The Andromeda Galaxy was first described in 964, a year before Sviatoslav crushed the Khazars.
The Persian astronomer al-Sufi called it a 'little cloud'; only in the 20th century did we learn it is another galaxy.
The events
- Al-Sufi's Book of Fixed Stars964 · Isfahan. The Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi checked Ptolemy's star catalogue against his own observations and gave the stars Arabic names, many of which, like Aldebaran, are still used. The book contains the first description of the Andromeda Galaxy, as a 'small cloud', and probably of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
- Sviatoslav destroys the Khazar Khaganate965 · Sarkel. Prince Sviatoslav of Kiev defeated the Khazars, took the Don fortress of Sarkel and, according to Arab sources, sacked their capital Atil. The Khazar Khaganate, long the dominant steppe power, soon ceased to exist.
More amazing facts
- 949 Foreign envoys in Constantinople were met by roaring mechanical lions: the 'Throne of Solomon' in the Magnaura hall was said to be ringed by automaton trees with singing birds.
- 970 The library of Caliph al-Hakam II in Córdoba held an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 volumes.
- 978 · 1016 Æthelred the Unready's nickname is a pun. His name meant 'noble counsel'; Old English unræd meant 'ill counsel'. Only later, as the word fell out of use, did 'unræd' turn into 'unready'.
- 986 · 988 According to the chronicle, Prince Vladimir rejected Islam over its ban on wine: 'Drinking is the joy of the Rus'. He chose the Greek faith after envoys described a service in Constantinople: 'We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth.'
- 987 · 988 Rus was baptised in 988, a year after Hugh Capet became King of France.
- 988 · 1021 Thirty-three years after the Christianization of Rus', Vikings were cutting wood in Newfoundland — tree rings date it precisely to 1021.