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The Māori came to New Zealand from eastern Polynesia, probably in several waves between the years 1280 to 1300. With no instruments or tables to consult, they very carefully observed the night sky as well local weather patterns and ocean currents.
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Compass invented in 1300, helps guide which direction one is going when looking at the stars for a guide.
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Johann Bayer introduces Bayer designation of stars, assigning Greek letters to stars, still in use today
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Hans Lippershey, a Dutch spectacles maker invents the telescope.
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Galileo uses telescope for astronomical purposes. He discovers 4 Jovian moons, the Moon's craters and the Milky Way galaxy.
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Greenwich served as the location for accurate measurements of the heavens, since 1884, was recognized as the international location of the prime meridian, or zero degrees longitude.
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John Bird made the first sextant in 1757, The sextant became the critical instrument for celestial observation.
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contained tables related to efforts to determine longitude by means of lunar distance, a method of celestial navigation based on knowing the Moon’s position relative to other celestial bodies at specific places and time
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While nearing land on his way to Scotland in 1837, Captain Thomas Sumner of Boston had an insight that ultimately changed the practice of celestial navigation. With only one sighting on the Sun, Sumner made three different calculations based on estimates of his latitude. Plotted on a chart, the results lay along a straight line. He realized that any ship seeing the Sun at the same altitude in the sky must be located somewhere on that line. This was confirmed by sailing along that course until a
