1. Abraham has a vision of the stars through the Urim and Thummim. He learns that earth belongs to a system of stars, that at the center of this system are many great stars, and at the center of the great ones is Kolob, which governs the entire system. (Compare to 15 and 34, also highlighted in blue.)
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Between 2100 and 1800 B.C.
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2. Hipparchos completes the first catalog of the stars
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129 B.C.
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3. Ptolemy publishes his theory of the Earth-centered universe.
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150 A.D.
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4. al-Sufi prepares catalog of over 1,000 stars.
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970 A.D.
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5. Ulugh-Beg, prince of Turkestan, builds a great observatory and prepares tables of planet and star data.
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1420 A.D.
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6. While on his deathbed, Copernicus publishes his theory that planets orbit around the Sun.
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1543
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7. Galileo discovers the moons of Jupiter, craters on Earth’s Moon, the turning of the Sun, and the presence of innumerable stars in the Milky Way with a telescope that he built.
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1609
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8. Isaac Newton begins his work on the theory of universal gravitation.
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1666
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9. Edmond Halley predicts that a great comet will return in 1758.
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1705
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10. On Christmas, farmer/and amateur astronomer Johann Palitzch discovers the return of Halley’s Comet.
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1758
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11. William Herschel discovers Uranus.
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1781
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12. Benjamin Banneker, the first African-American scientist, begins star observations needed for the geographical survey to establish the future capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C.
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1791
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13. In a vision recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants Joseph Smith the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon learn that Christ created the worlds and many are inhabited by other sons and daughters of God. (Compare to 40, also highlighted in green.)
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1832
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14. Abraham Lincoln and thousands of others see an enormous meteor shower over North America on November 12th and 13th.
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1833
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15. Joseph Smith publishes the translation of the Book of Abraham which explains that our solar system belongs to an order of stars within the universe. At the center of this order are many great stars and at the center of the great ones is Kolob which governs the entire system. (Compare to 1 and 34, also highlighted in blue.)
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1842
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16. Christian Doppler discovers the principle by which sound or light shifts in frequency and wavelength due to the motion of its source with respect to the observer.
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1842
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17. Revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith and recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants explains:
“7 There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes;
8 We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.” |
1843
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18. Johann Galle is the first person to spot Neptune.
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1846
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19. Speaking at the funeral services for Elder Thomas Williams, Brigham teaches “when man fell, the earth fell into space, and took up its abode in this planetary system, and the sun became our light.” (Compare to 31, also highlighted in red.)
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1874
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20. Earth passes through the tail of Halley’s Comet.
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1910
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21. Albert Einstein proposes the General Theory of Relativity, which explains the nature of gravity and predicts how the path taken by light is bent when it passes near a massive object such as the Sun.
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1916
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22. Edwin Hubble proves that other galaxies lie beyond the Milky Way.
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1923
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23. Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
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1930
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24. Karl Jansky discovers radio waves from space.
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1931
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25. Hans Bethe explains the energy source of the Sun and other stars.
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1939
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26. Grote Reber reports the first radio telescope survey of the sky.
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1940
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27. Geoffrey Burbidge, E. Margaret Burbidge, William Fowler, and Fred Hoyle explain how elements form in stars.
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1957
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28. Maarten Schmidt discovers that quasars are located at immense distances from the Milky Way and are thus brighter than most other objects in the universe.
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1963
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29. The Hubble Space Telescope is launched. The Hubble would revolutionize our understanding of space and show us what the universe actually looks like.
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1990
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30. The first planets outside our solar system are discovered.
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1992
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31. The planet 51 Peg is discovered which, due to its position and size, could not have formed in its current location. This led to the realization that planets migrate. (Compare to 19, also highlighted in red.)
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1995
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32. Reinhard Genzel (Germany) and Andrea Ghez (United States) and their coworkers find conclusive evidence for a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
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1996-1998
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33. The Hubble Space Telescope makes repeated images of a region of the sky that, combined together, make up the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, the deepest picture of the universe ever made.
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2003-2004
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34. Evidence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy is discovered. Surrounding the black hole is a cluster of 7 enormous stars and they are surrounded by countless red giant stars which are 1000 times larger than the sun and 3000 times more luminous. (Compare to 1 and 15, also highlighted in blue.)
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2004
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35. International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted a new definition of planet. A new distinct class of objects called dwarf planets was also decided. Pluto was redefined as a dwarf planet along with Ceres and Eris
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2006
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36. First visual proof of existence of black holes is published. Suvi Gezari's team in Johns Hopkins University, using the Hawaiian telescope Pan-STARRS 1, record images of a supermassive black hole 2.7 million light-years away that is swallowing a red giant.
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2012
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37. In October 2013, the first extrasolar asteroid is detected around white dwarf star GD 61. It is also the first detected extrasolar body which contains water in liquid or solid form.
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2013
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38. In July 14, with the successful encounter of Pluto by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, the United States became the first nation to explore all of 9 major planets recognized in 1981.
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2015
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39. As a result of two black holes colliding, gravitational waves are first detected, further confirming Einstein’s theory of relativity.
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2015
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40. The James Webb Space Telescope will be launched in June of 2019. This telescope will revolutionize our understanding of space and will provide much greater detail of what the universe looks like, even more than what the Hubble was able to do. The James Webb Telescope is a strong candidate for being the instrument that detects life beyond our planet. (Compare to 13, also highlighted in green.)
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2019
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