Era · 1800 CE – 1955 CE
Modern Astronomy
History of Astronomy
Overview
Spectroscopy and photography turned telescopes into instruments of astrophysics, revealing what stars are made of. Astronomers measured the distances of galaxies, discovered the expansion of the universe, and began to understand how stars live and die.
Astronomers
- Charles MessierFrench
- William HerschelGerman-British
- Caroline HerschelGerman-British
- John HerschelBritish
- Urbain Le VerrierFrench
- Johann GalleGerman
- Henry DraperAmerican
- Edward Charles PickeringAmerican
- Annie Jump CannonAmerican
- Henrietta Swan LeavittAmerican
- Edwin HubbleAmerican
- Georges LemaîtreBelgian
- Fritz ZwickySwiss
- Cecilia Payne-GaposchkinBritish-American
- Subrahmanyan ChandrasekharIndian-American
Discoveries
Knowledge connections
- ContainsCharles Messier
- ContainsWilliam Herschel
- ContainsCaroline Herschel
- ContainsJohn Herschel
- ContainsHenry Draper
- ContainsUrbain Le Verrier
- ContainsJohann Galle
- ContainsHenrietta Swan Leavitt
- ContainsAnnie Jump Cannon
- ContainsEdward Charles Pickering
- ContainsCecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
- ContainsEdwin Hubble
- ContainsGeorges Lemaître
- ContainsSubrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
- ContainsFritz Zwicky
- ContainsThe Discovery of Uranus
- ContainsThe Prediction and Discovery of Neptune
- ContainsWhat Stars Are Made Of
- ContainsThe Cepheid Period–Luminosity Relation
- ContainsThe Expansion of the Universe
- ContainsEvidence for Dark Matter
- ContainsGeneral Relativity
- ContainsThe Big Bang
- ContainsMessier Catalogue
Sources & references
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica
General reference for the history of astronomy, biographies, and cultural context.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.