23 October
1893: On 23 October 1893, Ernest Julius Öpik was born.Öpik was an Estonian astronomer best known for his studies of meteors and meteorites. His career was devoted to understanding the ...
27 FEB. 2004
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1851: On 24 October 1851, British astronomer William Lassell discovered Ariel and Umbriel, satellites of Uranus.
Like most of the other Uranian moons Ariel is named after a Shakespearean character. The name Umbriel comes from Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock.
Lassell had previously also discovered Neptune's largest satellite, Triton and (with American astronomer George Bond) discovered Saturn's moon Hyperion.
1601: On 24 October 1601, Tycho Brahe died.
Brahe was a Danish astronomer whose work in developing astronomical instruments and in measuring and fixing the positions of stars paved the way for future discoveries.
His observations, the most accurate possible before the invention of the telescope, included a comprehensive study of the Solar System.
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22 October
1792: On 22 October 1792, Guillaume Le Gentil died.Le Gentil was a French astronomer who attempted to observe the transit of Venus across the Sun by travelling to India in ...
21 October
1967: On 21 October 1967, Ejnar Hertzsprung died.Hertzsprung was a Danish astronomer who classified types of stars by relating their surface temperature (or colour) to their absolute brightness.A few years ...
20 October
1896: On 20 October 1896, Félix Tisserand died.Tisserand was a French astronomer especially noted for his textbook Traité de mécanique céleste ('Treatise on Celestial Mechanics'). This work, an update of ...
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