Chronology of Astronomical Maps, Catalogs, and Surveys
| -134 | Hipparchus makes a detailed star map. |
| 1678 | Edmund Halley publishes a catalog of 341 southern stars, first systematic southern sky survey. |
| 1771 | Charles Messier publishes his first list of nebulae. |
| 1864 | John Herschel publishes the General Catalog of nebulae and star clusters. |
| 1890 | John Dreyer publishes the New General Catalog of nebulae and star clusters. |
| 1956 | Completion of the Palomar sky survey with the Palomar 48-inch Schmidt optical reflecting telescope. |
| 1962 | A.S. Bennett publishes the Revised 3C Catalog of 328 radio sources. |
| 1965 | Gerry Neugebauer and Robert Leighton begin a 2.2 micron sky survey with a 1.6-meter telescope on Mount Wilson. |
| 1993 | Start of the 20 cm VLA FIRST survey. |