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30,000 BCE
bone carvings
Event 1: c30,000 BC: bone carvings mark the movement of the moon over the year -
2500 BCE
stonehenge
Event 2: c2500 BC: building of stonehenge: used to mark the setting of the sun and solstices -
350 BCE
aristotle
Event 3: c350 BC: Aristotle argues the celestial bodies are spheres: aristotle used a number of proofs to prove the earth is a sphere and not flat. -
1000
monastaries
Event 3: Around the year 1000, sundials are prevalent, especially in monasteries where times of prayer were regulated, incorporating greater astronomical and calendrical detail by the later Middle Ages and Renaissance. -
1543
Copernicus
Event 2: 1543: Copernicus publishes "De Revolutionibus". De Revolutionibus, Copernicus's description of his heliocentric model of the solar system, was published two months before his death -
1580
Tycho
Tycho carries out best pre-telescopic observations ever. Tycho's observations, made using specially built instruments, were the most accurate ever made with the naked eye -
telescope
Event 2: In 1608 in the Netherlands, Hans Lippershey, a Dutch spectacles maker, invents the telescope -
Hans Lippershey
Event 2: In 1608 in the Netherlands, Hans Lippershey, a Dutch spectacles maker, invents the telescope. -
orbits
Event 3: 1610: Kepler discovers laws of planetary motion. Working with Tycho's observations, Kepler discovers the shapes of planetary orbits, how the speed of a planet varies as it orbits the Sun, and the relationship between orbital distance and orbital period -
planetary motion
Event 3: 1610: Kepler discovers laws of planetary motion. Working with Tycho's observations, Kepler discovers the shapes of planetary orbits, how the speed of a planet varies as it orbits the Sun, and the relationship between orbital distance and orbital period -
Galileo
Event 1: Galileo uses the telescope to observe the sun, moon (discovered that the moon had valleys, mountains, and plains like Earth does), phases of Venus, the four large satellites of Jupiter (proof that celestial bodies didn’t orbit the Earth), and published “The Dialogue”. -
Christiaan Huygens
Event 4: In 1659 in the Netherlands, Christiaan Huygens discovers Saturn’s rings and Titan (the fourth satellite of Saturn). -
supernova detected
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 -
galileo probe
Galileo probe enters Jupiter's atmosphere. An entry probe detached from the Galileo spacecraft and parachuted into Jupiter's atmosphere. The probe sent back data for about an hour before it was destroyed by high pressure and temperature -
Japanese research
Japanese researchers find evidence that neutrinos (possible candidate as "dark matter") may have mass -
Mars
Observations from a spacecraft orbiting Mars suggest large deposits of ice may lie below the Martian surface.