History of Astronomy : Topics

History of Astronomy: Topics: Solar System

General

• Solar System Astronomy, by William Nielsen Brandt
  A timeline
• Chronology of Solar System Discovery, by Bill Arnett (Or see here.)
• Inventing the Solar System: Early Greek Scientists Struggle to Explain How the Heavens Move by Ellen N. Brundige
  A student's short course paper
• Planetary Nomenclature
  Contents: Introduction; Names listed by planetary system; Alphabetical list of names; Appendices. Including short biographical information on persons who's names were used.
  • History of planetary nomenclature
  • Planet and satellite names and discoverers
• The Nine Planets, by Bill Arnett
  Overview of the history, mythology, and current scientific knowledge of each of the planets and moons in our solar system.
• Hypothetical Planets
  Planets/moons that has been believed to exist by astronomers at one time, but which later 'vanished'
• Titius-Bode's Law: Numerical Chance or Insight into Physical Phenomenon?, by A.G. LeBlanc
  Including a historical introduction
• Cosmic Harmony and Titius and Bode's Law
  From Delta, a polish journal aimed at high-school students.
• Natural Satellite Physical Properties and Discovery Data
• JPL's HORIZONS System
  The JPL HORIZONS On-Line Solar System Data and Ephemeris Computation Service provides access to key solar system data and flexible production of highly accurate ephemerides for solar system objects (15000+ asteroids and comets, 61 natural satellites, 9 planets, the Sun). - Recently the JPL planetary and lunar ephemeris files have been extended to the interval -3000 through +3000 making the HORIZONS system of potential interest to historians of astronomy.

Sun

See History of Astronomy: Topics: Solar Astronomy

Mercury

• Mercury
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• Myths about Mercury
• Find more about Mercury in mythology with Alta Vista

Venus

• Venus
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• Myths about Venus
• History of Ideas about Venus
  Lecture notes.
• Observations of Venus in Stone Age Europe, by Philip Steffey
• Find more about Venus in mythology with Alta Vista

• Transit of Venus
• The Transit of Venus & The Quest for the Solar Parallax, by David Sellers
• Mason and Dixon at the Cape
  Observations of the Transits of Venus. From the Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of South Africa, Nov 1951, pp. 99-102
• The 1882 Transit of Venus observations from Wellington, South Africa
• Find more about transits of Venus with Alta Vista

Earth

• Earth
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• Myths about the Earth
• The Exploration of the Earth's Magnetosphere
• A Brief History of Magnetospheric Physics During the Space Age, by David P. Stern
  From Reviews of Geophysics, 34, 1-31, 1996

The Moon

• Exploring the Moon, by Charles A. Wood
  Provides knowledge about the Moon and its history of exploration, including complete texts of critical early papers.
• The Moon
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• The Moon
• Newton and the Moon, by Nicholas Kollerstrom
  Offers historical material relating to theories of the Moon's motion, especially those of Newton and those surrounding him.
• A Short History of Lunar Cartography, by Leslie Bochenski
• LunaWeb
  A short overview on lunar geography, with historical notes.
• Myths about the Moon
• The Face of the Moon: Galileo to Apollo
  An Exhibit of Rare Books and Maps from the Collection of the Linda Hall Library, 1989
• Thomas Harriot's Moon Drawings
• Lunar features named after mathematicians
• The 35 Lunar Craters Named to Honor Jesuit Scientists
• Arabic & Islamic Crater-Names on the Moon
• Travel to the Moon : Dreams and Hoaxes at the Dawn of Astronomy, by Carl Koppeschaar
• Unknown Dutch Print with a Lunar Map, by Robert H. van Gent

Mars

• Sheehan, William: The Planet Mars: A History of Observation and Discovery, 1996
• Mars
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• Mars
  Also about the history of exploration.
• Myths about Mars
• Atlas of Mars
  • List of feature names
    Including their historical background.
• Images of Mars
  HyperCard stack designed to run on a color Macintosh computer. Contains also a brief summary of the history of human interest in Mars, touching on the early observations of Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Huygens, W.Herschel, Asaph Hall, and Schiaparelli; the theories of Percival Lowell; and the popular views of science fiction writers.
• Mars: Past Exploration
• Percival Lowell and Mars
• Percival Lowell and the planet Mars
• The Mars "Face" and Lowell's "Canals", by Larry Klaes

• Phobos
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• Deimos
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.

Jupiter

• Jupiter
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• Myths about the Jovian System
• Satellites of Jupiter
• The moons of Jupiter - the Medici planets
• The Discovery of the Galilean Satellites

Saturn

• Saturn
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• Saturn
• Viewing Saturn Over Time
• Myths about Saturn
• Historical Background of Saturn's Rings

Uranus

• Uranus
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• Uranus
  RGO Information Leaflet No. 43; with short information on the history of discovery.
• Myths about Uranus

Neptune

• Neptune
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• Neptune
  RGO Information Leaflet No. 44; with short information on the history of discovery.
• 150th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Planet Neptune
• Mathematical discovery of planets
  The discovery of Neptune and Pluto
• William Lassell and 'the accident of a maid-servant's carelessness', or Why Neptune was not searched for at Starfield, by Richard Baum (Or see here.)
  J. Brit. Astron. Assoc., 106, 4, 1996
• Find more about the discovery of Neptune with Alta Vista
• Myths about Neptune

• Triton
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• William Lassell (1799-1880) and the discovery of Triton, 1846, by Allan Chapman

Pluto

• Pluto
  Including a short history of mythology and exploration.
• Pluto
  RGO Information Leaflet No. 45; with short information on the history of discovery.
• The Struggles to Find the Ninth Planet, by Clyde W. Tombaugh
• Mathematical discovery of planets
  The discovery of Neptune and Pluto
• Pluto Express Curriculum Guides for Educators, Vol. 1 No. 1
  Also on the history of discovery of Pluto.
• Pluto: The Discovery of Planet X, by Brad Mager
• Myths about Pluto

Minor Planets (Asteroids)

• Asteroids
  Including a short history of discoveries.
• The Minor Planets
  RGO Information Leaflet No. 46; with short information on the history of discovery.
• Small Bodies Cross-Identification Search
  For asteroid and comet designations
• Minor Planet Discoverers (Alphabetically)
• Minor Planet Discoverers
  Arranged in decreasing order of number of discoveries
• Minor Planet Discovery Sites
• Asteroid Names, Designations and Discovery Circumstances
• Asteroid Discovery Circumstances
• Minor Planet Index to Scientific Papers
• Eightieth Anniversary of the Discovery of a Minor Planet Named after a Sidmouth Astronomer, 29 August 1916
  (828) Lindemannia, named after Adolph Lindemann (1884-1928)
• Asteroid radar history
  Starting from 1968.

Comets

• Comets
• A Brief History of Comets I (until 1950)
• A Brief History of Comets II (1950 -1993)
• Comet Cross-Identification
  Enter one designation to get a list of other names and designations associated with that comet. (For another cross-identification index see above under asteroids.
• Great Comets in History, by Donald K. Yeomans
• Interesting Comets of the Past by Gary W. Kronk
• The Bright Comet Chronicles, by John E. Bortle
• ABOB's Page or: Comets, Culture, & Currency by Bob Kobres
  About comet impacts, including history of the problem; to be used with caution.
• The Tiger Tail Star: Matasaburou and Comet C/1664 W1 by Steve Renshaw and Saori Ihara
• The comet of 1577
• Halley's comet--History (Library of Congress entries)
• Halley's comet--Early works to 1800 (Library of Congress entries)
• Ceramic Comets, by Robert H. van Gent
  About cometary depictions on porcelain.

Meteors and Meteorites

• Meteor Showers: A Descriptive Catalog, by Gary W. Kronk
  Including extended observation history
• A Catalogue of Meteorites and Fireballs, from A.D. 2 to A.D. 1860, by R.P. Greg
• Meteors and Meteorites: A Historic Archive of Articles, Books and Catalogues, by Eric Hutton
  On CD-ROM.
• Meteors and the Native Americans, by Gary W. Kronk
• The Discovery of the Perseid Meteors, by Mark Littmann
  Adapted from Sky & Telescope, August 1996
• The UK and Eire Meteorite page, maintained by Eric Hutton
• Index to the Bibliographic Meteor Database
  • Biographies and Bibliographies
  • History

Near-Earth Objects

• History of discovery and observations of Near-Earth Objects

See also:

History of Astronomy: Topics: Celestial Mechanics

History of Astronomy: Topics: Space Exploration

History of Astronomy: Topics: World Systems

Wolfgang R. Dick. Created: 1 Aug 1996. Latest update: 13 May 2004