A Musician Looks Up and Doubles the Solar System, March 13, 1781
On March 13, 1781, amateur astronomer William Herschel spotted an odd greenish disk through his backyard telescope — and doubled the known size of the solar system.
Tagged: astronomy
The Night the Sky Exploded
On February 23, 1987, light from an exploding star reached Earth, giving astronomers their first close-up study of a supernova in 383 years.
The Boy from Pisa Who Moved the Earth
Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564, in Pisa, the curious son of a musician who turned a telescope to the heavens and changed humanity's place in the universe.
The Farm Boy Who Found a Planet
On February 18, 1930, 24-year-old Clyde Tombaugh, a self-taught farm boy from Kansas, spotted Pluto on photographic plates at Lowell Observatory in Arizona.