Historical astronomical events, and people who were born this month and have influenced our understanding of the cosmos. 18th May 1991...

5th March 1616 On this day in 1616 the Roman Catholic Church adds "" (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) by Nicolaus...

Astronomical happenings from the past and the birthdays of astronomers past and present. 19th February 1787 The first observation is...

15th August 1977 The Wow! signal is received by the Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio State University. The original record, preserved by...

Elizabeth Cocking continues this astronomical blog post sequence in 2021. Each month she looks back on astronomical happenings, and the...

23rd December 1672 Rhea, the second-largest moon of Saturn and the ninth-largest moon in the Solar System, is discovered by Giovanni...

NASA becomes operational (1958) ; Luna 3 photographs the far side of the Moon (1959) : the Parker solar probe approaches the Sun (2018)

7 January 1610 Galileo discovers four moons orbiting the planet Jupiter. Looking at what he thought were a group of stars, he noted the...

27th November 1783 The first reference to black holes is mentioned by John Michell, an English natural philosopher, in a paper for the...

26th September 1905 Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity is published. It is the generally accepted and experimentally confirmed...