1991 Event Compton Gamma Ray Observatory orbits Earth 1982 Event Mount Palomar Observatory 1st to detect Halley's comet on 13th return 1980 Event U.S. launches Solar Maximum Mission Observatory to study solar flares 1977 Event High Energy Astronomy Observatory 1 launched into Earth orbit 1973 Event Comet (Lubos) Kohoutek discovered at Hamburg Observatory 1972 Event U.S. orbiting astronomy observatory Copernicus launched 1972 Event Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 4 (Copernicus) launched 1971 Event Orbiting Solar Observatory VII launched 1969 Event Orbiting Solar Observatory 5 launched into earth orbit 1968 Event Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 launched into Earth orbit 1968 Event Orbiting Geophysical Observatory 5 launched 1966 Event OAO 1, 1st orbiting astronomical observatory, launched 1965 Event Orbiting Solar Observatory 2 launches into Earth orbit (552/636 km) 1964 Event NASA launches its 1st Orbital Geophysical Observatory (OGO-1) 1960 Event National Observatory at Kitt Peak, Arizona dedicated 1948 Event 200" (5.08 m) Hale telescope dedicated at Palomar Observatory 1944 Event Greenwich Observatory damaged by WW II flying bomb 1934 Event 5.08-m (200") Mount Palomar Observatory mirror is cast 1930 Event Clyde Tombaugh announces discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory 1917 Event 257cm-mirror for Mount Wilson Observatory mounted 1897 Event Yerkes Observatory of University of Chicago is dedicated 1897 Birthday Otto, von, Struve, German/U.S. dir, Yerkes/MacDonald observatory 1897 Event Yerkes Observatory 40" (1m) refractor used for 1st time 1882 Event Telegraph Hill Observatory opens in San Francisco 1864 Birthday William F. A. Ellison, Irish clergyman/director, Armagh Observatory 1862 Birthday William W. Campbell, U.S. astronomer and director Lick Observatory 1861 Event Leipzig Observatory discovers short-period (6.2 yrs) Comet d'Arrest 1850 Event Harvard Observatory takes 1st photograph of a star, Vega 1842 Event U.S. Naval Observatory authorized by an act of Congress 1838 Event Hopkins Observatory, dedicated in Williamstown, Massachusetts 1825 Event President John Quincy Adams suggests establishment of a U.S. observatory 1811 Birthday James Melville Gilliss, founder, Naval Observatory in Washington 1682 Event Louis XIV and his court inaugurates Paris Observatory 1675 Event King Charles II lays foundation stone of Royal Observatory, Greenwich 1675 Event Royal Greenwich Observatory established in England by Charles II 1579 Event Cornerstone is laid for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory 1576 Event Tycho Brahe given Hveen Island to build Uraniborg Observatory
