| 1675 |
The Royal Observatory founded at Greenwich by King Charles II |
| 15 Nov 1738 |
Frederick William Herschel born |
| 1781 |
William Herschel discovers Uranus |
| 26 Aug 1822 |
Death of Frederick William Herschel |
| 1856 |
First astronomical observations in the Canary Islands by Charles Piazzi
Smyth |
| 1948-1958 |
The Royal Observatory is moved from London to Herstmonceux Castle in
Sussex, and renamed the Royal Greenwich Observatory |
| 1967 |
| Jan |
Hermann Brück, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, first proposes the
construction of a Northern Hemisphere Observatory (NHO) |
| 1969 |
| Jan |
Formal start of the project 'Northern Hemisphere Observatory (NHO)'.
Sir Fred Hoyle takes the chair at the first meeting of the Northern Hemisphere
Review Committee |
| 1971 |
| Apr |
John Alexander of the Royal Greenwich Observatory visits La Palma |
| Aug |
Professor M.F. Walker of Lick Observatory, California includes La Palma
in a list of oceanic islands that might be used as astronomical sites |
Summer,
autumn |
JOSO site testers visit La Palma |
| Nov |
Flight over the mountain top in La Palma by JOSO (Joint Organization
for Solar Observations) team |
| Dec |
John Alexander states: "The ideal solution may be an international observatory
site on the island of La Palma." |
| 1972 |
| 2 Jul |
First astronomical observations on Roque de Los Muchachos peak. They
were carried out by a JOSO team consisting of G. Hosinsky, L. Staveland
and H. Wöhl from Jul 2 to Jul 21 |
| 11 Jul |
First British astronomers arrive in La Palma |
| 6 Aug |
First observations by the British site-testing team. These were carried
out by Dr T. T. Gough and Mr C. M. Heath of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
in Fuente Nueva, where the ING telescopes are erected today |
| 1973 |
| May |
The NHO Planning Committee decides not to consider La Palma any more
due to deep pessimism about the prospects for agreement on the use of La
Palma site |
| 1974 |
| Aug |
After high international activity, Spanish authorities issue an invitation
to form a Joint Astronomical Site Survey to undertake an international
programme of site testing on the Canary Islands |
| Nov |
The proposals for the present WHT, INT and JKT are accepted by the Science
Research Council |
| 25 Nov |
Site testing observations begin in Fuente Nueva |
| Dec |
Representatives of Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the United
Kingdom are invited by the Rector of the University of La Laguna and the
Presidents of the local Governments (Cabildos) of Tenerife and La Palma
to discuss arrangements for the survey programme. During a aircraft flight
above the Roque de Los Muchachos peak, these representatives "[...] felt
that this must be the site for the new observatory" |
| 1975 |
| Nov |
Tests for night site observing are completed |
| 1978 |
| 1979 |
| 8 Mar |
A purchase order for the 4.2-m Cervit blank for
the primary mirror placed with Owens-Illinois |
| 26 May |
Almost 10 years after the first committee met to consider a Northern
Hemisphere Observatory, a treaty governing its establishment is signed.
Spain agrees to let Denmark, Sweden, and Britain build on La Palma, in
exchange for 20 percent of the observing time. The treaty is signed in
the Cabildo of la Palma |
| 1980 |
| May |
The SRC approves the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope |
| 1981 |
| 18 Jun |
SERC-ZWO agreement signed. They agree to share all the parts of the
projects, including the construction, operation and use of the telescopes,
each providing manpower, capital and running costs in the ratio 4:1. |
| September |
First RGO staff come to live on La Palma |
| Nov |
Contract placed for construction of the William
Herschel Telescope |
| 1982 |
| September |
First Dutch technician begins work at Herstmonceux under Anglo-Dutch
collaborative programme |
| 1983 |
| May |
Construction of William Herschel Telescope building
begins |
| September |
La Palma Observers' Guide issued |
| Nov |
First light through the Carlsberg Automatic Meridian Circle |
| 1984 |
| Apr |
Patrick Moore films Sky at Night on La Palma |
| September |
Start of tests at Grubb Parsons of William Herschel
Telescope |
| Dec |
William Herschel Telescope dismantled, packed
and stored. Effective closure of Grubb Parsons |
| 1985 |
| Jun |
Completion of road to Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory |
| 29 Jun |
Royal Inauguration of the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory on La
Palma |
| Aug |
Opening of Residencia on Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory |
| 1986 |
| 1987 |
| 1 Jun |
First Light on the WHT |
| 15 Aug |
First Light on TAURUS II |
| 22 Aug |
First observing run relating to a PATT application.
This was for a programme called 'TAURUS observations of rotation curves,
intergalactic gas and star forming regions', Dr E A Valentijn from the
Kapteyn Astronomical Institute is the principal investigator |
| Oct | First light on FOS-2 [more] |
| 1988 |
| Apr | The Ground-based High Resolution
Imaging Laboratory (GHRIL) sees first light [more] |
| 31 Oct | The Spanish Government approves the Sky Law |
| 1989 |
|
First images of features on the surface of a
star (other than the Sun) [more
] |
|
First detection of gravitational
microlensing events [more
] |
|
Identification and optical monitoring of a binary
millisecond pulsar [more
] |
| Autumn | First light on ISIS [more] |
| 1990 |
|
Starspots
discovered in binary systems [more
] |
| 1991 |
|
RGO moves to Cambridge |
| Jul |
The first infrared array is used at
ING. It was a 58×62 pixel InSb chip mounted inside the FAST camera. [more] |
| Nov | First light on the Utrecht
Echelle Spectrograph [more] |
| 1992 |
|
The best-ever stellar-size black
hole candidate in a compact binary system is discovered [more
] |
| 13 Mar |
The regulation of the Sky Law
is approved by the Spanish Government |
| 1993 |
|
SN 1993J was the closest core-collapse supernova
to have occurred this century and observable from the north. ING telescopes
immediately set in motion an extensive programme of astrometric, photometric
(UVBRI) and low- and high- dispersion spectroscopic
monitoring. The INT spectrum of SN1993J obtained one day after the discovery
was the first recorded anywhere at any wavelength. A public on-line archive
consisting of optical photometric and spectroscopic
data is offered to the community. Over 70 sites worldwide have availed
themselves of this unique facility [more
] |
| Nov | First light on the Prime
Focus Camera [more] |
| 1994 |
| Oct | First light on Autofib-2 [more] |
| 1995 |
|
First ever observations
of a brown dwarf [more] |
|
The deepest ground-based
image in B-band [more] |
| Apr | First light on Wyffos
spectrograph [more] |
| 1996 |
|
The WHT observes a star in real-time evolution,
the Sakurai object [more
] |
| 1997 |
| 28 Feb |
First detection of a gamma-ray
burst in optical light [more
] |
| 16 Apr |
Comet Hale-Bopp: First ever images of a neutral
gas tail in a comet (discovered using the
ING CoCAM camera) [more
] |
| 1998 |
|
By observing distant type Ia supernovae, astronomers
determine that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate - an
observation that implies the existence of a mysterious, self-repelling
property of space first proposed by Albert
Einstein, which he called the cosmological constant. This extraordinary
finding is named by the journal 'Science' as Breakthrough of the Year for
1998 [more] |
| 31 Oct |
Closure of RGO. |
| 1999 |
|
Cosmic flow of
galaxies across one billion light years of the Universe [more] |
| Feb |
First on-sky observations using a Superconducting
Tunnel Junction detector: First light on S-Cam [more] |
| Feb |
First light on
Sauron Spectrograph
[more] |
| September |
First light on the new Prime Focus Camera [more] |
| September |
First sodium laser beacon at La Palma [more] |
| 2000 |
|
New evidence that galaxies formed early in the history of the universe [more] |
| 16 Mar |
First light of INGRID [more] |
| 2 Jun |
Crown Prince of Spain observes at the William Herschel Telescope [more] |
| 14 Aug |
First light of NAOMI [more] |
| 2001 |
|
The WHT one of the most science productive telescopes in the world [more] |
|
International review of ING [more] |
| 7-11 May |
First scientific conference organised by ING [more] |
| 16 Jul |
First light on the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph [more] |
| 24 Jul |
First light on the new Small Fibre Module of Autofib2/WYFFOS [more] |
| 20 Oct |
Science from La Palma - Past, Present and Future, a workshop organised by ING in honour of Dr Paul Murdin. [more] |
| 2002 |
|
First ever adaptive optics observation of a Near Earth Asteroid [more] |
| May |
First Light on OSCA [more] |
| 16 May |
First Light on ULTRACAM [more] |
| 27-31 May |
A Euroconference Organised by the ING: “Symbiotic Stars Probing Stellar Evolution”, La Palma, 27–31 May 2002
[more] |
| 31 Jul |
Decommissioning of UES |
| Aug |
RoboDIMM starts observing [more] |
| 2003 |
| 9-11 Jan |
NAOMI Workshop [more ] |
| 15 Feb |
First Light on LIRIS [more] |
| 2 May |
Inauguration of GRACE [more] |
| 6 May |
Signing of agreement with IAC to become a partner |
| 26-30 May |
Satellites and Tidal Streams, an ING–IAC Joint Conference [more ] |
| Jul |
First light on OASIS [more] |
| 2004 |
| |
First Detection of a Progenitor Star from a Normal Type II-P Supernova [more] |
| 22 Apr |
First light on PlanetPol [more ] |
| 27 Jul |
Commissioning of the new WYFFOS long camera [more ] |
| 28 Oct |
Discovery of the companion star of Tycho´s supernova [more] |
| 28 Oct |
Discovery of the companion star of Tycho´s supernova [more ] |
| 2005 |
| 9-11 May |
Adaptive-Optics Assisted Integral-Field Spectroscopy Workshop [more ] |
| 6-10 Jun |
2nd Meeting on Hot Subdwarf Stars and Related Objects Conference [more ] |
| 4 Jul |
Deep Impact mission observed at ING [more ] |
| 14 Jul |
The Discovery of a Galaxy-Wide Superwind from a Young Massive Galaxy at Redshift z~3 [more ] |
| 4 Aug |
Most of the Growth of Supermassive Black Holes is Obscured by Dust [more ] |
| 14 Oct |
RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting on "Science from La Palma - Looking beyond 2009" [more ] |
| 2006 |
|
First Observational Evidence of a Dead Cataclysmic Variable [more] |
|
A Gaseous Metal Disk Around a White Dwarf [more] |
|
First Detection of Rubidium in Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars [more] |
| 4 Apr |
Users' meeting at NAM 2006: Astronomy from La Palma: Developments and future directions |
| 16-19 May |
Conference: The nature of V838 Monocerotis and its light echo [more] |
| 3 Dec |
First light on an L3CCD detector on ISIS |
| 10-16 Dec |
IAU Symposium 241: Stellar Populations as Building Blocks of Galaxies [more] |
| 2007 |
|
A giant outburst two years before the core-collapse of a massive star [more] |
|
Observational Evidence that Outflows from AGNs Originate as Disk Winds Rotating a Super-Massive Black Hole [more] |
| 1 Apr |
The UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) replaces the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) as ING's owner. |
| 18-22 Jun |
Conference: Asymmetrical Planetary Nebulae IV [more] |
| 6 Jul |
First Light on GHaFaS [more ] |
| 8 Aug 02:00 UT |
1,000,000th CCD exposure obtained [more ] |
| 27 Nov |
First Light on FastCam [more ] |
| 2008 |
| |
The universe shines twice as bright [more] |
| 23 Jun-5 Jul |
NEON observing school [more] |
| 2009 |
| 15 Jul |
New director for the ING [more] |
| 2010 |
| 22-23 Mar |
Workshop on "Science with the WHT 2010-2020"
[more] |
| 2011 |
| |
Galaxy zoo supernovae and the WHT [more] |
| 2012 |
|
Riding the Wake of a Merging Galaxy Cluster
[more] |
|
Under the 'Dark Halo' Old Galaxies Have Many More Stars
[more] |
|
Masgomas-1: A Very Massive Stellar Cluster
[more] |
|
The Transiting Earth
[more] |
|
The Cold Veil of the Milky Way Stellar Halo
[more] |
|
First Evidence of the Relation Between Jets in Planetary Nebulae and Mass Transfer and Accretion in Close Binaries
[more] |
|
A Hypergiant Star (Partially) Traversing the Yellow Evolutionary Void
[more] |
|
Imaging Polarimetry of Circumstellar Environments with ExPo
[more] |
|
22-23 March
|
Workshop: La Palma and Calar Alto Observatories, Science in the Next Decade
[more]
|
|
2013 |
|
Probing Nuclear Activity Versus Star Formation Using Near-Infrared Multi-Object Spectroscopy
[more] |
|
Prof. Vikram Dhillon is Awarded the 2013 Royal Astronomical Society
Jackson-Gwilt Medal for the Development and Operation of ULTRACAM
[more] |
|
SAURON Team Gets the 2013 Group Achievement Award of the Royal Astronomical Society
[more] |
|
Accretion on a Very Rapidly Spinning White Dwarf Observed Using an L3CCD
[more] |
|
A Dust-Obscured Massive Maximum-Starburst Galaxy in the Early Universe
[more] |
|
Discovery of the First Isolated Compact Elliptical (cE) Galaxy
[more] |
|
The Rapid Assembly of an Elliptical Galaxy of 400 Billion Solar Masses at a Redshift of 2.3
[more] |
|
WHT and GTC Follow Up Main Belt Comet P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS)
[more] |
|
|
ING Science Strategy 2013 - 2022
[more]
|
| 2014 |
|
The Music of the Galaxies
[more] |
|
Discovery of Circularly Polarised Light in a GRB Afterglow
[more] |
|
Spectro-Astrometry of V1515 Cygni with Adaptive Optics
[more] |
|
One of Most Accurate Measurements of the Size of a Trans-Neptunian Object from a Stellar Occultation
[more] |
|
21 Aug
|
Report on instrumentation at the ING Telescopes
[more]
|
|
1982 |
| 15 Dec | Arrival of the INT primary mirror |
|
2014 |
| 21 Aug | Instrumentation at the ING Telescopes - Results of a community pol [more] |
|
2015 |
| 20 Feb | First Observational Proof of Existence of a Double-Degenerate, Super-Chandrasekhar System [more] |
| 15 Apr | First Near Earth Asteroids Discovered from La Palma [more] |
| 04 May | Mergers of Galaxy Clusters Can Trigger Star Formation [more] |
| 05 May | Binarity in Planetary Nebulae Gives Clues to Understand the Abundance Discrepancy Problem [more] |
| 07 May | Fresh Evidence for How Water Reached Earth Found in Asteroid Debris [more] |
| 13 Jun | First Light on PAU Camera [more] |
| 23 Jul | WHT Observes Pluto in Support of NASAs New Horizons Mission [more] |
| 16 Oct | Common Accretion across Young Stellar Objects, White Dwarfs, Black Holes and Supermassive Black Holes [more] |
| 23 Oct | ING Telescopes Provide Unique Observations in Support of the ESA Rosetta Mission [more] |
|
2016 |
| 08 Apr | First light of the renewed JKT (SARA-RM) [more] |
| 23 May | First Results from the PAU Camera (PAUCam) [more] |
| 31 May | Lucky Imaging of the Multiple T Tauri System LkHα 262/LkHα 263 [more] |
| 12 Jun | Stephen Hawking Visits La Palma [more] |
| 25 Jul | AOLI Delivers Its First Adaptive-Optics Images [more] |
| 26 Jul | An Extremely Weak Magnetic Field in a White Dwarf [more] |
| 05 Sep | CANARYs Sodium Laser Guide Star Successfully Commissioned [more] |
| 30 Dec | A Deficit of Dark Matter in Elliptical Galaxies [more] |
|
2017 |
| 12 Jan | Lyman-alpha Giant Halos Around Early Milky Way Type Galaxies [more] |
| 06 Feb | Turbulence Velocity Profile Characterization with Stereo-SCIDAR [more] |
| 23 Feb | Signing of the Agreement for the Scientific Exploitation of the William Herschel and Isaac Newton Telescopes [more] |
| 23 Feb | Newly Discovered Planets Could Have Water on Their Surfaces [more] |
| 31 Mar | Stars Regularly Ripped Apart by Black Holes in Colliding Galaxies [more] |
| 25 Aug | The Puzzle of Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies [more] |
| 25 Sep | The Fastest-Spinning Known Millisecond Pulsar in the Galactic Field [more] |
| 31 Oct | WHT Helps to Measure the Size of a Stellar-Mass Black Hole Jet [more] |
| 02 Nov | HiPERCAM Successfully Commissioned on the William Herschel Telescope [more] |
| 06 Nov | A/2017 U1 - An Interstellar Visitor [more] |
| 01 Dec | Isaac Newton Telescope - 50 Years Since First Light [more] |
|
2018 |
| 15 Jan | HS2231+2441: A Star Killed Prematurely By Its Companion [more] |
| 06 Apr | A 3D Map of the Infant Universe [more] |
| 16 Apr | A Key Element to Life is Lacking in the Crab Nebula [more] |
| 24 Apr | A New Method for Galaxy Density Wave Analysis [more] |
| 28 May | Discovery of a Massive Pulsar [more] |
| 28 Jun | New Telescope Control System at the WHT [more] |
| 19 Oct | A Feasibility Study on the Photometric Detection of Quiescent Black Hole X-ray Binaries [more] |
| 29 Oct | First Results from Lucky Spectroscopy, an Equivalent Technique to Lucky Imaging [more] |
| 17 Nov | Quantum Entanglement Confirmed with Light from Distant Quasars [more] |
| 07 Dec | The Extended Planetary Nebula Spectrograph (ePN.S) Early-type Galaxy Survey [more] |
|
2019 |
| 01 Mar | Discovery of Many New Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies in Galaxy Clusters [more] |
| 30 Sep | Astronomers Detect Gas Molecules in Comet from Another Star [more] |
| 09 Oct | Didier Queloz, Physics Nobel Prize Winner 2019, Develops an Advanced Terrestrial Planet Hunter for the Isaac Newton Telescope [more] |
|
2020 |
| 02 Mar | Two Stars Merged to Form Massive White Dwarf [more] |
| 16 Mar | ING Operations on Hold Due to Coronavirus [more] |
| 14 Apr | Discovery of a Young Blazar Produced by the Merger of Two Galaxies [more] |
| 16 Sep | Installation of WEAVE's Prime Focus Optics and Spectrograph [more] |
| 23 Dec | The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn [more] |
|
2021 |
| 22 Dec | The Largest Collection of Free-Floating Planets Discovered to Date [more] |
|
2022 |
| 19 Jan | First Detection of a Supernova Explosion Originating From a Wolf-Rayet Star [more] |
| 06 Mar | The 2021 La Palma volcano [more] |
| 06 Apr | New Detection Method for Quasars in the Early Universe [more] |
| 26 May | The WEAVE Instrument, Mounted on the Prime Focus of the WHT [more] |
| 30 Sep | Start of LIFU-Mode Commissioning of WEAVE [more] |
| 05 Oct | The ING Congratulates the Nobel Prize in Physics 202 [more] |
| 12 Dec | WEAVE First Light [more] |
|
2023 |
| 06 Mar | First On-Sky Demonstration of Tomographic Scintillation Correction [more] |
| 26 Apr | Resuelven el misterio de como se encienden los cuasare [more] |
| 02 May | WEAVE Inauguration - 30 October 2023. First Announcement [more] |
| 27 Jun | The Shortest-Period Binary Star System Known in the Galaxy is Resisting Inspiral [more] |
| 30 Aug | Asteroid 2023 DZ2, Discovered Using the INT and Headed for Earth, Will Not Impact [more] |
| 31 Oct | Inauguration of WEAVE [more] |
| 30 Nov | A Giant Thin Stellar Stream in the Coma Galaxy Cluster [more] |
|
2024 |
| 20 Sep | The PAU Survey Data Release: a New Catalogue of Distant Galaxies with Unprecedented Distance Precision [more] |
| 22 Nov | First Scientific Results from WEAVE [more] |
|
2025 |
| 07 Apr | WEAVE Reveals Shock Interaction Powering the Nebular Phase of SN 2023ixf [more] |
