Nicolaus Copernicus becomes the centre of Google's universe as the search giant marks astronomer's 540th birthday

For all his efforts, Nicolaus Copernicus is at the centre of the space-exploration universe. The astronomer, born 540 years ago today, has a crater on the moon and a NASA trajectory system. In 2009, German scientists honoured Copernicus with his own element on the periodic table: copernicium.

U.S. and British scientists launched his namesake was launched into orbit by U.S.