History

The Àryabhatíya of Àryabhata
The oldest exact astronomic constant? The ratio of earth rotations to lunar orbits in Aryabhata's AD 498 writing.
http://www.jqjacobs.net/astro/aryabhata.html

Astronomical References in the Ruba'iyât of Omar Khayyam
Excerpts and commentary with reproductions of some of Elihu Vedder's illustrations.
http://www.minaret.org/INSAP3.htm

Astronomy
Features history of discoveries and references.
http://jacq.istos.com.au/sundry/astro.html

Astronomy in Japan
Historical and modern Japanese astronomy, and its place in Japanese culture
http://www2.gol.com/users/stever/jastro.html

Astronomy in Sweden 1860-1940
From the Uppsala University Newsletter for History of Science.
http://www.astro.uu.se/history/swehistory_1860-1940.html

Astronomy in the 18th Century
Discusses the development of reflective telescopes during the 1700's. Covers the different types of mirrors and lens that were used during these times. Includes some key contributors to the improvement of the telescope during this period.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/heather.hobden1/astronomy18c.htm

Atlas Celeste
A rare celestial atlas discovered in the library of the Manchester Astronomical Society.
http://www.mikeoates.org/mas/bevis/home.htm

The Babylonian Theory of the Planets
A substantial look at the subject, and a review of N. M. Swerdlow's book.
http://www.maa.org/reviews/babplanets.html

Biennial History of Astronomy Conferences
Workshops at Notre Dame, papers presented, abstracts, group pictures of attendees.
http://www.nd.edu/~histast4/index.html

Big Ear Radio Observatory
Radio astronomy and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
http://www.bigear.org/

A Brief SETI Chronology
A timeline of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, from Morrison and Coconni to SETI@home.
http://www.setileague.org/general/history.htm

The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
Robert Woodrow Wilson Nobel Lecture.
http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1978/wilson-lecture.html

Digital Archive of Historical Astronomy Pictures
Images from the history of astronomy, old telescopes, pictures of astronomers, observatories.
http://www42.pair.com/infolund/bolaget/DAHAP/

Electronic Newsletter for the History of Astronomy
Complete archive and subscription information.
http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~pbrosche/aa/enha/

From Stargazers to Starships
Tutorial/historical exposition of the motion of Earth in space, Newtonian mechanics and spaceflight, on a high school level.
http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Sintro.htm

Gene Smith's Brief History of Astronomy
Covers the development of this ancient science from days of Stonehenge (3100 BC) to the discovery of Pulsars (1968 AD). Includes related resource links.
http://cass.ucsd.edu/public/tutorial/History.html

HASTRO-L
Archive of the History of Astronomy Discussion Group, the mailing list for scholars in this field.
http://listserv.wvu.edu/archives/hastro-l.html

Heavenly Mathematics: Cultural Astronomy
An interdisciplinary course on cultural astronomy.
http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/teaching/heavenly.html

Hindu Cosmological Time Cycles
An accurate calendar and the progenitor of the sexagesimal (base 60) "degree, minutes, seconds" measurement system.
http://westgatehouse.com/cycles.html

Historiacoelestis
Yahoo group moderated by Stuart Williams, F.R.A.S.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/historiacoelestis/

Historical Astronomy Division
American Astronomical Society division devoted to history, with a link to pages on the history of the society itself.
http://www.aas.org/~had/had.html

History and Philosophy of Western Astronomy
The History chapter of an introductory astronomy course.
http://www.astronomynotes.com/history/s1.htm

History of Astronomy
Offers a history of the field and science. Features links to related sites, awards and contact details. Provided by the Working Group for the History of Astronomy.
http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~pbrosche/astoria.html

History of Astronomy Pages
Frederik Kaiser (1808-1872) and the professionalisation of Dutch astronomy; The "Lost Letters" of J.C. Kapteyn (1851-1922); Many history of astronomy and history of science links with a Dutch flavour.
http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~heijden/history.html

History of SETI
An overview of the history of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence using radio frequencies. Includes photos.
http://www.seti.org/seti/seti-background/

A History of X-ray Astronomy at Goddard
Describes observations using balloons, rockets and satellites.
http://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov/xrays/history.html

Islamic Astronomy
Article by Owen Gingerich explores refinement and criticism of Ptolemaic astronomy, including religious influences on direction, and describes precursors to and influences on Copernicus.
http://faculty.kfupm.edu.sa/PHYS/alshukri/PHYS215/Islamic_astronomy.htm

Jewish Astronomy, From Ancient to Modern Times
Astronomy in Israel from Og's Circle to the Wise Observatory.
http://wise-obs.tau.ac.il/judaism/jewish_astro.html

Little Green Men, White Dwarfs or Pulsars?
A personal account by Jocelyn Bell Burnell on the discovery of pulsars.
http://www.bigear.org/vol1no1/burnell.htm

The Manchester Astronomical Society History
The first hundred years, list of presidents, list of archived documents.
http://www.mikeoates.org/mas/history.htm

MuslimHeritage.com - Astronomy
Articles on astronomers, observatories, work performed and its significance from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries.
http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?TaxonomyTypeID=18&TaxonomySubTypeID=107

Northern California History of Astronomy Luncheon and Discussion Association
Announcements of discussions (in Oakland, California), open to the public, on various astronomy history topics, and an archive of past discussions
http://nchalada.org/

Out of This World
Exhibition catalog for The Golden Age of the Celestial Atlas. Includes an historical essay and sample pictures.
http://www.lindahall.org/events_exhib/exhibit/exhibits/stars/index.html

Roemer and the First Determination of the Velocity of Light
Burndy Library online publication of 1940 article detailing the background and details of Roemer's work.
http://dibinst.mit.edu/BURNDY/OnlinePubs/Roemer/index.html

Rundetaarn (The Round Tower)
Astronomy in Denmark: Brahe, Roemer, Hertzsprung.
http://www.rundetaarn.dk/engelsk/observatorium/history.htm

Russell A. Hulse - Nobel Lecture
The discovery of the binary pulsar.
http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1993/hulse-lecture.html

A Science Odyssey - Physics and Astronomy
PBS articles about 20th century astronomy and physics.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/physastro.html

The Society For The History Of Astronomy
Academic and popular topics, with a focus on Britain.
http://www.freewebs.com/sochistastro/

The Star of Bethlehem
An investigation of the science and history which bear on the mysterious star said to have accompanied the advent of Christ.
http://www.bethlehemstar.net/

Starry Messenger
Phase I of the Electronic History of Astronomy, developed in the Whipple Museum of the History of Science at Trinity College, Cambridge. Covers the history of instruments and techniques, themes such as astrology and calendar reform, and biographies of major historical astronomers.
http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/starrymessenger.html

Telescopes from the Ground Up
The history of telescopes.
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/groundup/

Tycho's Star Maps
Celestial atlases and globes on exhibit at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server.php?request=setTemplate:singlecontent&contentTypeA=conWebDoc&contentId=388

Understanding Tidal Friction
Article by Peter Brosche on gaining understanding of changes in the Moon's orbit.
http://www.tribunes.com/tribune/art98/bros.htm