History of astronomy

Launch of Apollo 4 atop the first Saturn 5 Moon rocket. Credit: NASA

The history of the Saturn V rocket

Comet Hale-Bopp, photographed by Alan Hale, Cloudcroft, New Mexico, 1996. Credit: Alan Hale (used with permission)

Comet Hale-Bopp: the story of a visitor from the edge of the Solar System

Holst the Planets. Credit: iStock, NASA

Gustav Holst’s The Planets: the making of a masterpiece

Astrology signs of the Zodiac. Credit: Adriano La Naia / EyeEm / Getty

Astrology: an astronomer’s view

Þ Patrick on the set of an early The Sky at Night broadcast, his idea now a reality. Credit: BBC

Letters from Patrick Moore: how The Sky at Night TV programme was born

Radio Astronomy Podcast The story of the BBC’s Horizon programme

Patrick Moore pictured at his house in Selsey. Photo by Keystone/Getty Images

Sir Patrick Moore’s estate: the legacy of Britain’s favourite astronomer

An artist's impression of our Solar System. Credit: Source: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech

Solar System predictions: what scientists got right and wrong

A Soyuz rocket lifts off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazahkstan, 18 October 2003. Credit: ESA-S. Corvaja 2003

The history of the Soyuz rocket

The Council Room at the Royal Astronomical Society. Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net).

The history of the Royal Astronomical Society

A portrait of Claudius Ptolemy (90-178) in the astronomical observatory of Alexandria, Egypt. La-vie-des-savants-illustres by Louis Figuier, 1866 Private collection (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

Claudius Ptolemy’s Astrological Travel Guide

Image of Pluto taken by New Horizons

Radio Astronomy Podcast Pluto at 90: how Clyde Tombaugh discovered a new world

Once the 9th planet in the Solar System, Pluto is now classified as a Kuiper Belt Object. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Why Pluto is no longer a planet: the rise and fall of a Kuiper Belt Object

Clyde Tombaugh pictured at a Zeiss Blink Comparator, a machine used in the discovery of Pluto. Credit: Lowell Observatory Archives

Astronomers you should know Clyde Tombaugh

The astronomer Sir William Herschel. Credit: DEA PICTURE LIBRARY / Contributor

Astronomers you should know Sir William Herschel