Instruments & space missions
Master data for telescopes, detectors, observatories and missions.
Instruments & observatories
Naked-eye astronomy
Human vision and geometric alignments were the first astronomical instruments.
positional instrument · ancientArmillary sphere
A geometric model for celestial coordinates and motions.
telescope · 1608Refracting telescope
Lens-based telescope that opened telescopic astronomy.
telescope · 1668Reflecting telescope
Mirror-based telescope scalable to large apertures.
detector · 19th centuryAstronomical spectrograph
Disperses light to reveal composition, temperature and velocity.
interferometer · 20th centuryRadio interferometer
Combines antennas to synthesize a much larger aperture.
space telescope · 1990Hubble Space Telescope
Flagship UV/optical/near-IR observatory above Earth atmosphere.
astrometry mission · 2014Gaia
ESA astrometry mission whose science observations ended on 15 January 2025 after mapping positions and motions of billions of stars.
space telescope · 2022James Webb Space Telescope
Infrared observatory for early galaxies, star formation and exoplanet atmospheres.
radio interferometer · 2011ALMA
Millimeter/submillimeter array studying cold gas, dust and planet formation.
gravitational-wave detector · 2002/2015 advancedLIGO
Laser interferometers that enabled direct gravitational-wave astronomy.
neutrino detector · 2010IceCube Neutrino Observatory
Cubic-kilometer neutrino detector embedded in Antarctic ice.
VLBI network · 2017 campaignEvent Horizon Telescope
Earth-sized VLBI array imaging black-hole photon-ring scales.
survey telescope · 2020sVera C. Rubin Observatory
Wide-field time-domain survey facility for the dynamic optical sky.
Space missions
Voyager 1 & 2
Grand-tour probes of the giant planets and heliosphere.
NASA/ESA/ASI · 1997–2017Cassini–Huygens
Saturn system orbiter and Titan lander.
NASA · 2009–2018Kepler
Transit survey that transformed exoplanet demographics.
NASA · 2018–presentTESS
All-sky transit survey for nearby exoplanets.
ESA · 2009–2013Planck
Precision mapping of CMB temperature and polarization.
NASA · 2006–presentNew Horizons
Pluto and Kuiper-belt exploration.
NASA · 2018–presentParker Solar Probe
In-situ exploration of the solar corona and inner heliosphere.
ESA · 2023–presentEuclid
Wide-field survey mission for dark energy, lensing and galaxy evolution.