The ancient history of astronomy is shrouded in the dark. Fuhi was supposed to have studied the stars around 3000 B.C. in China. Also very old is the history of the astronomy in India (Solar, planetary, and lunar tables, eclipse observations) and at the Mayas (Eclipse observations, Calendar) and at the Babylonians (Prediction of celestial phenomena) and in Egypt (Calendar). The Greeks based their astronomical knowledge on those of the Babylonians. ARYSTILL and TIMOCHARIS determined stellar places 300 B.C., ARISTACH determined the ratio of the distance between Earth, Sun and Moon and ERATOSTENES provided an for this time exact value for the obliquity of the ecliptic and the specific extent of the earth. HIPPARCHOS, the greatest astronomer of antiquity, found by comparing the fixed star catalog created by himself (1025 Stars) with older catalogs the precession (150 B.C.). PTOLEMY (150 A.D.) summed up in his “Almagest” the astronomical knowledge of his time, in which the earth was considered fixed (Ptolemaic System). After the expiry of the Greek science the astronomy was further developed by the Arabs in the 9th and 10th century (AL-BATTANI: precession and eccentricity of the earth), and was so brought to the Tartars (ULUG Begh: planetary tables, fixed star catalog). The Occident interfered again only in the 13th century in the development of astronomy (ALFONSO V KASTILIEN: Alfonsinische panels). In the 15th century PEUERBACH and REGIOMONTANUS tried to improve the Ptolemaic system by observing results. NICHOLAS COPERNICUS consumption then finally with the Ptolemaic system by declaring the movement of celestial bodies by the movement of the earth and the planets around the sun, while the Dane TYCHO BRAHE yielded the most accurate planetary observations of his time by increasing the accuracy of observation. Using these results J. KEPLER developed (1571-1630) the Copernican system further and created the three “Kepler’s laws”.
| 3000 B.C. | FUHI studied the stars |
| 150 A.D. | PTOLEMAEUS wrote along the astronomical knowledge of his time |
| 1571 – 1630 | KEPLER created the three “Kepler’s laws” |
| 1610 | GALILEO discovered Jupiter’s four large moons |
| 1671 | RICHTER determined the first precise distance from Earth to the sun |
| 1781 | HERSCHEL discovered the planet Uranus |
| 1801 | PIAZZI discovered the first asteroid |
After the invention of the telescope (Dutch LIPPERSHEY) Galileo GALILEI discovered thus among others the 4 major moons of Jupiter (1610), the sunspots and the phases of Venus. S. MARIUS was the first who discovered the nebula, the Andromeda nebula. BAYER presented in his “Uranometria nova” the fixed stars and the logarithms of NEPER and BRIGGS became an important help for the calculation.
The second half of the 17th century brought the discovery of universal gravitation by Isaac NEWTON. J. HEVELIUS established the moon topography. Chr. HUYGENS recognized the true nature of the Saturn ring, discovered Saturn’s moon Titan and introduced the Pendulum. D. CASSINI determined the rotation period of the Sun, Jupiter and Mars (1665) and discovered 4 more moons of Saturn. 1675 O. ROEMER determined by the eclipses of the first Jupiter moon the speed of light. In 1669 CASSINI founded the Observatory in Paris, and 1676 the one in Greenwich (J. FLAMESTEED). The first exact distance of the earth from the sun (solar parallax) was derived from the observation of Mars Opposition (1671) by RICHTER.
Further progress in the 18th century in theoretical astronomy became possible by great mathematicians such as L. EULER, who was a pioneer in studies of planetary disturbances and the moon theory or CLAIRAUNT and D´ALEMBERT that contributed much to the theory of precession and nutation, and the three-body problem. LAMBERT as the founder of photometry also promoted the problem of perturbations (LAMBERT MOORISH Theorem). LAGRANGE worked on the three-body problem and P.S. LAPLACE wrote the last great publication of the 18th century with his “Traite de Mecanique celeste” where he described the stability of the major planets semiaxes.
Outstanding astronomers of this time were: J. BRADLEY (Observatory Greenwich), who described the Abberation 1728, the Nuation 1747 and made very accurate local regulations of fixed stars. Edmund HALLEY, who found the proper motion of the fixed stars, created a catalog of the southern sky and he recognized and recommended the importance of Venus passages for solar parallax. W. HERSCHEL, who discovered the planet Uranus in 1781 and investigated nebulae and star clusters with his powerful, self-built reflecting telescopes and deduced from the apparent proper motions of the stars the solar apex. Through the by BOUGUER and LA CONDAMINE in Peru and MAUPERTIUS in Lapland executed degree measurements (1735-1743), it was possible to detect and determine the flattening of the earth precisely.
At the beginning of the 19th century the first asteroids were discovered (Ceres by PIAZZI 1801), of which several thousand are now known. F. GAUSS gave in his “Theoria motus corporum Coelestium” (1809) significantly improved methods for orbit determination. BESSEL determined in 1838 the distance of a fixed star, even 61 Cygni, for the first time. 1845 LEVERRIER calculated from the disturbances of the orbit of Uranus, the orbit of the a year later at the predicted site discovered planet Neptune (GALLE, Berlin). The by FRAUNHOFER 1814 investigated and later by him designated lines in the solar spectrum, found the declaration that the same elements like on earth are present on the sun using the by BUNSEN and KIRCHHOFF in 1859 founded Spectral analysis. The extension to the Dopplersche principle made it possible to measure the movement of the stars in the line of sight and therefore dissolve very narrow so-called spectroscopic binaries in their components. JANSEN and LOCKYER enabled to make solar corona and prominences visible spectroscopically also out of eclipses.
The introduction of photography – first astrophotography by BOND (1857) – brought great progress, because at long exposure otherwise invisible objects could be published on the photographic plate and measured at rest.
With the beginning of the 20th century astronomy got a new, unexpected boom. The three body problem was expanded by Henri POINCARE, STROEMGREN and CHARLIER. Statistical methods – the so-called stellar streams, and “gauge fields” of KAPTEYN -, the spectral classification of stars (PICKERING, Miss CANON), direct measurement of stellar diameter by the MICHELSON interferometer, theoretical studies about the conditions in glass beads (EMDEN 1907, EDDINGTON 1913 ) extended the knowledge of the distance and conditions of fixed stars – first reliable stellar temperature (1909 (WILSING and SCHEINER) -, the globular clusters (on their spatial distribution: SHAPLEY 1918) and fogs (redshift their spectra: HUBBLE 1929) considerably.
1930 the last planet Pluto (C. TOMBAUGH, USA) was discovered. Pluto´s status as planet was disallowed back later. The discovery of radio emission from the Milky Way by JANSKY (1932) opened a new window into the universe. 1946, the radio emission from the Sun was found in the meter and centimeter range, 1949, the predicted radiation of interstellar 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen. 1954 the first radio galaxy was discovered.
With the posting of the first artificial earth satellite Sputnik 1 from the UdSSR in astronomy an extremely fruitful, rapid development in all their areas started (Van Allen Belt 1958, recording the far side of the moon 1959). In 1960, the discovery of the first and until today enigmatic quasi stellar objects (abbreviated: Quasars) took place, whose strong spectral redshift was recognized in 1963 (SCHMIDT, GREENSTEIN et al).
1964 rockets registered cosmic ray radiation, inter alia from the Crab Nebula and the source Sagittarius A. In 1965 the important discovery of the cosmic (3 Kelvin) microwave background radiation was made (PENZIAS, R. W. WILSON).
1965, 1966 and 1967 numerous space flight missions to the moon and the planets Venus and Mars were realized, which provided enormous research material.
In 1968 the sensational discovery of pulsars, a group of stars that could be later identified as neutron stars, was made. In the same year, extensive experiments for the difficult detection of solar neutrinos were held, which played an important role in understanding the core processes and thus the power generation in the solar interior.
| 1857 | First Astrophotography by BOND |
| 1909 | First reliable stellar temperature by WILSING and SCHREINER |
| 1932 | Discovery of radio emissions from the Milky Way by JANSKY |
| 1954 | First discovery of a radio galaxy |
| 1959 | First record of the far side of the moon |
| 1968 | Discovery of pulsars |
| 1970 | Concentration of radio telescopes to a “Very-long baseline” Interferometer |
| 1977 | Discovery of the ring system around Uranus |
On July 21, 1969 the American Neil ARMSTRONG entered as first human the surface of the moon.
In 1970, radio telescopes in the USA and in Australia formed to a so-called “very-long baseline interferometer”
1973 data from Jupiter of a flying probe (swing-by method) were transmitted, a year later the first pictures from the moonlike Mercury surface (MARINER 10). In 1976, the soft landing of the two American probes VIKING 1 and VIKING 2 on Mars, gave us panoramic images of the landing sites, but no sign of life were able to be discovered.
From Earth, succeeded in 1977 by chance, the ring system of the planet Uranus at an occultation was detected.
1979 the first Multi-Mirror Telescope was brought into operation, also a ring system from the probe VOYAGER 1 was discovered around Jupiter, which is much too small and faint to be detected from Earth.
1986 several space probes flew past the comet Halley and researched Halley at close range. 1986 VOYAGER 2 visited as first probe the planet Uranus and 1989 the planet Neptune, previously it already flew over to the planet Jupiter (1979) and Saturn (1981). 1991 GALILEO passed on the way to Jupiter asteroid Gaspa and 1993 at asteroid Ida.
The NEAR SHOEMAKER spacecraft passed the asteroid Mathilde in 1997, reaching the asteroid Eros on 14 February 2000, on 12 February 2001 the landing on Eros took place. This was the first circumnavigation and first landing on an asteroid.
In September 2014, the ESA spacecraft ROSETTA reached the comet 67P/Tschurjumow-Gerassimenko and swung into its orbit. On 12 November 2014 ROSETTA decanted the lander PHILAE. Thus ROSETTA became the first comet orbiter and with PHILAE the first time a spacecraft landed on a comet.
2011 the US space probe DAWN visited the asteroid Vesta and flew afterward to the dwarf planet Ceres, in whichs orbit it entered in March, 2015.
The spacecraft NEW HORIZONS passed the dwarf planet Pluto on 14 July 2015, and will continue to move into the Kuiper belt and should there pass a Kuiper belt object.