Every month Elizabeth Cocking, long time member of Sydney City Skywatchers and current secretary, researches interesting historical...

13th August 1898 The asteroid Eros is discovered by the German astronomer Gustav Witt at the Urania Observatory in Berlin, and...

4 July 1054 Chinese astronomers notice a star explode becoming a supernova in the constellation Taurus. It remained visible in the night...

2 June 1966 Surveyor 1, the first of the Surveyor robotic spacecraft, soft lands on the Moon. It was the first American spacecraft to...

13 May 1861 John Tebbutt discovers the Great Comet of 1861, also known as Comet C/1861 J1, one of the most brilliant comets known. He...

12 April 1633 The inquisition of Galileo by the Roman Catholic church begins. He was ordered to turn himself in to the Holy Office to...

7 March 1831 The Royal Astronomical Society receives its Royal charter from King William IV. The society was founded in 1820 as the...

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

11th December 1972 Apollo 17, the last of the Apollo missions, lands on the Moon. Eugene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, still holds the...

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