Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology
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Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology.
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Timeline
Before Christ era
- 1800 BC - Babylonian star catalog
- 3100-1700 BC - Stonehenge
- 1130 BC - Assyrian star catalog
- 432 BC - Athens observatory on Lycabettus Hill used by Meton and Phaeinus
- 350s BC - Eudoxus of Cnidos observatory, school at Cyzicus
- 350 BC - Shin Shen's star catalog has almost 800 entries
- 330 BC - Aristotle On the Heavens [De Caelo]
- 200 BC - Astrolabe used by Greeks
- 150 BC - Rhodes observatory
- 129 BC - Hipparchus' star catalog
- 105 BC - Alexandria observatory and College of Technology under Heron
- 52 BC - Shou-chang uses armillary ring
- 28 BC - record of sunspot activity begins in China
AD 1 - 999
- ca. 60 - Geminus Introduction to Celestial Phenomena
- 141 - Claudius Ptolemy Megale Mathematike Syntaxis [or Almagest]
- 150 - Hipparchus star catalog depicted on Farnese statue of Atlas
- 499 - Aryabhata Aryabhatiya
- 646 - Cheomseongdae astronomical observatory near Kyongju, South Korea (formerly Silla)
- 790 - Gundishapur observations by al-Nihawandi
- 813 - Baghdad School of Astronomy
- 825 - Dicuil "De Mensura Orbis Terrae"
- 828 - al-Shammasiyya observatory of Abi Mansur near Baghdad
- 831-2 - Mount Qasiyun observatory near Damascus
- 840 - al-Farghani Compendium of the Science of the Stars
- 887 - Raqqa observatory of al-Batani in Syria
- 963 - al-Sufi's star catalog Book of the Fixed Stars
- 988 - Baghdad observatory of al-Quhi and al-Buzjani
- ca. 900 - Hanlin Academy observatory in Northern China
- 994 - Ray observatory of al-Khujandi near Tehran, Iran
1000s
- 1000 - Mokattam observatory, Egypt for al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah
- 1023 - Hamadan observatory
- ca. 1030 - Treasury of Optics by Ibn al-Haytham of Egypt [Alhazen]
- 1074-92 - Malikshah observatory at Isfahan used by al-Khayyam
1100s
- 1119-25 - Cairo al-Bataihi observatory for al-Afdal
1200s
- 1252-72 - Alphonsine tables recorded
- 1259 - Maragha Observatory and library of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi by Mangu under Khan Hulagu
- ca. 1270 - Terrace for Managing Heaven 26 observatory network of Guo Shoujing under Khubilai Khan
1400s
- 1417 - Speculum Planetarum by Simones de Selandia
- 1420 - Samarkand observatory of Ulugh Beg
- 1467-71 - Observatory at Oradea, Hungary for Matthias Corvinus
- 1472 - Nuremberg observatory
1500s
- 1540 Apian "Astronomicum Caesareum"
- 1560 - Kassel observatory under Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hesse
- 1575-80 - Istanbul observatory of al-Din under Sultan Murad III
- 1576 - Royal Danish Astronomical Observatory Uraniborg at Hven by Tycho Brahe
- 1581 - Royal Danish Astronomical Observatory Stjerneborg at Hven by Tycho Brahe
1600s
- 1600 - Prague observatory in Benátky nad Jizerou by Tycho Brahe
- 1603 - Johann Bayer's Uranometria
- 1608 - Hans Lippershey tries to patent an optical refracting telescope
- 1609 - Galileo Galilei builds his first optical refracting telescope
- 1633 - Construction of Leiden University Observatory
- 1641 - William Gascoigne invents telescope cross hairs
- 1641 - Danzig/Gdansk observatory
- 1642 - Copenhagen University Royal observatory
- 1661 - James Gregory proposes an optical reflecting telescope
- 1667 - Paris Observatory
- 1668 - Isaac Newton constructs the first optical reflecting telescope
- 1672 - Laurent Cassegrain designs the Cassegrain telescope
- 1675 - Royal Greenwich Observatory of England
1700s
- 1704 - First observatory at Cambridge University (based at Trinity College)
- 1705 - Berlin Observatory
- 1724 - Indian observatory of Sawai Jai Singh at Delhi
- 1725 - St. Petersburg observatory at Royal Academy
- 1732 - Indian observatories of Sawai Jai Singh at Varanasi, Ujjain, Mathura, Madras
- 1733 - Chester Moor Hall invents the achromatic lens refracting telescope
- 1734 - Indian observatory of Sawai Jai Singh at Jaipur
- 1758 - John Dollond reinvents the achromatic lens
- 1761 - Joseph-Nicolas Delisle 62 observing station network for observing the transit of Venus
- 1769 - Short reflectors used at 63 station network for transit of Venus
- 1780 - Florence Specola observatory
- 1789 - William Herschel finishes a 49-inch (1.2-meter) optical reflecting telescope, located in Slough, England
1800s
- 1840 - J.W. Draper invents astronomical photography and photographs the Moon
- 1845 - Lord Rosse finishes the Birr Castle 72-inch optical reflecting telescope, located in Parsonstown, Ireland
- 1849 - Santiago observatory set up by USA, later becomes Chilean National
- 1859 - Kirchoff and Bunsen develop spectroscopy
- 1864 - Herschel's so-called GC (General Catalogue) of nebulae and star clusters published
- 1868 - Janssen and Lockyer discover Helium observing spectra of Sun
- 1871 - German Astronomical Association organized network of 13 (later 16) observatories for stellar proper motion studies
- 1872 - Henry Draper invents astronomical spectral photography and photographs the spectrum of Vega
- 1878 - Dreyer published a supplement to the GC of about 1000 new objects
- 1887 - Paris conference institutes Carte du Ciel project to map entire sky to 14th magnitude photographically
- 1888 - First light of 91cm refracting telescope at Lick Observatory, on Mount Hamilton near San Jose, California
- 1889 - Astronomical Society of the Pacific founded
- 1890 - Albert Michelson proposes the stellar interferometer
- 1892 - George Ellery Hale finishes a spectroheliograph, which allows the Sun to be photographed in the light of one element only
- 1897 - Alvan Clark finishes the Yerkes 40-inch optical refracting telescope, located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin
1900s
- 1904 - Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington founded
1910s
- 1917 - Mount Wilson 100-inch optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Mount Wilson, California
- 1919 - International Astronomical Union (IAU) founded
1930s
- 1930 - Bernard-Ferdinand Lyot invents the coronagraph
- 1930 - Karl Jansky builds a 30-meter long rotating aerial radio telescope
- 1933 - Bernard-Ferdinand Lyot invents the Lyot filter
- 1934 - Bernhard Schmidt finishes the first 14-inch Schmidt optical reflecting telescope
- 1936 - Palomar 18-inch Schmidt optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Palomar, California
- 1937 - Grote Reber builds a 31-foot radio telescope
1940s
- 1946 - Martin Ryle and his group perform the first astronomical observations with a radio interferometer
- 1947 - Bernard Lovell and his group complete the Jodrell Bank 218-foot non-steerable radio telescope
- 1949 - Palomar 48-inch Schmidt optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Palomar, California
- 1949 - Palomar 200-inch optical reflecting telescope (Hale telescope) begins regular operation, located in Palomar, California
1950s
- 1954 - Earth rotation aperture synthesis suggested (see e.g. Christiansen and Warburton (1955))
- 1957 - Bernard Lovell and his group complete the Jodrell Bank 250-foot (75-meter) steerable radio telescope
- 1957 - Peter Scheuer publishes his P(D) method for obtaining source counts of spatially unresolved sources
- 1959 - Radio Observatory of the University of Chile, located at Maipú founded
1960s
- 1960 - Owens Valley 27-meter radio telescopes begin operation, located in Big Pine, California
- 1961 - Parkes 64-metre radio telescope begins operation, located near Parkes, Australia
- 1962 - European Southern Observatory (ESO) founded
- 1962 - Kitt Peak solar observatory founded
- 1962 - Green Bank 90m radio telescope
- 1962 - Orbiting Solar Observatory 1 satellite launched
- 1963 - Arecibo 300-meter radio telescope begins operation, located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico
- 1964 - Martin Ryle's 1-mile radio interferometer begins operation, located in Cambridge, England
- 1965 - Owens Valley 40-meter radio telescope begins operation, located in Big Pine, California
- 1967 - First VLBI images, with 183 km baseline
- 1969 - Observations start at Big Bear Solar Observatory, located in Big Bear, California
- 1969 Las Campanas Observatory
1970s
- 1970 - Cerro Tololo 158-inch optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Cerro Tololo, Chile
- 1970 - Kitt Peak National Observatory 158-inch optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located near Tucson, Arizona
- 1970 - Uhuru x-ray telescope satellite
- 1973 - UK Schmidt Telescope 1.2 metre optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Anglo-Australian Observatory near Coonabarabran, Australia
- 1974 - Anglo-Australian Telescope 153-inch optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Anglo-Australian Observatory near Coonabarabran, Australia
- 1975 - Gerald Smith, Frederick Landauer, and James Janesick use a CCD to observe Uranus, the first astronomical CCD observation
- 1978 - Multiple Mirror 176-inch equivalent optical/infrared reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Amado, Arizona
- 1978 - International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) telescope satellite
- 1978 - Einstein High Energy Astronomy Observatory x-ray telescope satellite
- 1979 - UKIRT 150-inch infrared reflecting telescope begins operation, located at Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii
- 1979 - Canada-France-Hawaii 140-inch optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located at Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii
- 1979 - NASA Infrared Telescope Facility[1] (http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/) 120-inch infrared reflecting telescope begins operation, located at Mauna Kea, Hawaii
1980s
- 1980 - Completion of construction of the VLA, located in Socorro, New Mexico
- 1983 - Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) telescope
- 1987 - 5-m Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST) installed at the ESO La Silla Observatory
- 1988 - Australia Telescope Compact Array aperture synthesis radio telescope begins operation, located near Narrabri, Australia
- 1989 - Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite
1990s
- 1990 - Hubble 2.4m space Telescope launched, mirror found to be flawed
- 1991 - Compton Gamma Ray Observatory satellite
- 1993 - Keck 10-meter optical/infrared reflecting telescope begins operation, located at Mauna Kea, Hawaii
- 1993 - Very Long Baseline Array of 10 dishes
- 1995 - Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope (COAST) -- the first optical aperture synthesis array
- 1995 - Giant Meterwave radio telescope of 30 45m dishes at Pune
- 1997 - The Japanese Halca satellite begins operations, producing first VLBI observations from space. 25000 km maximum baseline
- 1998 - First light at VLT1, the 8.2 m ESO telescope.
2000s
- 2001 - First light at VLTI optical aperture synthesis array. Operations in the interferometry mode of VLT start at ESO, with 103 m baseline
References
Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy ISBN 0521411580
History of Science and Technology ISBN 0-87196-475-9
Wilson Chronology of Science and Technology ISBN 0-8242-0933-8
Encyclopedia of the history of Arabic science ISBN 0415124107