Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology

Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology.

Before the Common Era (BCE)

1900s BCE Taosi Astronomical Observatory, Xiangfen County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province, China

1500s BCE Shadow clocks invented in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

600s BCE 11th–7th century BCE, Zhou dynasty astronomical observatory (灵台) in Fenghao (today's Xi'an), China

200s BCE Thirteen Towers solar observatory, Chankillo, Peru Antikythera Mechanism, a geared astronomical computer that calculates lunar and solar eclipses, the position of the Sun and the Moon the lunar phase (age of the Moon as seen from Earth), has several lunisolar calendars, including the Olympic Games calendar. It is at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece.

100s BCE 220-206 BCE, Han dynasty astronomical observatory (灵台) in Chang'an and Luoyang. During East Han dynasty, astronomical observatory (灵台) built in Yanshi, Henan Province, China 220-150 BCE, Astrolabe invented by Apollonius of Perga

Common Era (CE)

400s 5th century – Observatory at Ujjain, India

600s 632–647 – Cheomseongdae observatory is built in the reign of Queen Seondeok at Gyeongju, then the capital of Silla (present day South Korea) 618–1279 – Tang dynasty-Song dynasty, observatories built in Chang'an, Kaifeng, Hangzhou, China

700s 700–96 – Brass astrolabe constructed by Muhammad al-Fazari based on Hellenistic sources

800s 9th century – quadrant invented by Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī in 9th century Baghdad and is used for astronomical calculations 800–33 – The first modern observatory research institute built in Baghdad, Iraq, by Arabic astronomers during time of Al-Mamun 825–35 – Al-Shammisiyyah observatory by Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi in Baghdad, Iraq

900s 10th century – Large astrolabe of diameter 1.4 meters constructed by Ibn Yunus 994 – First sextant constructed in Ray, Iran, by Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi. It was a very large mural sextant that achieved a high level of accuracy for astronomical measurements.

1000s 1000 – Mokattam observatory in Egypt for Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah 11th century – Planisphere invented by BiruniWill Durant (1950). The Story of Civilization IV: The Age of Faith, pp. 239–45. 11th century – Universal latitude-independent astrolabe invented by Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Arzachel) 1023 – Hamedan observatory in Persia c. 1030 – Treasury of Optics by Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) of Iraq and Egypt 1074–92 – Malikshah Observatory at Isfahan used by Omar Khayyám

1100s 1100–50 – Jabir ibn Aflah develops instruments resembling and perhaps inspiring the torquetum, an observational instrument and mechanical analog computer device 1119–25 – Cairo al-Bataihi observatory for Al-Afdal Shahanshah

1200s 1259 – Maragheh observatory and library of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi built in Persia under Hulagu Khan c. 1270 – Terrace for Managing Heaven 26 observatory network of Guo Shoujing under Khubilai Khan 1276 – Dengfeng Star Observatory Platform, Gaocheng, Dengfeng City, Henan Province, China

1300s 1371 – The idea of using hours of equal time length throughout the year in a sundial was the innovation of Ibn al-Shatir

1400s 1420 – Samarkand observatory of Ulugh Beg 1437 - Zij-i Sultani is published, the first star catalog since the Almagest 1442 – Beijing Ancient Observatory in China 1467–71 – Observatory at Nagyvarad Oradea, Kingdom of Hungary for Matthias Corvinus. Tabula Varadensis. 1472 – The Nuremberg observatory of Regiomontanus and Bernhard Walther.

1500s 1560 – Kassel observatory under Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hesse 1575–80 – Constantinople Observatory of Taqi ad-Din under Sultan Murad III 1576 – Royal Danish Astronomical Observatory Uraniborg at Ven by Tycho Brahe 1577–80 – Taqi al-Din invents a mechanical astronomical clock that measures time in seconds, one of the most important innovations in 16th-century practical astronomy, as previous clocks were not accurate enough to be used for astronomical purposes. 1577–80 – Taqi al-Din invents framed sextant 1581 – Royal Danish Astronomical Observatory Stjärneborg at Ven by Tycho Brahe

1600s 1600 – Prague observatory in Benátky nad Jizerou by Tycho Brahe 1603 – Johann Bayer's Uranometria is published 1608 – Hans Lippershey tries to patent an optical refracting telescope, the first recorded functional telescope 1609 – Galileo Galilei builds his first optical refracting telescope 1616 – Niccolò Zucchi experiments with a reflecting telescope 1633 – Construction of Leiden University Observatory 1641 – William Gascoigne invents telescope cross hairs 1641 – Danzig/Gdansk observatory of Jan Hevelius 1642 – Copenhagen University Royal observatory 1661 – James Gregory proposes an optical reflecting telescope with parabolic mirrors 1667 – Paris Observatory 1668 – Isaac Newton constructs the first "practical" reflecting telescope, the Newtonian telescope 1672 – Laurent Cassegrain designs the Cassegrain telescope 1675 – Royal Greenwich Observatory of England 1684 – Christiaan Huygens publishes "Astroscopia Compendiaria" in which he described the design of very long aerial telescopes

1700s 1704 – First observatory at Cambridge University (based at Trinity College) 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 Moore Hall invents the achromatic lens refracting telescope 1734 – Indian observatory of Sawai Jai Singh at Jaipur 1753 – Real Observatorio de Cádiz (Spain) 1753 – Vilnius Observatory at Vilnius University, Lithuania 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 1774 – Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana), originally established as the Observatory of the Roman College. 1780 – Florence Specola observatory 1789 – William Herschel finishes a 49-inch (1.2 m) optical reflecting telescope, located in Slough, England 1798 – Real Observatorio de la Isla de Léon (actualmente Real Instituto y Observatorio de la Armada) (Spain)

1800s 1803 National Astronomical Observatory (Colombia), the first observatory in the Americas 1836 Swathithirunal opened Trivandrum observatory 1839 Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (inventor of the daguerreotype photographic process) attempts to photograph the moon. Tracking errors in guiding the telescope during the long exposure made the photograph came out as an indistinct fuzzy spot 1840 – John William Draper takes make a successful photographic image of the Moon, the first astronomical photograph 1845 – Lord Rosse finishes the Birr Castle optical reflecting telescope, located in Parsonstown, Ireland 1849 – Santiago observatory set up by USA, later becomes Chilean National Observatory (now part of the University of Chile)Chronology of Science in the United States 1840–1849 (derived from Clark A. Elliott, History of Science in the United States: A Chronology and Research Guide – New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1996, pp. 34–177). 1859 – Kirchhoff 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 the Sun 1871 – German Astronomical Association organized network of 13 (later 16) observatories for stellar proper motion studies 1863 – William Allen Miller and Sir William Huggins use the photographic wet collodion plate process to obtain the first ever photographic spectrogram of a star, Sirius and Capella.Spectrometers, ASTROLab of Mont-Mégantic National Park 1872 – Henry Draper photographs a spectrum of Vega that shows absorption lines. 1878 – Dreyer published a supplement to the GC of about 1000 new objects, the New General Catalogue 1883 – Andrew Ainslie Common uses the photographic dry plate process and a 36-inch (91 cm) reflecting telescope in his backyard to record 60 minute exposures of the Orion Nebula that for the first time showed stars too faint to be seen by the human eye. 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 A. 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 optical refracting telescope, located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin

1900s 1902 – Dominion Observatory, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada established 1904 – Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington founded 1907 – F.C. Brown and Joel Stebbins develop a selenium cell photometer at the University of Illinois Observatory.

1910s 1912 – Joel Stebbins and Jakob Kunz begin to use a photometer using a photoelectric cell at the University of Illinois Observatory. 1917 – Mount Wilson optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Mount Wilson, California 1918 – 1.8m Plaskett Telescope begins operation at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 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 This was the first radio telescope. 1933 – Bernard-Ferdinand Lyot invents the Lyot filter 1934 – Bernhard Schmidt finishes the first Schmidt optical reflecting telescope 1936 – Palomar Schmidt optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Palomar, California 1937 – Grote Reber builds a radio telescope

1940s

1941 – Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov invents the Maksutov telescope which is adopted by major observatories in the Soviet Union and internationally. It is now also a popular design with amateur astronomers 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 non-steerable radio telescope 1949 – Palomar Schmidt optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Palomar, California 1949 – Palomar optical reflecting telescope (Hale Telescope) begins regular operation, located in Palomar, California

1950s

1953 – Luoxue Mountain Cosmic Rays Research Center, Yunnan Province, in China founded 1954 – Earth rotation aperture synthesis suggested (see e.g. Christiansen and Warburton (1955)) 1956 – Dwingeloo Radio Observatory 25 m telescope completed, Dwingeloo, Netherlands 1957 – Bernard Lovell and his group complete the Jodrell Bank 250-foot (75 m) steerable radio telescope (the Lovell 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, Chile founded 1959 – The 3C catalogue of radio sources is published (revised in 1962) 1959 – The Shane Telescope Opened at Lick Observatory

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, West Virginia 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 radio interferometer begins operation, located in Cambridge, England 1965 – Owens Valley 40-meter radio telescope begins operation, located in Big Pine, California