Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology

3500s BCE

The earliest sundials known from the archaeological record are the obelisks from ancient Egyptian astronomy and Babylonian astronomy

1900s BCE

Taosi Astronomical Observatory, Xiangfen County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province, China

1500s BCE

Shadow clocks invented in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

600s BCE

11th-7th century BCE, Zhou dynasty astronomical observatory (灵台) in today's Xian, China

200s BCE

Thirteen Towers solar observatory, Chankillo, Peru

100s BCE

206-220 BCE, Han dynasty astronomical observatory (灵台) in Chang'an and Luoyang. During East Han dynasty, astronomical observatory (灵台) built in Yanshi, Henan Province, China

400s

5th century - Observatory at Ujjain, India

5th century - Surya Siddhanta written in India

499 - Aryabhatiya written by Aryabhata

500s

6th century - Various siddhantas compiled by Indian astronomers

600s

c. 628 - Brahmasphutasiddhanta by Brahmagupta

632-647 - Cheomseongdae observatory is built in the reign of Queen Seondeok at Gyeongju, then the capital of Silla (present day South Korea)

618-1279 - Tang dynasty-Song dynasty, observatories built in Chang'an, Kaifeng, Hangzhou, China

700s

700-77 - The first Zij treatise, Az-Zīj ‛alā Sinī al-‛Arab, written by Ibrahim al-Fazari and Muhammad al-Fazari

700-96 - Brass astrolabe constructed by Muhammad al-Fazari based on Hellenistic sources

c. 777 - Yaqūb ibn Tāriq wrote Az-Zij al-Mahlul min as-Sindhind li-Darajat Daraja based on Brahmagupta and Surya Siddhanta

800s

9th century - quadrant invented by Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī in 9th century Baghdad and is used for astronomical calculations

800-33 - The first modern observatory research institute built in Baghdad, Iraq, by Arabic astronomers during time of Al-Mamun

800-50 - Zij al-Sindhind written by Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (Algorismi)

825-35 - Al-Shammisiyyah observatory by Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi in Baghdad, Iraq

869 - Mahodayapuram Observatory in Kerala, India, by Sankaranarayana

900s

10th century - Large astrolabe of diameter 1.4 meters constructed by Ibn Yunus

900-29 - Az-Zij as-Sabi written by Muhammad ibn Jābir al-Harrānī al-Battānī (Albatenius)

994 - First sextant constructed in Ray, Iran, by Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi. It was a very large mural sextant that achieved a high level of accuracy for astronomical measurements.

1000s

1000 - Mokattam observatory in Egypt for Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah

1000 - Volvelle, an early paper analog computer, invented by Arabic physicians and improved by Abu Rayhan Biruni for use in astronomy.

11th century - Planisphere invented by Biruni

11th century - Universal latitude-independent astrolabe invented by Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Arzachel)

1015 - Equatorium invented by Arzachel in Al-Andalus

1023 - Hamedan observatory in Persia

c. 1030 - Treasury of Optics by Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) of Iraq and Egypt

1074-92 - Malikshah observatory at Isfahan used by Omar Khayyám

1086 - Northern Song dynasty astronomical observatory

1100s

1100-50 - Jabir ibn Aflah (Geber) (c. 1100-1150) invented the torquetum, an observational instrument and mechanical analog computer device

1114–87 - Tables of Toledo based on Arzachel and published by Gerard of Cremona

1115-16 - Sinjaric Tables written by al-Khazini

1119-25 - Cairo al-Bataihi observatory for Al-Afdal Shahanshah

cs. 1020 - Geared mechanical astrolabe invented by Ibn Samh

1200s

1206 - Al-Jazari invented his largest astronomical clock, the "castle clock", which is considered to be the first programmable analog computer.

1252-72 - Alfonsine tables recorded

1259 - Maragheh observatory and library of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi built in Persia under Hulagu Khan

c. 1270 - Terrace for Managing Heaven 26 observatory network of Guo Shoujing under Khubilai Khan

1272 - Zij-i Ilkhani written by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

1276 - Dengfeng Star Observatory Platform, Gaocheng, Dengfeng City, Henan Province, China

1300s

1371 - The idea of using hours of equal time length throughout the year in a sundial was the innovation of Ibn al-Shatir

1400s

1400-29 - Khaqani Zij by Jamshīd al-Kāshī

1417 - Speculum Planetarum by Simones de Selandia

1420 - Samarkand observatory of Ulugh Beg

1437 - Zij-i-Sultani written by Ulugh Beg

1442 - Beijing Ancient Observatory in China

1467-71 - Observatory at Oradea, Hungary for Matthias Corvinus

1472 - The Nuremberg observatory of Regiomontanus and Bernhard Walther.

1500s

1540 Apian "Astronomicum Caesareum"

1560 - Kassel observatory under Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hesse

1574 - Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf describes a long-distance magnifying device in his Book of the Light of the Pupil of Vision and the Light of the Truth of the Sights, which may have possibly been an early rudimentary telescope.

1575-80 - Istanbul observatory of Taqi al-Din under Sultan Murad III

1576 - Royal Danish Astronomical Observatory Uraniborg at Hven by Tycho Brahe

1577 - Istanbul observatory of Taqi al-Din constructed for Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf

1577-80 - Unbored Pearl, a Zij treatise by Taqi al-Din

1577-80 - Taqi al-Din invents a mechanical astronomical clock that measures time in seconds, one of the most important innovations in 16th-century practical astronomy, as previous clocks were not accurate enough to be used for astronomical purposes.

1577-80 - Taqi al-Din invents framed sextant

1581 - Royal Danish Astronomical Observatory Stjerneborg at Hven by Tycho Brahe

1589-90 - Celestial globe without seams invented in Mughal India by Ali Kashmiri ibn Luqman during Akbar the Great's reign.

1600s

1600 - Prague observatory in Benátky nad Jizerou by Tycho Brahe

1603 - Johann Bayer's Uranometria is published

1608 - Hans Lippershey tries to patent an optical refracting telescope, the first recorded functional telescope

1609 - Galileo Galilei builds his first optical refracting telescope

1616 - Niccolò Zucchi experiments with a reflecting telescope

1633 - Construction of Leiden University Observatory

1641 - William Gascoigne invents telescope cross hairs

1641 - Danzig/Gdansk observatory of Jan Hevelius

1642 - Copenhagen University Royal observatory

1661 - James Gregory proposes an optical reflecting telescope with parabolic mirrors

1667 - Paris Observatory

1668 - Isaac Newton constructs the first "practical" reflecting telescope, the Newtonian telescope

1672 - Laurent Cassegrain designs the Cassegrain telescope

1675 - Royal Greenwich Observatory of England

1684 - Christiaan Huygens publishes "Astroscopia Compendiaria" in which he described the design of very long aerial telescopes

1700s

1704 - First observatory at Cambridge University (based at Trinity College)

1724 - Indian observatory of Sawai Jai Singh at Delhi

1725 - St. Petersburg observatory at Royal Academy

1732 - Indian observatories of Sawai Jai Singh at Varanasi, Ujjain, Mathura, Madras

1733 - Chester Moore Hall invents the achromatic lens refracting telescope

1734 - Indian observatory of Sawai Jai Singh at Jaipur

1753 - Real Observatorio de Cádiz (Spain)

1753 - Vilnius Observatory at Vilnius University, Lithuania

1758 - John Dollond reinvents the achromatic lens

1761 - Joseph-Nicolas Delisle 62 observing station network for observing the transit of Venus

1769 - Short reflectors used at 63 station network for transit of Venus

1774 - Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana), originally established as the Observatory of the Roman College.

1780 - Florence Specola observatory

1789 - William Herschel finishes a 49-inch (1.2 m) optical reflecting telescope, located in Slough, England

1798 - Real Observatorio de la Isla de Léon (actualmente Real Instituto y Observatorio de la Armada) (Spain)

1800s

1803 National Astronomical Observatory (Colombia), the first observatory in the Americas

1836 Swathithirunal opened Trivandrum observatory

1839 Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (inventor of the daguerreotype photographic process) attempts in to photograph the moon. Tracking errors in guiding the telescope during the long exposure made the photograph came out as an indistinct fuzzy spot

1840 - John William Draper takes make a successful photographic image of the Moon, the first astronomical photograph

1845 - Lord Rosse finishes the Birr Castle 72-inch (1.8 m) optical reflecting telescope, located in Parsonstown, Ireland

1849 - Santiago observatory set up by USA, later becomes Chilean National Observatory (now part of the University of Chile)

1859 - Kirchhoff and Bunsen develop spectroscopy

1864 - Herschel's so-called GC (General Catalogue) of nebulae and star clusters published

1868 - Janssen and Lockyer discover Helium observing spectra of Sun

1871 - German Astronomical Association organized network of 13 (later 16) observatories for stellar proper motion studies

1863 - William Allen Miller and Sir William Huggins use the photographic wet collodion plate process to obtain the first ever photographic spectrogram of a star, Sirius and Capella.

1872 - Henry Draper photographs an spectrum of Vega that shows absorption lines.

1878 - Dreyer published a supplement to the GC of about 1000 new objects, the New General Catalogue

1883 - Andrew Ainslie Common uses the photographic dry plate process and a 36-inch (91 cm) reflecting telescope in his backyard to record 60 minute exposures of the Orion nebula that for the first time showed stars too faint to be seen by the human eye.

1887 - Paris conference institutes Carte du Ciel project to map entire sky to 14th magnitude photographically

1888 - First light of 91cm refracting telescope at Lick Observatory, on Mount Hamilton near San Jose, California

1889 - Astronomical Society of the Pacific founded

1890 - Albert A. Michelson proposes the stellar interferometer

1892 - George Ellery Hale finishes a spectroheliograph, which allows the Sun to be photographed in the light of one element only

1897 - Alvan Clark finishes the Yerkes 40-inch (1.0 m) optical refracting telescope, located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin

1900s

1902 - Dominion Observatory, Ottawa, Canada established

1904 - Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington founded

1907 - F.C. Brown and Joel Stebbins develop a selenium cell photometer at the University of Illinois Observatory.

1910s

1912 - Joel Stebbins and Jakob Kunz begin to use a photometer using a photoelectric cell at the University of Illinois Observatory.

1917 - Mount Wilson 100-inch (2.5 m) optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Mount Wilson, California

1918 - 1.8m Plaskett Telescope begins operation at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

1919 - International Astronomical Union (IAU) founded

1930s

1930 - Bernard-Ferdinand Lyot invents the coronagraph

1930 - Karl Jansky builds a 30-meter long rotating aerial radio telescope This was the first radio telescope.

1933 - Bernard-Ferdinand Lyot invents the Lyot filter

1934 - Bernhard Schmidt finishes the first 14-inch (360 mm) Schmidt optical reflecting telescope

1936 - Palomar 18-inch (460 mm) Schmidt optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Palomar, California

1937 - Grote Reber builds a 31-foot (9.4 m) radio telescope

1940s

1941 - Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov invents the Maksutov telescope which is adopted by major observatories in the Soviet Union and internationally. It is now also a popular design with amateur astronomers

1946 - Martin Ryle and his group perform the first astronomical observations with a radio interferometer

1947 - Bernard Lovell and his group complete the Jodrell Bank 218-foot (66 m) non-steerable radio telescope

1949 - Palomar 48-inch (1.2 m) Schmidt optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Palomar, California

1949 - Palomar 200-inch (5.1 m) optical reflecting telescope (Hale telescope) begins regular operation, located in Palomar, California

1950s

1953 - Luoxue Mountain Cosmic Rays Research Center, Yunnan Province, in China founded

1954 - Earth rotation aperture synthesis suggested (see e.g. Christiansen and Warburton (1955))

1956 - Dwingeloo Radio Observatory 25 m telescope completed, Dwingeloo, Netherlands

1957 - Bernard Lovell and his group complete the Jodrell Bank 250-foot (75 m) steerable radio telescope (the Lovell Telescope)

1957 - Peter Scheuer publishes his P(D) method for obtaining source counts of spatially unresolved sources

1959 - Radio Observatory of the University of Chile, located at Maipú, Chile founded

1959 - The 3C catalogue of radio sources is published (revised in 1962)

1959 - The Shane 120-inch (3.0 m) Telescope Opened at Lick Observatory

1960s

1960 - Owens Valley 27-meter radio telescopes begin operation, located in Big Pine, California

1961 - Parkes 64-metre radio telescope begins operation, located near Parkes, Australia

1962 - European Southern Observatory (ESO) founded

1962 - Kitt Peak solar observatory founded

1962 - Green Bank, West Virginia 90m radio telescope

1962 - Orbiting Solar Observatory 1 satellite launched

1963 - Arecibo 300-meter radio telescope begins operation, located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico

1964 - Martin Ryle's 1-mile (1.6 km) radio interferometer begins operation, located in Cambridge, England

1965 - Owens Valley 40-meter radio telescope begins operation, located in Big Pine, California

1967 - First VLBI images, with 183 km baseline

1969 - Observations start at Big Bear Solar Observatory, located in Big Bear, California

1969 - Las Campanas Observatory

1970s

1970 - Cerro Tololo 158-inch (4.0 m) optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Cerro Tololo, Chile

1970 - Kitt Peak National Observatory 158-inch (4.0 m) optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located near Tucson, Arizona

1970 - Uhuru x-ray telescope satellite

1970 - Antoine Labeyrie performs the first high-resolution optical speckle interferometry observations

1970 - Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope completed, near Westerbork, Netherlands

1972 – 100 m Effelsberg radio telescope inaugurated (Germany)

1973 - UK Schmidt Telescope 1.2 metre optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Anglo-Australian Observatory near Coonabarabran, Australia

1974 - Anglo-Australian Telescope 153-inch (3.9 m) optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Anglo-Australian Observatory near Coonabarabran, Australia

1975 - Gerald Smith, Frederick Landauer, and James Janesick use a CCD to observe Uranus, the first astronomical CCD observation

1975 - Antoine Labeyrie builds the first two-telescope optical interferometer

1976 - The 6-m BTA-6 (Bolshoi Teleskop Azimutalnyi or “Large Altazimuth Telescope”) goes into operation on Mt. Pashtukhov in the Russian Caucasus

1978 - Multiple Mirror 176-inch (4.5 m) equivalent optical/infrared reflecting telescope begins operation, located in Amado, Arizona

1978 - International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) telescope satellite

1978 - Einstein High Energy Astronomy Observatory x-ray telescope satellite

1979 - UKIRT 150-inch (3.8 m) infrared reflecting telescope begins operation, located at Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii

1979 - Canada-France-Hawaii 140-inch (3.6 m) optical reflecting telescope begins operation, located at Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii

1979 - NASA Infrared Telescope Facility[1] 120-inch (3.0 m) infrared reflecting telescope begins operation, located at Mauna Kea, Hawaii

1980s

1980 - Completion of construction of the VLA, located in Socorro, New Mexico

1983 - Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) telescope

1984 - IRAM 30-m telescope at Pico Veleta near Granada, Spain completed

1987 - 15-m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope UK submillimetre telescope installed at Mauna Kea Observatory

1987 - 5-m Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST) installed at the ESO La Silla Observatory

1988 - Australia Telescope Compact Array aperture synthesis radio telescope begins operation, located near Narrabri, Australia

1989 - Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite

1990s

1990 - Hubble 2.4m space Telescope launched, mirror found to be flawed

1991 - Compton Gamma Ray Observatory satellite

1993 - Keck 10-meter optical/infrared reflecting telescope begins operation, located at Mauna Kea, Hawaii

1993 - Very Long Baseline Array of 10 dishes

1995 - Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope (COAST)—the first very high resolution optical astronomical images (from aperture synthesis observations)

1995 - Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope of thirty 45 m dishes at Pune

1996 - Keck 2 10-meter optical/infrared reflecting telescope begins operation, located at Mauna Kea, Hawaii

1997 - The Japanese HALCA satellite begins operations, producing first VLBI observations from space, 25,000 km maximum baseline

1998 - First light at VLT1, the 8.2 m ESO telescope

2000s

2001 - First light at the Keck Interferometer. Single-baseline operations begin in the near-infrared.

2001 - First light at VLTI interferometry array. Operations on the interferometer start with single-baseline near-infrared observations with the 103 m baseline.

2005 - First imaging with the VLTI using the AMBER optical aperture synthesis instrument and three VLT telescopes.

2005 - First light at SALT, the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere, with a primary mirror diameter of 11 meters.

Planned

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), previously known as Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST). Launch is planned for October 2018.

Public Telescope (PST), German project of astrofactum. Launch is planned for 2019.

Wide-field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), part of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program. Launch is tentatively scheduled for 2024.