Edmond Halley predicts the return of the world’s most famous comet
Edmond Halley, in his 1705 Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets, used Newton’s new laws to calculate the gravitational effects of Jupiter and Saturn on cometary orbits.
Astronomy & space exploration
Galileo Galilei makes key observations of physics and astronomy, laying the foundation for modern science
Galileo is a central figure in the transition from natural philosophy to modern science and in the transformation of the scientific Renaissance into a scientific revolution.
Johannes Kepler publishes his three laws of planetary motion
Kepler’s work improved the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus, explaining how the planets’ speeds varied, and using elliptical orbits rather than circular orbits with epicycles.
The Dunhuang Star map – the world's oldest complete preserved star map – is created
The map provides a graphical verification of the star observations, and are part of a series of pictures on one of the Dunhuang manuscripts.
Brahmagupta writes the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta, a seminal work of mathematical astronomy
The Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta is a text of mathematical astronomy contains significant mathematical content, including a good understanding of the role of zero, rules for manipulating both negative and positive numbers, a method for computing square roots, methods of solving linear and quadratic equations, and rules for summing series.
The astrolabe is invented, perhaps by the Appolonius of Perga in Greece
An astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers and navigators to measure the inclined position in the sky of a celestial body, day or night.
Thales of Miletus becomes first human to predict a solar eclipse
If the account is true, it has been suggested that Thales would have had to calculate the timing of any eclipse by recognizing patterns in the periodicities of eclipses. It has been postulated that Thales may have used the Saros cycle in his determination
Babylonian astronomers create cuneiform star catalogues
The earliest known star catalogues were compiled by the ancient Babylonian astronomers of Mesopotamia in the late 2nd millennium B.C.E., during the Kassite Period (ca. 1531-1155 B.C.E.).
Humans create the first star chart, perhaps in modern-day Germany
The oldest known star chart may be a carved ivory Mammoth tusk that was discovered in Germany in 1979. This artifact is 32,500 years old and has a carving that resembles the constellation Orion.