An international astronomy project reaches orbit

Records reaching back many centuries give modern science a time span impossible to reproduce with recent instruments alone.

Chinese textual expertise and modern celestial mechanics together create evidence neither discipline could produce independently.

The telescope lifted off aboard space shuttle Discovery for an orbit above Earth’s atmosphere.

Hubble’s launch created a platform for observing the universe without most atmospheric distortion.

Hubble was designed so astronauts could later repair and upgrade it.

Mayor and Queloz announced evidence for a planet orbiting a Sun-like star.

The team’s announced planet had a short orbit, unlike the giant planets of our solar system.

The announcement relied on changes in the host star’s measured radial velocity.

The reliable detection around an ordinary star helped launch a rapidly growing research field.

The publication reviews Vedic, Brahmana and Vedanga materials alongside archaeology and later mathematical traditions.