It is one of the oldest subfields of the science, dating back at least to Hipparcos, who compiled the first catalogue of stars visible to him and in doing so invented the brightness scale basically still in use today.
It is one of the oldest subfields of the science, the successor to the more qualitative study of positional astronomy. Astrometry dates back at least to Hipparchus, who compiled the first catalogue of stars visible to him and in doing so invented the brightness scale basically still in use today.