Astronomy time table

In the astronomy timetable , some important discoveries and advances in knowledge in astronomy are listed as examples. The history of astronomy is presented in the article of the same name. The history of space travel must be distinguished from this . In particular, events are listed for which certain groundbreaking findings or techniques were first made or used. See also the history section in the article "Observational Astronomy".

Old Stone Age

• In the cave of Lascaux ( France ), cave paintings probably depict the Pleiades and the zodiac (zodiac) or the summer triangle .

Neolithic

• The tower of Jericho from the 9th millennium BC Chr. Indicates the knowledge of the summer solstice and Neolithic buildings such as Stonehenge testify to the efforts of the settled population to precisely determine the natural length of the year and selected cyclically recurring celestial events such as solstice and equinox . Compare also Tropical Year: Historical Development of Measurement

5th millennium BC Chr.

• by the middle of the millennium: The planet Mars is known.
• approx. 4900 BC BC: The Goseck district moat (also known as the Goseck solar observatory ) is being built in what is now Goseck ( Burgenlandkreis ) in Saxony-Anhalt (some archaeologists call it the oldest observatory in the world).

4th millennium BC Chr.

• oldest surviving written record of the techniques and importance of ancient Egyptian astronomy
• Mercury has been known at least since the time of the Sumerians .
• August 11 or 13, 3114 BC Chr .: starting point of the long count of the Mayan calendar .

3rd millennium BC Chr.

• around 3000 BC Chr .: Stone tablet from the temple of Tal-Qadi on Malta possibly represents a star map or a lunar calendar.
• 2707 - v 2639th BC ( Third Ancient Egyptian Dynasty ): Decorations of ceilings with simple star patterns in the Djoser pyramid
• 2137 BC Chr . : Record of the first solar eclipse in China
• approx. 2100 to 1700 BC Chr. Nebra Sky Disc : oldest depiction of the heavens
• 2137 to 1781 BC Chr .: Diagonal star clocks , sky representation in the coffin of Heni in the Middle Kingdom

2nd millennium BC Chr.

• approx. 1400 - 1300 BC Chr . : astronomical calendar functions based on a lunisolar calendar system ( gold hat )
• 1880 to 1850 BC Chr .: Nutbuch on the subject of dean stars , shadow clock , moon, sun and planets in the Middle Kingdom under Sesostris III.
• from 1645 BC BC : so far the oldest known written document of a planetary observation ( Venus tablets of Ammi-şaduqa ): These cuneiform tablets carry until around 800 BC. Chr. Copied texts of the Babylonian king Ammi-Saduqa on observations of 584-day interval of Venus from 1645 v. Chr.
• around 1000 BC Chr .: The Babylonians can isolate complex superimpositions of periodic phenomena in the individual periods and thus calculate them in advance.

1st millennium BC Chr.

• June 6, 763 BC BC : first reliably datable observation of a solar eclipse in Mesopotamia
• 6th century BC BC : The Pythagoreans take the view of a spherical earth and its movement around a central fire. Around 580 BC, the earth is described as a sphere according to a theory by Anaximander .
• 4th / 3rd Century BC Chr .: Theophrastus of Eresos clearly speaks in his "weather signs" of a spot on the sun .
• 384 BC BC - 322 BC BC : Aristotle : Argument for spherical earth due to circular earth shadows during lunar eclipses
• around 300 BC BC : The Stoics compile a list of the supposed distance of the planets from the earth.
• 3rd century BC BC : Aristarchus of Samos measures the size and distance of the moon and the sun . In addition, he was the first to show a mathematical proof of the existence of a heliocentric worldview .
• around 240 BC BC : first approximately correct calculation of the circumference of the earth via angles of shadows in various places by Eratosthenes of Alexandria
• about 190 - 120V. BC : Simple instruments for determining the position of celestial objects can be found in Hipparch and Ptolemy ( first astrolabe ).
• around 150 BC BC : Hipparchus von Nikaia and Archimedes created first star catalogs (1000 stars); Discovery of the precession movement of the earth: This discovery is attributed to Hipparchus (around 150 BC). Since then, the permanent change in the coordinates of the fixed stars in the night sky and thus also the equatorial coordinates right ascension and declination has been known.

2nd century

• around 150 : Claudius Ptolemy describes the geocentric view of the world, later named after him, in the Almagest with mathematical formulas.

9th century

• 829 : Establishment of an observatory in Baghdad

10th century

• Description of the Andromeda Galaxy - the closest galaxy to Earth - by the Persian astronomer Al-Sufi , who calls it "the little cloud"

11th century

• 1000 : Establishment of an observatory in Cairo

14th Century

• Between 1304 and 1306: first realistic representation of a comet, Halley's comet in the fresco of the Cappella degli Scrovegni

16th Century

• 1543 : Nicolaus Copernicus , after a long hesitation, publishes his studies of planetary motions. With this he takes up the idea of ​​the heliocentric worldview .
• 1572 : Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) shakes the Aristotelian assumption that the celestial sphere cannot be changed with his observations of the supernova in the constellation Cassiopeia .
• 1577 : By measuring the parallax , Tycho Brahe recognizes that the comet of 1577 is not, as postulated by Aristotle , a photometeor in the earth's atmosphere , but rather a more distant entity.
• 1582 : The Gregorian calendar replaces the faulty Julian calendar .
• 1584 : Tycho Brahe's most famous instrument , the wall quadrant , is built in Denmark .
• 1584 : Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) formulates the idea that fixed stars are the centers of other planetary systems .
• before 1600 : Giordano Bruno equates the fixed stars with the sun and suspects other planets there.

17th century

• 1609 : The first two Kepler's laws are published in the Astronomia Nova .
• 1609 : first documented astronomical use of a telescope by Galileo Galilei
• 1610 : discovery of the four largest moons of Jupiter by Galileo Galilei
• 1616 : Jesuit priest Nicolaus Zucchius builds the first reflector telescope .
• 1633 : René Descartes claims that everything, even the creation of the universe, can be described by the laws of physics.
• 1672 : Improved reflecting telescope by Isaac Newton
• 1687 : Isaac Newton's " Principia " with the theory of gravity applied to the heavenly bodies is published.

18th century

• 1705 : Edmond Halley publishes the "Astronomiae Cometiae Synopsis" with the prediction of the return of the comet named after him.
• 1718 : After comparison with ancient star maps, Halley sets up the thesis of the proper motion of the fixed stars .
• 1728 : James Bradley discovers the aberration of light.
• 1755 : In his work General Natural History and Theory of Heaven, Immanuel Kant describes a mechanical formation of the solar system , as well as the Milky Way system and other galaxies.
• 1758 : Johann George Palitzsch discovers Halley's Comet, expected by all astronomers .
• 1774 : Charles Messier publishes the first systematic directory of the “fog objects”, the Messier catalog , which is still used today .
• 1781 : Sir Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel accidentally discovers the planet Uranus on March 13, 1781 (he thinks it is a comet).
• The realization is taking hold that the solar system is only a tiny part of the entire universe.
• 1791 : first successful case experiment for detecting the earth's rotation by Giovanni Battista Guglielmini .
• 1798 : Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827) predicts the existence of black holes .

19th century

• 1801 : Giuseppe Piazzi discovers the planet he was looking for at the time (Sky Police) between Mars and Jupiter - Ceres (today a dwarf planet ).
• 1807 : Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel calculates comet orbits with parabolic ellipses.
• 1833 : George Biddell Airy determines the mass of the planet Jupiter.
• 1835 : Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel explains the formation of comet tails.
• 1837 : Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel confirms and specifies the mass of the planet Jupiter, previously determined by Airy, by observing the Galilean moons .
• 1838 : Evidence of the annual parallax of the stars and first determination of the distance of over 10 light years for the neighboring fast runner 61 Cygni by Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel.
• 1846 : Johann Galle discovered Neptune, today's eighth planet in the solar system .
• 1851 : Léon Foucault carries out his famous pendulum test for the first time in Paris.
• 1859 : Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhof develop spectral analysis. This represented such an advance in the study of cosmic objects that its development marked the transition from classical astronomy (which was limited to the observation of the number and movements of celestial bodies) to astrophysics. With it began the investigation of the nature of the heavenly bodies.
• W 1877 : Asaph Hall discovers the two Martian moons Phobos and Deimos .
• 1879 : Albert A. Michelson determines the speed of light .

20th century

• 1913 : Henry Norris Russell develops the famous Hertzsprung-Russell diagram , which shows the relationship between the size of a star and its brightness.
• 1919 : Arthur Stanley Eddington observes the gravitational lensing effect for the first time during a total solar eclipse and thus provides the first evidence for the correctness of Einstein's general theory of relativity . (Since Eddington was British and Einstein German, the fact that the two "worked together" was interpreted as a sign of reconciliation after the First World War )
• 1923 : Edwin Hubble succeeded - albeit with an error - with the help of variable stars of the Cepheid class to calculate the distance of the Andromeda galaxy to 900,000 light years (actually 2.5 million light years) and thus to identify it as an extragalactic object.
• 1929 : Edwin Hubble finds the evidence of an expanding universe by measuring the redshift of various objects. Hubble himself did not believe in such a universe throughout his life, but from his data it can be inferred later on.
• February 18, 1930 : Pluto is discovered by the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff ( Arizona ) by comparing some sky images on the blinking comparator after a search of around 25 years.
• 1978 : James Walter Christy tracks down the largest Pluto moon Charon .
• 1990 : The Hubble space telescope goes into operation. In the following decades, the most significant discoveries will be made through this telescope.
• Mid- 1990s : Exoplanets ( planets outside the solar system ) are found for the first time.
• 1995 : The Hubble Space Telescope is Hubble Deep Field taken.
• 1998 : Discovery of the acceleration of the expansion of the universe (see Supernova Cosmology Project )

21st century

• 2003 - 2004 : As a sequel to the Hubble Deep Field is Hubble Ultra Deep Field taken.
• 2012 : The Hubble Extreme Deep Field takes the deepest image of the universe to date.
• 2013 : The discovery of Luhman 16 is announced. Since the discovery of Barnard's Arrow Star (1912), it has been the closest newly discovered star system to earth .

Discovery dates of celestial bodies

Planets of the solar system

→ Main article : List of the planets of the solar system

planet	Explorer	Discovery date
earth	known since ancient times
Mercury	known since ancient times
Venus	known since ancient times
Mars	known since ancient times
Jupiter	known since ancient times
Saturn	known since ancient times
The planets that have been known since ancient times are sorted according to their supposed distance from the earth; such a list was first drawn up by the Greek Stoics .
Uranus	Wilhelm Herschel	March 13, 1781
Neptune	Urbain Le Verrier , John Couch Adams , Johann Gottfried Galle , Heinrich Louis d'Arrest	September 23, 1846

Dwarf planets

→ Main article : List of dwarf planets of the solar system

Dwarf planet	Explorer	Discovery date
(1) Ceres	Giuseppe Piazzi	January 1, 1801
(134340) Pluto	Clyde Tombaugh	January 23, 1930
(136199) Eris	Michael E. Brown , Chad Trujillo , David Lincoln Rabinowitz	October 21, 2003
(136472) Makemake	Michael E. Brown , Chad Trujillo , David Lincoln Rabinowitz	March 31, 2005

Exoplanets

→ Main article : List of exoplanets

Exoplanet	Explorer	Discovery date
PSR 1257 + 12 b	Aleksander Wolszczan	1992
PSR 1257 + 12 c	Aleksander Wolszczan	1992
PSR 1257 + 12 d	Aleksander Wolszczan	1992

Moons

satellite	planet	Explorer	Discovery date
Io	Jupiter	Galileo Galilei	January 7, 1610
Ganymede	Jupiter	Galileo Galilei	January 7, 1610
Europe	Jupiter	Galileo Galilei	January 7, 1610
Callisto	Jupiter	Galileo Galilei	January 7, 1610
titanium	Saturn	Christiaan Huygens	March 25, 1655
Iapetus	Saturn	Giovanni Domenico Cassini	October 25, 1671
Rhea	Saturn	Giovanni Domenico Cassini	December 23, 1672
Tethys	Saturn	Giovanni Domenico Cassini	March 21, 1684
Dione	Saturn	Giovanni Domenico Cassini	March 21, 1684
Triton	Neptune	William Lassell	October 10, 1846
Ariel	Uranus	William Lassell	October 24, 1851
Umriel	Uranus	William Lassell	October 24, 1851
Phobos	Mars	Asaph Hall	August 18, 1877
Deimos	Mars	Asaph Hall	August 12, 1877

satellite	Dwarf planet	Explorer	Discovery date
Charon	Pluto	James Walter Christy	1978

See also

• List of discoveries of planets and their moons
• Timeline solar research

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lascaux Cave (scinexx.de) (arte) ( Memento from October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (vds-astro.de)
2. ↑ In 1682 Halley saw the 1P / Halley , predicted for 1758, List of the comet orbits examined by Halley , (September 16, 2013), but he predicted two more
3. ↑ This was recognized by most of the then still numerous followers of the Tychonic worldview as evidence of the movement of the earth. In addition, the movement of light could be confirmed and the speed of light calculated more precisely. [J. Bradley, ... Account of a newly discovered Motion of the Fix'd Stars, Phil. Trans. Volume 35 (1727/28), pp. 637-661, (speed of light 8 minutes and 12 seconds p. 653, the year of the The discovery is cited differently, see in particular 656 - 659) ( [1] )]
4. ↑ Charles Messier's Catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters ( Memento of December 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), (September 16, 2013)