ASTRONOMY MILESTONES

Compiled by Chilman Sahni

YEAR                                                  MILESTONE

585 BC                                             First prediction of the 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 Galilee discovers moons of Jupiter.

1655                                                 Christian Huygens discovers Titan, moon of Saturn.

1668                                                 Isaac Newton builds first reflecting telescope.

1687                                                 Isaac Newton Publishes theories of motion of planets etc.

1705                                                 Edmund Halley predicts return of the comet.

1671-1684                                     Giovanni Cassini discovers 4 moons of Saturn.

1774                                                 Charles Messier compiles star catalog.

1781