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Timeline

Before Christ – B.C.

YearMonthDateDiscovery w/in oort cloudDiscovery w/in galaxy, star evolutionDiscovery byd galaxy
800Earliest observations of sunspots by Chinese “Book of changes”
75018.6 year of cycle in rising and setting of moon by MAYAN astronomers.
-585MayPrediction of Solar Eclipse – Eclipse of Thales
-467Anaxagoras gave correct explanation for eclipses. First to explain that moon shines due to reflected light from sun
-400Babylonians used zodiac to divide heavens into 12 equal segments each of 30 degrees.
-387Plato – He promoted idea that everything in Universe moves in harmony and that the Sun, Moon, snd planets mover arounf Earth in perfect circles.
-270Aristarchus of Samos – heliocentric model (sun at its centre and earth as just one planet orbiting it)
-240Eratosthenes measured circumference of Earth
-164September22Observation of Halley’s Comet, recorded in cuneiform on a clay tablet between, Babylon, Iraq. British Museum (BM 41462)
-130Hipparchus gave first accurate star map. And gave catalogue with 850 of the brightest stars.

Nothing prominent in aspect of Astronomy (Aage Badho!!!)

YearMonthDateInventionPhenomenon / disasters
-763June15Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history.
-240 Earliest record sighting of Halley’s Comet by Chinese astronomers.
-130Hipparchus came up with astrolabe

0 – 1000 C.E.

YearMonthDateDiscovery w/in oort cloudDiscovery w/in galaxy, star evolutionDiscovery byd galaxy
140Ptolemy – gave 48 constellations. And suggested geocentric earth
400Hindu cosmological time: “Surya Siddhanta” – average length of sideral year 365.2563627 days, which is only 1.4 seconds longer than modern value 365.256363004 days.
499
Aryabhatta – first identified the force gravity to explain why objects do not fall when earth rotates. Geocentric model. Elliptical model. Planets and the moon reflects light of Sun. they do not have their own light
628Bhramagupta- first recognises gravity as a force of attraction. Gave method for calculations of the motions, planets rising and setting, and calcultaions of solar eclipse and lunar eclipse.

Nothing prominent in aspect of Astronomy (Aage Badho!!!)

YearMonthDatePhenomenon / disasters
760May22Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.
837April10Earliest record sighting of Halley’s Comet by Chinese astronomers.

1000-1800 C.E.

YearMonthDateDiscovery w/in oort cloudDiscovery w/in galaxy, star evolutionDiscovery byd galaxy
1054July4
SUPERNOVA SN 1054, is seen by Chinese Song dynasty, Arab, and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.
1543May24Coprnicus published his book for heliocentrism and other
1572Tycho Brahe – supernova in constellation Cassiopeia
1582
1603Johann Bayer: Bayer designation to stars,i.e greek letters.
1609Kepler’s first and second laws of planetary motions are announced
1616March5 Nicolaus Copernicus’s book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published
1619Kepler’s third law in his book ”Harmonice Mundi”
1655March25Christian Huygens: Saturn rings + Titan + fourth satellite of Saturn.
1659Christian Huygens: first to observe surface feature on other planet. Saw a volcanic plain. Estimated length of day on Mars to be 24 1/2 hrs
1667Geminiano Montanari: first variable star’s discovery – Algol
1675Ole Romer: measured speed of light, Cassini: discovers Saturn’s rings are split into two parts
1687July5Start of Modern astronomy: Newton publishes his theory of universal gravitation.
1781March13Discovery of Uranus by Williams Herchel, 13th March
1783January31William Herschel discovered white dwarf, 40 Eridani
1784Messier discovers galaxies, nebula and star clusters. Named them messier object. He gave 103 objects. Other astronomer added 7 objects
1787January11William Herschel discoverTitania and Oberon, natural satellites of Uranus.

Space Explorations​

YearMonthDateObservatory/telescopeDiscovery w/in galaxy, star evolution
1608Hans Lippershey: invents telescope. 3 times magnification
1609
1610January7Galileo uses telecope,discovers 4 Jovian moons, ring of Saturn, sun spots, Moon craters and milky way galaxy. 20 times magnification
1668first reflecting telescope – Newton
1687July5The China National Space Administration (CNSA) launches the Tiangong-2 space laboratory from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia.Johann Bayer: Bayer designation to stars,i.e greek letters.
1687July5Start of Modern astronomy: Newton publishes his theory of universal gravitation.

Disasters

YearMonthDateInventionPhenomenon / disastersRocket Evolution
1054July4Chinese astronomers saw sudden appearance of bright star. American rock carvings also saw a brilliant star close to moon which is actually crab supernova exploding
1185May1Solar Promeniences evidence during solar eclipse
1473February19
1504February29Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Jamaican natives to provide him with supplies.
1582Pope Gregory – Gregorian calendar
1604October8The recenttly observed supernova – SN 1604 or Kepler’s Supernova
1608Hans Lippershey: invents telescope
1616February26Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun.
1655March25
1676November21The Danish astronomer Ole Rømer presents the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.
1705Halley correctly predicts the return of comet Halley’s comet i.e. 1758
1735July11According to Mathematical calculations Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979.
1753February17
1753March
1
1758Halley comet observed
1770July1 Lexell’s Comet is seen closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 AU

Miscellenous

YearMonthDateMisc
1473February19Birth of Nicolaus Copernicus
1753February17In Sweden February 17 is followed by March 1 as the country moves from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
1753March1Sweden introduces its own Swedish calendar, in an attempt to gradually merge into the Gregorian calendar, reverts to the Julian calendar on this date in 1712, and introduces the Gregorian calendar on this date in 1753.

Discoveries

YearMonthDateDiscovery w/in oort cloudDiscovery w/in galaxy, star evolutionDiscovery byd galaxy
1801January1Giuseppe Piazzi discovers first asteroid – CERES(945 km dia)
1801July11French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons makes his first comet discovery. In the next 27 years he discovers another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.
1802March28Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid ever to be discovered.
1804September1Juno, one of the largest asteroids in the Main Belt, is discovered by the German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.
1819July1Johann Georg Tralles discovers the Great Comet of 1819, (C/1819 N1). It was the first comet analyzed using polarimetry, by François Arago.
1826April29The galaxy Centaurus A or NGC 5128 was discovered by James Dunlop. It is fth brightest object in night sky a great target for amteur astronomers
1830Jupiter’s gret red spot was seen
183861 cygni first ever star after sun, whose distance was calculated. Using parallax (0.314” or 10.3 ly). By Freidrich Bessel
1843Samuel Heinrich Schwabe: describes the sunspot cycle
1845Lord Rosse discovers a nebula of spiral shape using this 72 inch telescope, which actually later got to be knoen as Whirlpool galaxy
1846September23Johann Galle discovers neptune. Its largest moon Triton was found at the same time.
1846October10Triton, the largest natural satellite of the Neptune discovered by  William Lassell.
1848Rudolf Wolf: Wolf’s formula for sunspot counts.
1850July17Vega became first star to be photographed after sun. By William Bond and John Adams Whipple with a duguerreotype
1858September10George Mary Searle discovers the asteroid 55 Pandora.
1861May13The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt
1863
1868August18Helium found in spectrum of Sun’s chromosphere. A bright yellow line of 587.49 nm. Detected by Jules Janssen during a total solar eclipse. 30 years later helium was found on Earth
1877Asaph Hall – Phobos and Deimos. Moons of Mars
1892September9Amalthea, third closest and fifth found moon of Jupiter is discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard.
1892October13Edward Emerson Barnard discovers first comet (206P/Barnard–Boattini) discovered by photographic means.
1894AugustSubhash chandra bose – discovering mm length electromagentic waves
1898August131898 – Carl Gustav Witt discovers 433 Eros, the first near-Earth asteroid to be found

Space Explorations

YearMonthDateObservatory/telescope
1845Leviathon of Parsonstown – 72inch – reflecting telescope. Largest telescope from 1845 to 1917. By william parsons

Disasters

YearMonthDateInventionPhenomenon / disastersRocket Evolution
1819March15French physicist Augustin Fresnel is adjudged the winner of the Grand Prix of the Académie des Sciences for his “Memoir on the Diffraction of Light”, which verifies the Fresnel integrals, accounts for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishes Newton’s initial objection to the wave theory of light.
1836May15Francis Baily observes “Baily’s beads” during an annular eclipse.
1863Spectral analysis of stars: by William Huggins
1892July4Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a year with 367 days.
1895Konstantin Tsiolkovsky – many works – design of rockets with steering thursters, multistage boosters, space stations, airlocks for exiting a spaceship into vaccum of space

1900 – 2000 C.E. Discoveries

YearMonthDateDiscovery w/in oort cloudDiscovery w/in galaxy, star evolutionDiscovery byd galaxy
1908Leavitt discovers Cepheid variables after he studied Magllanic clouds.
1910September15Thedor Wulf published first evidence of cosmic radiation
1910Hertzsprung and Russel introduce: HR diagram
1912January6German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of “continental drift”.
1918Henry Draper Catalogue was published
1922Jacobus kapeyn suggested existence of dark matter by studying stellar velocities.
1923Hubble resolved Shapley and curtis debate by finding Sepheids in Andromeda Galaxy proving that there are definetely other galaxies beyond milky way
1924November23Hubble shows that galaxies exist outside milky way. Andromeda
1924Oort shows that centre of milky way galaxy is in Sagittarius
1926
1927Georges Lemaitre first to identify theory of expanding universe, first to give hubble’s law. Proposed hypothesis of primeval atom today called as big bang
1929Hubble’s constant and that universe is expanding
1930February18Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto
1930May1“Pluto” is officially proposed for the name of the newly discovered  by Vesto Slipher in the Lowell Observatory
1930Chandrashekhar at age of 19 gave chandrashekhar limit for which he was awarded nobel prize
1931March163754 Kathleen is discovered at the Lowell Observatory by Clyde Tombaugh, who is mostly remembered for his discovery of Pluto.
1931Karl Jansky dicovers cosmic radio waves. His set up was named as Jansky’s merry go round
1932Oort postulated idea of dark matter existence
1933Fritz Zwicky and Walter Baade propose the idea of neutron star
1946George Gemaw came up with Big Bang nucleosythhesis
1948Fred Hoyle came up with steady state theory. Alpherd and Herman predcited thhat the universe should now be filled with blackbody radiation at a temperature of 5 Kelvin
1955March22Haumea was discovered in the kuiper belt.
1964May20Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson using Dicke radiometer, they measured CMBS’s temperature to be 4.2 K
1964Cygnus X1 – first black hole detection through a sounding rocket and x ray emissions
1967February8Josephe Weber, the first to attempt to detect gravitational waves. He said he deteccted 311 such events in 7 months. The aluminium bars are called as Weber bars whose 10^-16 m of detection has to be done by piezoelectric sensors to detect gravitational wa
1967November28Little green men, first pulsar detection. By Jocelyn Bell Burner. In constellation Valpecula
1977March10Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus
1979February7Pluto moves inside Neptune’s orbit for the first time since either was discovered.
1979March5Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the German-American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by “off the scale” gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.
1987February24Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Closest observed supernova since kepler’s supernova. A core collapse supernova
1989March314581 Asclepius, near-EARTH and potentially hazardour asteroid was found by H.E. Hault and N. G. Thomas.
1989Great Wall (Coma Wall) one of the  largest known supercluster in universe by Margaret Geller
1992January9The first confirmed discovery of extrasolar planets was made in 1992 when a system of terrestrial-mass planets was announced to be present around the millisecond pulsar PSR B1257+12 by  Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail.
1993March28Francisco Garcia Diaz discovered a type II supernova in M81 (NGC 3031).
1993August28NASA’s Galileo probe performs a flyby of the asteroid 243 Ida. Astronomers later discover a moon, the first known asteroid moon, in pictures from the flyby and name it Dactyl.
1995October651 Pegasi B, first exoplanet orbiting main sequnece star. 2019 Nobel Prize in phy: Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz
1998March2Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
1998Discovery of accelerating universe using distant type Ia supernova, reason later found was baryonic acoustic oscillations