Italian astronomer Giovanni Donati became the first person to observe the spectrum of a comet.
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered a star with seven Earth-sized planets orbiting it.
Amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov discovered a strange comet in another star system.
Robert H. Lawrence, Jr. was selected as the first African-American astronaut.
Halley's Comet was last seen from Earth. It only orbits the Earth once every 75 to 76 years.
Asteroid 323 Brucia became the first asteroid discovered using photography.
