| Date | Event |
|
2500 BC | Stonehenge predicts the Moon's eclipses |
|
2000 BC | Egypt and Mesopotamia First solar-lunar calendars |
|
280 BC | Aristrachus suggests heliocentric theory and first estimation of Earth-Sun distance |
240 BC
(About) | Eratosthenes measures Earth's circumference |
|
140 | Ptolemy suggests geocentric theory in Mathematike Syntaxis |
|
813 | Al Mamon founds the Bagdad school of astronomy, which chart the planets' movements |
|
1543 | Copernicus's De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium provides mathematical evidence for the heliocentric theory |
|
1608 | A Dutch lensmith invents the first telescope |
|
1609 | Galileo uses the telescope to discovers four Jovian moons, lunar craters;
Kepler's first two Laws of Planetary Motions are formulated |
|
1611 | Kepler formulates third Law of Planetary Motion |
|
1624 | Galilei Galileo describes the theory of tides |
|
1631 | Kepler successfully predicts the transit of Mercury |
|
1632 | Galilei Galileo invents Galilean relativity, publishes Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems (Ptolemaic v. Copernican) |
|
1655 | Huygens discovers Saturn's rings and one of its satellite, Titan |
|
1659 | Huygens notes markings on Mars |
|
1666 | Cassini observes Martian polar ice caps |
|
1668 | Newton builds the first reflecting telescope |
|
1676 | Roemer uses Jupiter's moons to measure the speed of light |
|
1687 | Newton's Principia Mathematica describes universal law of gravitation |
|
1750 | Thomas Wright postulates first scientific theory for the birth of the solar system |
|
1754 | Black proves existance of non-oxygen atmospheres |
|
1761 | Russian astronomers discover the atmosphere of Venus |
|
1781 | Herschel discovers Uranus |
|
1787 | Herschel discovers the first two moons of Uranus, Titania and Oberon |
|
1796 | Laplace proposes the Nebular Hypothesis of the solar system's origin based on stellar evolution |
|
1801 | Piazzi discovers the first planetoid, Ceres |
|
1834 | Hussey proposes another planet beyond Uranus, is rebuffed |
|
1836 | Existence of a trans-Uranian planet generally accepted |
|
1837 | The first accurate map of the moon is published |
|
1839 | Draper photographs the moon, ushering in photoastronomy |
|
1845 | Adams solves problem of Uranian orbit discrepancies, confirming the existence of the exterior planet
Le Verrier presents a second paper on Uranus’s motion, attributing its rotational irregularity to an eighth planet |
|
1846 | Galle discovers Neptune based on Leverrier's calculations |
|
1851 | Foucault's pendulum helps to prove the Earth rotates |
|
1857 | Maxwell discovers nature of Saturn's rings |
|
1859 | Le Verrier describes the anomolous perihelion shift of Mercury |
|
1856 | Piazzi uses a thermocouple to detect the moon's infrared radiation |
|
1870 | The Earl of Rosse uses infrared measurements to estimate the Moon's surface temperature at 260 degrees Celsius. (Margin of Error: 22 degrees Celsius) |
|
1877 | Hall discovers the Martian satellites, Phobos and Deimos
Schiaparelli observes the Martian canals |
|
1878 | Jupiter's Great Red Spot becomes prominent |
|
1900 | Chaberlin and Moulton propose new theory of the Solar System's origin |
|
1905 | Lowell postulates a ninth planet beyond Neptune |
|
1910 | Infrared radiation is detected from Jupiter and Saturn |
|
1914 | Goddard begins practical experiments with rockets |
|
1915 | Einstein's relativity explains the perhilion shift of Mercury |
|
1926 | Goddard fires first liquid fuel rocket |
|
1930 | Tombaugh discovers Pluto |
|
1932 | First radio astronomy by Jansky |
|
1937 | The first radio telescope built by Reber |
|
1946 | Bay obtains the first radar images of the Moon |
|
1949 | Second moon of Neptune, Nereid, discovered by Kuiper |
|
1957 | The first artificial satellite launched by the Russians.
The Space Age begins! |
|
1958 | The first American satellite launched |
|
1961 | Gargarin is the first man in space |
|
1962 | Mars I (Russia) and Mariner II (USA) are the first planetary probes |
|
1964 | Close range pictures of the Moon;
First soft landing on the Moon (Russia's Luna 9 and US's Surveyor I);
Russian probe lands on Venus |
|
1968 | First manned flight around the Moon (Apollo 8) |
|
1969 | Apollo 11 carries Armstrong to the Moon |
|
1971 | First orbital probes around Mars and first Martian soft landing;
First manned mechanical vehicle on the Moon |
|
1972 | Pioneer 10 - the first probe to Jupiter launched by the USA |
|
1973 | First images of Jupiter transmitted by Pioneer 10 |
|
1974 | First image of Mercury's surface transmitted by Mariner 10 (USA) |
|
1977 | Discovery of Uranus's rings
Voyager 2, NASA space probe, launched |
|
1978 | Discovery of Pluto's moon |
|
1980 | First images of Saturn and its rings transmitted from close vicinity
by space probe Voyager 1 (USA). |
|
1986 | Voyager 2 approaches the planets Uranus and Neptune;
The spaceship Challenger explodes;
Magellan mission to radar map the surface Venus;
Voyager 2 approaches the planet Neptune;
Pluto at perihelion |
|
1989 | Voyager 2 flies by Neptune, discovering most of what is known of Neptune today |
|
1992 | The Mars Observer spacecraft is launched by NASA to study the atmosphere and surface of Mars |
|
1994 | Comet Shoemaker-Levy crashes into Jupiter |
|
1995 | Space probe Galileo reaches Jupiter |
|
1998 | Lunar Prospector reaches the Moon |
|
1999 | Mars Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander are lost |
|
2000 | Space Shuttle Endeavor makes a detailed map of Earth |