Famous astronomers
John Couch Adams: (Britain, 1819-92) studied the Leonid meteor shower and predicted the existence of Neptune, which was discovered in 1846.
Edward Emerson Barnard: (USA, 1857-1923) discovered Barnard's Star and Amalthea, a moon of Jupiter.
Nicolaus Copernicus: (Poland, 1473-1543) showed that the Sun was at the centre of the Solar System.
Galileo Galilei: (Italy, 1564-1642) was a mathe- matician who made important discoveries concerning gravity and motion. He built some of the first telescopes used in astronomy and used them to discover many previously unknown space objects.
George Ellery: Hate (USA, 1868-1938) pioneered the astronomical study of the Sun and founded observatories, one with a major telescope named after him.
Edmond Halley: (Britain, 1656-1742) predicted the orbits of comets, including the one that bears his name.
William Herschel: (Germany/Britain, 1738-1822) built huge telescopes, compiled catalogues of stars and discovered moons of Saturn and Uranus.
Edwin Hubble: (USA, 1889-1953) made important discoveries about galaxies. The Hubble Space Telescope was named in his honour.
Christiaan Huygens: (Holland, 1629-95) discovered Saturn's rings and devised the wave theory of light.
Percival Lowell: (USA, 1855-1916) was founder of the Lowell Observatory, Arizona. He predicted that a planet would be found in the region where Pluto was later discovered.
Charles Messier: (France, 1730-1817) studied comets and eclipses, but he is best known for his catalogue of stars.
Isaac Newton: (Britain, 1643-1727) is considered one of the greatest of all astronomers. His theories of gravity and the motions of planets revolutionized the subject.
Heinrich Olbers: (Germany, 1758-1840) disco- vered asteroids and comets, one of which was named after him. Giuseppe Piazza: (Italy, 1746-1826) compiled star catalogues and discovered the first asteroid, Ceres, in 1801.
Some Milestones of Space Science
Year | Milestone |
585 BC | First prediction of eclipse of the Sun |
130 BC | Hipparchus calculates distance and size of Moon |
AD 1543 | Copernicus shows that the Sun is at the centre of the Solar System |
1609 | Johannes Kepler describes laws of planetary motion |
1610 | Galileo Gatitei discovers moons of Jupiter |
1655 | Christiaan Huygens discovers Titan, moon of Saturn |
1668 | Isaac Newton builds first reflecting telescope |
1687 | Isaac Newton publishes theories of motions of planets, etc |
1705 | Edmond Halley predicts return of comet |
1671-84 | Giovanni Cassini discovers four moons of Saturn |
1774 | Charles Messier compiles star catalogue |
1781 | William Herschel discovers 7th planet, Uranus |
1801 | First asteroid, Ceres, discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi |
1846 | Johann Galle and Urbain Le Verrier discover 8th planet Neptune |
1787-89 | Herschel finds two moons of Uranus and two of Saturn |
1839-40 | First photographs of the Moon |
1894 | Flagstaff Observatory, Arizona, founded |
1905 | Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity first proposed |
1908 | Giant and dwarf stars described |
1923 | Galaxies beyond the Milky Way proved |
1927 | Big Bang theory first proposed |
1930 | Pluto, the 9th planet, discovered by Clyde Tombaugh |
1959 | First photographs of the far side of the Moon by Soviet satellite Luna 3 |
1961 | First quasars discovered |
1967 | First pulsars identified |
1971 | Black hole first detected |
1973 | Skylab space laboratory launched |
1976 | Rings of Uranus are discovered |
1977 | Voyager deep space probes are launched |
1971 | Mariner 9 spacecraft maps Mars |
1980 | Voyager 1 explores Saturn |
1978 | Space probes Pioneer 1 and 2 reach Venus |
1985-89 | Voyager 2 discovers moons of Uranus and Neptune |
1994 | Comet Shoemaker-Levy observed crashing into Jupiter |
1995 | Galileo probe reaches Jupiter |
1997 | Mars Pathfinder lands |
1997 | Cassini probe launched to Saturn |
1998 | International Space Station construction starts |
1999 | Chandra X-Ray Observatory launched |
2003 | Galileo probe deliberately crash-landed on Jupiter |
2006 | New Horizons space probe launched to Pluto |
Observatory
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London Founded by King Charles II in 1675, but atmospheric and light pollution in London reduced its efficiency. In 1884 the Prime or Greenwich Meridian, 0°, which passes through the Observatory, was adopted as the basis for all mapping and measurements. Longitude measurements refer to west or east of the meridian.
Herschel's "Forty-foot" reflector, Slough A giant telescope built in 1788 with a 1.2m mirror.
Birr Castle, Co. Offaly, Ireland the Earl of Rosse's 1.8m reflecting telescope, built in 1845, was used to discover the spiral form of galaxies. It was the world’s largest until the opening of Mount Wilson and it was recently restored and opened to the public.
Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, Wisconsin, USA this 1m telescope is the biggest refracting instrument made up to this time. It was completed in 1897.
Mount Wilson Observatory, California, USA The telescope was installed in 1917 with a mirror size of 2.5m. It was the world's largest until the Hale.
Hale Telescope, Palomar Observatory, California, USA The Hate's 5m telescope was first used in 1949. Jodrell Bank, Cheshire Britain's first and once the world's largest radio telescope, with a 76m dish, began operating in 1957.
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