Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology

400s

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5th century – Observatory at Ujjain, India

600s

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632–647 – Cheomseongdae observatory is built in the reign of Queen SeondeokatGyeongju, then the capital of Silla (present day South Korea)
618–1279 – Tang dynasty-Song dynasty, observatories built in Chang'an, Kaifeng, Hangzhou, China

700s

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

800s

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9th century – quadrant invented by Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī in 9th century Baghdad and is used for astronomical calculations^[2]
800–33 – The first modern observatory research institute built in Baghdad, Iraq, by Arabic astronomers during time of Al-Mamun^[3]
825–35 – Al-Shammisiyyah observatorybyHabash al-Hasib al-Marwazi in Baghdad, Iraq^[4]

900s

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10th century – Large astrolabe of diameter 1.4 meters constructed by Ibn Yunus^[5]
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.^[6]

1000s

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1000 – Mokattam observatory in Egypt for Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah
11th century – Planisphere invented by Biruni^[7]
11th century – Universal latitude-independent astrolabe invented by Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Arzachel)^[8]
1023 – Hamedan observatory in Persia
c. 1030 – Treasury of OpticsbyIbn al-Haytham (Alhazen) of Iraq and Egypt
1074–92 – Malikshah ObservatoryatIsfahan used by Omar Khayyám

1100s

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1100–50 – Jabir ibn Aflah develops instruments resembling and perhaps inspiring the torquetum, an observational instrument and mechanical analog computer device^[9]
1119–25 – Cairo al-Bataihi observatory for Al-Afdal Shahanshah

1200s

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

1300s

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1371 – The idea of using hours of equal time length throughout the year in a sundial was the innovation of Ibn al-Shatir^[10]^[11]

1400s

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1420 – Samarkand observatoryofUlugh Beg
1442 – Beijing Ancient Observatory in China
1467–71 – Observatory at Nagyvarad Oradea, Kingdom of Hungary for Matthias Corvinus. Tabula Varadensis.
1472 – The Nuremberg observatory of Regiomontanus and Bernhard Walther.^[12]

1500s

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1560 – Kassel observatory under Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hesse
1575–80 – Constantinople Observatory of Taqi ad-Din under Sultan Murad III
1576 – Royal Danish Astronomical Observatory UraniborgatHvenbyTycho Brahe
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.^[13]
1577–80 – Taqi al-Din invents framed sextant^[13]
1581 – Royal Danish Astronomical Observatory StjerneborgatHvenbyTycho Brahe

1600s

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1600 – Prague observatory in Benátky nad JizeroubyTycho 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^[14]
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

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1704 – First observatory at Cambridge University (based at Trinity College)
1724 – Indian observatory of Sawai Jai SinghatDelhi
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 ObservatoryatVilnius 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

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1803 National Astronomical Observatory (Colombia), the first observatory in the Americas^[15]
1836 Swathithirunal opened Trivandrum observatory
1839 Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (inventor of the daguerreotype photographic process) attempts 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)^[16]
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 the 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.^[17]
1872 – Henry Draper photographs a spectrumofVega that shows absorption lines.^[17]
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.^[18]
1887 – Paris conference institutes Carte du Ciel project to map entire sky to 14th magnitude photographically
1888 – First light of 91cm refracting telescopeatLick 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

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1902 – Dominion Observatory, Ottawa, Ontario, 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 hexagonal primary mirror of 11.1 by 9.8 meters.
2007 – First light at Gran Telescopio de Canarias (GTC), in Spain, the largest optical telescope in the world with an effective diameter of 10.4 meters.
2021 — James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), was launched 25 December 2021 on an ESA Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana and will succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA's flagship mission in astrophysics.
2023 — Euclid, was launched on 1 July 2023 on a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to study dark matter and energy.
2023 — XRISM was launched on 6 September 2023 on a H-IIA rocket to study the formation of the universe and the dark matter.

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