Astronomy History
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Siding Spring Observatory
Siding Spring Observatory, near Coonabarabran, is Australia's largest astronomy research facility. A visitors' gallery and exhibition area is open to the public.
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The Invention of the Telescope
Hans Lipperhey is most often credited with inventing the telescope. However, Pierre Borel in his 1655 book said that Zacharias Janssen was its creator.
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History of Mount Wilson Observatory
Until the Mt Palomar 200" telescope, Mt Wilson's Hooker 100" and the 60" were the world's largest telescopes, allowing Edwin Hubble to discover the expanding universe.
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The Hubble Space Telescope
Astronomy was considered an arcane hobby. But after Hubble returned some images that looked like Art, that perception was changed to awe.
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The Telescopes Galileo Made
By 1609 Galileo had learned of the invention of the spyglass, soon to be called the telescope. As a skilled maker of scientific instruments, he decided to construct one.
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Galileo's Discoveries Using Telescopes, 1609-10
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) made telescopes to study the skies. What this Italian scientist discovered using them undermined fundamental beliefs about the universe.
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Astronomy in Locksley Hall Sixty Years After
Following the original Locksley Hall, Tennyson's Poem: Locksley Hall Sixty Years After contains many astronomical references.
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Astronomy in Locksley Hall
Locksley Hall is one of Tennyson's more popular poems. It contains several astronomical references, showing Tennyson's knowledge of astronomy.
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Abbot and the Solar Constant
Samuel Pierpont Langley and Charles Greeley Abbot pioneered efforts to measure the solar constant and solar variability.
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Tycho Brahe's Astronomy
Tycho Brahe was the last great naked eye astronomer and one of the great astronomical observers of all time.
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Discovery of Helium in the Sun
Using spectroscopy, helium was first discovered in the Sun. Spectral lines labeled coronium and nebulium did not fit into the periodic table of the elements.
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Percival Lowell and Martian Canals
In the early 20th century Percival Lowell thought he saw canals on Mars that indicated the presence of a Martian civilization.
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Jansky's Early Radio Astronomy
Bell labs assigned Karl Jansky an applied project in telephone communications, but he made the fundamental discovery of radio waves from the core of the Milky Way.
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Ptolemaic Geocentric Astronomy
Ptolemy's geocentric astronomical system used four geometric devices, the deferent, epicycle, eccentric, and equant, to explain the observed motions of the planets.
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Ptolemy, Astronomy, & Almagest
Ptolemy's geocentric astronomical system placed Earth at the center of the universe and he was considered the ultimate authority in astronomy for about 1400 years.
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