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On this day in 1576 - August 8th - Tycho Brahe laid the cornerstone for Uraniborg.

Uraniborg (castle of the heavens) was an observatory, a palace, a laboratory and a research institute. Scholars came from around Europe to research in astronomy and a number of other disciplines.

On this day in 1990 - August 10th NASA's Magellan mission went into orbit around Venus.

Magellan carried out radar mapping of Venus and and made global maps of the planet's gravity field.

On this day in 1675 - August 10th the foundation stone was laid for the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich is still famous as the place "where time begins".

On this day in 1877 - August 11th - American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Deimos while observing Mars at the US Naval Observatory.

Mars's moon Deimos is tiny - about 11 km in length - and irregular in shape. In Greek mythology Deimos (meaning dread) is one of the sons of the god of war. The moon Phobos was discovered a week later.

On this day in 2005 - August 12th - the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was launched.

The MRO is still returning top class images of the surface of Mars.

On this day in 1877 - August 18th - American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Phobos while observing Mars at the US Naval Observatory.

Mars's moon Phobos is, like the moon Deimos, tiny and irregular in shape, but it's seven times as massive as its companion. In Greek mythology Phobos (meaning horror) is one of the two sons of the Greek god of war.

On this day in 1646 - August 19th - John Flamsteed was born.

Flamsteed was the first Astronomer Royal at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in England. His star atlas was the most authoritative one for over a century.

On this day in 1891 - August 19th - Milton Humason was born.

Humason was an American astronomer whose observations of the redshifts of galaxies underpinned the work of Edwin Hubble and Allan Sandage.

On this day in 1975 - August 20th - Viking 1 was launched.

Viking 1 was the first of the two spacecraft of NASA's Viking program. It was the first spacecraft to land successfully on Mars and perform its mission.

On this day in 1977 - August 20th - Voyager 2 was launched.

Voyager 2 went on to do a grand tour of the outer planets, visiting Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. It's now headed out of the Solar System.