| Timeline |
|---|
| 0036 CE | Ancient Chinese records recorded an August meteor shower that was later assumed to be the Perseids. The meteorites originated when the Swift-Tuttle comet passed so close to the sun that its ice head melted and left a stream of pea-sized particles. | |
| 0066 CE | 5th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. | |
| 0141 CE | 6th predicted perihelion passage of Halley's Comet | |
| c. 0150 CE | Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria, a Greek astronomer, wrote 'Geocentric'. | |
| 0165 CE | Chinese astronomers record the first sunspots. | |
| 0218 CE | 7th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet | |
| 0295 CE | 8th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet | |
| c. 0300 CE | Ch'en Cho, Chinese astronomer. | |
| 0374 CE | 9th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet | |
| 0451 CE | 10th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet | |
| 13 Mar 0607 CE | The 12th recorded passage of Halley's Comet occurred. | |
| 0635 CE | A Chinese scholar discovers that the tail of a comet always points away from the Sun. | |
| 0760 CE | 14th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet | |
| 0837 CE | 15th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet - the best view of Halley's Comet in 2000 years | |
| 1006 CE | Brightest supernova in recorded history is observed by Chinese & Egyptians in constellation Lupus. | |
| 4 Jul 1054 CE | Chinese and Arabian observers first documented the massive supernova of the Crab Nebula, It was reportedly six times brighter than Venus and was only outshone by the sun and moon and could be observed in broad daylight for 23 days. | |
| Apr 1066 CE | 18th recorded perihelion passage Haley's Comet and soon after it was depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry. | |
| 1145 CE | 19th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet | |
| 1178 CE | Proposed time of origin of lunar crater Giordano Bruno 5 Canterbury monks report explosion on the moon (the only such observation known). | |
| 1181 CE | Supernova observed by Chinese & Japanese astronomers in Cassiopia. | |
| c. 1250 CE | A supernova 650 light-years away should have been visible to observers on Earth according to scientists who analyzed evidence in 1998. | |
| 1264 CE | Comet said to predict the death of Pope Urban IV is last seen. | |
| 1345 CE | Saturn/Jupiter/Mars were in conjunction. It was thought to be the 'cause of plague epidemic'. | |
| 1456 CE | 23rd recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet | |
| 1497 CE | Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) first recorded astronomical observations. | |
| 1512 CE | Nicholas Copernicus first states his heliocentric theory in Commentariolus. | |
| 26 Apr 1514 CE | Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) made his first observations of Saturn. Copernicus later proposed that the sun is stationary and that the earth and the planets move in circular orbits around it. | |
| 1514 CE | Nicolaus Copernicus writes about heliocentric theory but does not yet publish it. | |
| 1519 CE | Ferdinand Magellan describes the Magellanic Clouds in detail | |
| 1531 CE | Haley's comet caused panic in many parts of the world. | |
| 1543 CE | Nicholas Copernicus shows that his heliocentric theory simplifies planetary motion tables in De Revolutionibus de Orbium Coelestium suggesting that the sun is at the center of the universe | |
| 1550 CE | Leonard Digges makes the first refracting telescope. | |
| 1551 CE | Erasmus Rheinhold, German astronomer, published astronomical tables based on the numerical values provided by Nicolas Copernicus. | |
| 1560 CE | Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) becomes interested in astronomy | |
| 1569 CE | Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer, built a quadrant measuring 5.8 meters, and a celestial globe with a diameter of 1.5 meters at Augsburg. | |
| 1571 CE | Johannes Kepler, by his own calculations, is conceived at 4:37 AM. | |
| 1572 CE | Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) discovers his supernova in Cassiopeia and cites it as evidence that the heavens are not changeless. | |
| 1572 CE | Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer, discovered a nova in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It is described in detail in his book 'De Nova Stella'. | |
| 1573 CE | Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer, published a monograph on his discovery of a new star. His observations were denied by Roman Catholic divines, but Tycho was Lutheran, independently rich, and lived in a Lutheran country whose king was a staunch Protestant, so he continued his work. | |
| 1574 CE | Tycho Brahe observes that a comet is beyond the moon. | |
| 1575 CE | King Frederick of Denmark offers island of Hveen to Tycho Brahe. | |
| 1576 CE | Thomas Digges (?-1595), building on work of his father Leonard Digges, modifies the Copernican astronomical model by removing its outer edge and replacing the edge with a star filled unbounded space. | |
| 1576 CE | Tycho Brahe given Hveen Island to build Uraniborg planetary Observatory. | |
| 1576 CE | The basilica of San Petronio was erected by Egnatio Danti, a mathematician and Dominican friar who worked for Cosimo I dei Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The structure included a solar observatory. Danti also advised Pope Gregory on calendar reform. | |
| 1577 CE | Tycho Brahe observes that a comet passes through the orbits of other planets. | |
| 1577 CE | Tycho Brahe uses parallax to prove that comets are distant entities and not atmospheric phenomena. | |
| 1579 CE | The cornerstone is laid for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory. | |
| 1584 CE | Giordano Bruno suggests that stars are suns with other Earth's in orbit. | |
| 8 Jan 1587 CE | Johannes Fabricus, astronomer who discovered sunspots, was born. | |
| 1588 CE | Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer, had his financial support cut by a new Danish king and moved to Prague where his student, Johannes Kepler, aided him and to whom he left all his astronomical data. | |
| 1590 CE | Dutch astronomer David Fabricus discovers the first star, Mira. | |
| 1596 CE | David Fabricius observes a variable star, Mira Ceta. | |
| 1596 CE | Tycho Brahe completes the best star catalogue of pre-telescopic times. | |
| 1600 CE | Tycho Brahe & Johannes Kepler meet for the first time outside of Prague. | |
| 1604 CE | Johannes Kepler, German astronomer, observes a supernova in Serpens with his naked eye. | |
| 1608 CE | Dutch lensmaker Hans Lippershey develops the optical telescope and tried to patent it | |
| 1608 CE | Prototype of modern reflecting telescope completed by Jan Lippershey offered to the Dutch government. | |
| 1609 CE | Galileo Galilei builds his first optical refracting telescope and demonstrates his first telescope to the Venetian senate. | |
| 1609 CE | Johannes Kepler develops the notion of energy. | |
| 1609 CE | German astronomer, Johannes Kepler states his first and second empirical laws of planetary motion where planets move in an eliptical motion rather than the the circles envisioned by Copernicus. | |
| 1609 CE | Thomas Harriot maps the moon using a telescope | |
| 1 Jul 1610 CE | Galileo Galilei discovers the first 3 Jupiter satellites, Io, Europa & Ganymede. | |
| 1610 CE | Galileo Galilei observes craters on the moon. | |
| 1610 CE | Galileo Galilei observes stars in the Milky Way. | |
| 1610 CE | Galileo Galilei observes the phases of Venus. | |
| 1610 CE | Galileo Galilei sees Saturn's rings but does not recognize that they are rings. | |
| 1610 CE | German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) uses the dark night sky to argue for a finite universe | |
| 1610 CE | Galileo Galilei discovers Callisto, the fourth satellite of Jupiter. | |
| 1610 CE | German astronomer Simon Marius first discovers the Jupiter moons, but does not officially report it, Galileo does on 1 July 1610. | |
| 1611 CE | Johannes Kepler outlined the principles of the astronomical telescope. | |
| 1611 CE | John Fabricius dedicates earliest sunspot publication. | |
| 1611 CE | Word 'telescope' is first used (Prince Federico Cesi). | |
| 1611 CE | Galileo went to Rome to describe his observations to the pontifical court. | |
| 1612 CE | Simon Marius, is the first to observe the Andromeda galaxy through a telescope. | |
| 1613 CE | Galileo Galilei uses sunspot observations to demonstrate the rotation of the Sun. | |
| 1613 CE | Galileo may have unknowingly viewed undiscovered planet Neptune. | |
| 1616 CE | Copernicus' 'de Revolutionibus' placed on Catholic Forbidden index. | |
| 8 Mar 1618 CE | Johannes Kepler devised his Third Law of Planetary Motion. | |
| 1619 CE | Johannes Kepler postulates a solar wind to explain the direction of comet tails. | |
| 1619 CE | Johannes Kepler states his third empirical law of planetary motion. | |
