Astronomy timeline
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Galileo Demonstrates His Telescope to Venetian Lawmakers
Galileo Galilei, a most humble servant of Your Serene Highness, being diligently attentive, with all his spirit, not only to discharging the duties... Read more
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Pluto Discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh
In the 1840s, using Newtonian mechanics, Urbain Le Verrier predicted the position of the then-undiscovered planet Neptune after analysing... Read more
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Carl Sagan is Born
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and... Read more
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Luna 2 Becomes First Spacecraft to Reach Moon
After an aborted launch on 9 September, the Ye-1A probe successfully lifted off and reached escape velocity three days later. Officially named the... Read more
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Launch of Mariner 2 Space Probe
Mariner 2 was the first successful mission to another planet by any country. Launched just 36 days after the failure of its twin, Mariner 1, it... Read more
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SETI Institute is Founded
Founded in November 1984, the SETI Institute began operations on February 1, 1985. Today it employs over 150 scientists, educators and support... Read more
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NASA Releases First Images from Newly-Repaired Hubble Telescope
With a flourish of new images - from exploding stars to colliding galaxies and a new impact scar on Jupiter - NASA officials finally pulled the... Read more
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Astronomers Announce Discovery of Potentially Inhabitable Planet
Astronomers say they have discovered 50 new planets, including 16 “super Earths and Neptune-type planets” orbiting near their stars. This is by far... Read more
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NASA Assures Public That Solar Flares Won't Destroy Earth
If the world ends in 2012, the sun won't be to blame, NASA officials say. Contrary to what some doomsayers would have you believe, our star... Read more
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NASA Launches Mars Rover Curiosity
The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer, NASA's Curiosity rover, rocketed toward Mars on Saturday on a search for evidence that the red... Read more