History of Astronomy

  • 384 BCE

    Aristotle

    Aristotle
    Aristotle - Born 384 BC, Died 322 BC. Was the first to Develop the geocentric theory. The great philosopher, proved that the Earth is spherical, and believed that it was at the center of the universe. According to him, the Sun, the Moon, the planets, and the stars travel in separate spheres. When the spheres touch each other, a 'music of the spheres' can be heard. He Believed that the sun and moon and stuff orbited around the earth.
  • 200 BCE

    Ptolemy

    Ptolemy
    Ptolemy - Geocentric means center of earth and He says earth is the center of universe. Ptolemaic means theory or relating to his theory of how the earth is the center of the universe
  • 190 BCE

    Hipparchus

    Hipparchus
    Hipparchus - Born 190 BC, Died 120 BC. Hipparchus of Nicaea was a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is most famous for his incidental discovery of precession of the equinoxes. He calculated the distance from the moon to the stars, and also cataloged the stars. - Heliocentric
  • Feb 19, 1473

    Copenicus

    Copenicus
    Heliocentric Solar System: People Proposed that the earth revolved around the sun.
  • Sep 9, 1564

    Galileo Galilei

    Galileo Galilei
    Italian scientist, ( 1564 - 1642 ) considered Godfather of modern Astronomy. 1. turned toy into telescope
    2. Observed / Discovered Sunspots
    3. Stars not fixed to celestial sphere
  • 1572

    Tycho Brahe

    Tycho Brahe
    Tycho Brahe - 1564-1601 known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical instruments and planetary observations.
  • Hans Lippershey

    Hans Lippershey
    Was a lens maker from Germany but moved to the netherlands. Believed to be the first to apply for a patent for the telescope design of 3x Magnification.
  • Johannes Kepler

    Johannes Kepler
    Eliptical obit: Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. Kepler is a key figure in the 17th-century scientific revolution. Discovered ellipse 1609 - 1619. Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion. Johannes Kepler published three laws of planetary motion, the first two in 1609 and the third in 1619. The laws were made possible by planetary data of unprecedented accuracy collected by Tycho Brahe.
  • Giovanni cassini

    Giovanni cassini
    Giovanni Domenico Cassini was an Italian mathematician, astronomer and engineer. Cassini was born in Perinaldo, near Imperia, at that time in the County of Nice, part of the Savoyard state. Discovered the divisions of the rings. (saturns)
  • Sir Isaac Newton

    Sir Isaac Newton
    Further developed works of copernicus and kepler using math. Invented reflecting telescope 1668. 3 laws of motion.
  • William Hershcel

    William Hershcel
    Frederick William Herschel, was a British astronomer and composer of German and Czech-Jewish origin, and brother of fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel, with whom he worked. Discovered planets and dwarf planets.
  • Percival Lowell

    Percival Lowell
    Percival Lawrence Lowell was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars.793 Arizona
    793 Arizona is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered in 1907 by American businessman Percival Lowell. It was named for the state of Arizona.
  • Ejnar Hertzsprung

    Ejnar Hertzsprung
    Ejnar Hertzsprung was a Danish chemist and astronomer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark. In the period 1911–1913, together with Henry Norris Russell, he developed the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.
  • Albert Einstein

    Albert Einstein
    Albert Einstein is often cited as one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century. His work helps astronomers study everything from gravitational waves to Mercury's orbit. His equation that helped explain special relativity – E = mc2 – is famous even among those who don't understand the underlying physics.
  • Edwin Hubble

    Edwin Hubble
    Edwin Powell Hubble was an American astronomer. He played a crucial role in establishing the fields of extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology and is regarded as one of the most important astronomers of all time. Discovered 1373 Cincinnati.
  • Karl Jansky

    Karl Jansky
    Karl Guthe Jansky was an American physicist and radio engineer who in August 1931 first discovered radio waves emanating from the Milky Way. He is considered one of the founding figures of radio astronomy.
  • Sputnick

    Sputnick
    History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That's why it is important. Also Russia was the first country to successfuly launch sputnick. The U.S. was in competition with russia so thats why N.A.S.A was created.
  • Apollo Missions

    Apollo Missions
    The Apollo Program (1963 - 1972) The Apollo program was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth. Six of the missions (Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) achieved this goal. Apollos 7 and 9 were Earth orbiting missions to test the Command and Lunar Modules, and did not return lunar data.
  • Yuri Gargarin

    Yuri Gargarin
    Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961.
  • John Glenn

    John Glenn
    Colonel John Herschel Glenn Jr. was a United States Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, and United States Senator from Ohio. In 1962, he became the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times.
  • Neil Armstrong

    Neil Armstrong
    Neil Alden Armstrong was an American astronaut, engineer, and the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also an aerospace engineer, naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. He went to the moon with Buzz Aldrin.
  • First Space Shuttle Flight

    First Space Shuttle Flight
    The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011.
  • Mars Pathfinder Expedition

    Mars Pathfinder Expedition
    Mars Pathfinder is an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a lightweight wheeled robotic Mars rover named Sojourner, which became the first rover to operate outside the Earth–Moon system.
  • Cassini Orbitor

    Cassini Orbitor
    The Cassini Orbiter's mission consists of delivering a probe (called Huygens, provided by ESA) to Titan, and then remaining in orbit around Saturn for detailed studies of the planet and its rings and satellites.
  • Space X Falcon Heavy

    Space X Falcon Heavy
    The two-stage Falcon Heavy is based on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which has been ferrying payloads to space since 2010. The Heavy's first stage consists of two Falcon 9 first stages strapped to a central "core," which is itself a modified Falcon 9 booster. Like the Falcon 9, the Heavy is designed to be reusable. The Falcon Heavy Sent a Tesla Into Space
  • Refracting Telescope vs. Reflecting Telescope

    Refracting Telescope vs. Reflecting Telescope
    A refracting telescope has the eyepiece at the bottom. The light collecting part of the reflector is a concave mirror; in the refracting telescope the light is collected by a lens. Was invented in 1668 by Sir Isaac Newton.The biggest difference is that a reflecting telescope uses a mirror to collect and focus the light and a refracting telescope uses lenses for the same purpose. The Reflecting Telescope was also invented in 1668 by Sir Isaac Newton.