observes supernova. Tycho's book about his observations of the supernova established his reputation as an astronomer

  • 1609

    1609
    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.

  • 1781

    1781
    Charles Messier prepares list of nebulae. Like other comet hunters, Messier often mistook nebulae for comets. He compiled a list of 103 nebulae as an aid to other comet hunters. This was the first list of nebulae.

  • 1790

    1790
    Pierre Simon Laplace proposes stars can produce black holes. Laplace proposed that if a star is so compact that its escape velocity exceeds the speed of light, then not even light can escape from the star.

  • 1879

    1879
    Joseph Stefan finds the rate at which a blackbody emits energy. Stefan found that the energy emitted by a blackbody increases as the fourth power of temperature.

  • 1905

    1905
    Jacobus Kapteyn uses star counts to map Milky Way. Using star counts, Kapteyn determined that the Sun lay 2000 pc from the center of a flattened galaxy.

  • 1969

    1969
    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.

  • 1987

    1987
    Supernova detected in Large Magellanic Cloud. The supernova, which occurred in one of the nearest galaxies, was the first supernova in almost 400 years that could be seen without the aid of a telescope

  • 2000

    2000
    Spacecraft NEAR-Shoemaker makes historic first landing on the asteroid (Eros)