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Astronomy
Astronomy is the science involving the observation and explanation of events occurring beyond the Earth and its atmosphere. It studies the origins, evolution, and physical and chemical properties of objects that may be observed in the sky (and are beyond the atmosphere), as well as the connected processes and phenomena. In short, Astronomy is about finding out what's going on beyond Earth. It is one of the oldest sciences because it began when people started writing down what they saw when they looked up into the sky. Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can still play an active role, especially in the discovery and monitoring of transient phenomena. Astronomy is not to be confused with astrology, which assumes that people's destiny and human affairs in general are correlated to the apparent positions of astronomical objects in the sky although the two fields share a common origin, they are quite different; astronomers embrace the scientific method, while astrologers do not. There is no evidence that astrology actually predicts the future. History of AstronomyIn early times, astronomy only comprised the observation and predictions of the motions of the naked-eye objects. Aristotle said that the Earth was the centre of the Universe and everything rotated around it in orbits that were perfect circles. Aristotle had to be right because people thought that Earth had to be in the centre with everything rotating around it because the wind would not scatter leaves, and birds would only fly in one direction. For a long time, people thought that Aristotle was right, but it is probable that Aristotle accidentally did more to hinder our knowledge than help it. The first ancestor of an astronomy computer, was the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek device for calculating the movements of planets, dating from about 87 BC. It was discovered in an ancient shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete. The device became famous for its use of a differential gear, previously believed to have been invented in the 16th century and the miniaturization and complexity of its parts, comparable to a clock made in the 18th century. The original mechanism is displayed in the Bronze collection of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, accompanied by a replica. Another replica is on display at the American Computer Museum in Bozeman, Montana. The Hindu vedic text, Rigveda refers to the 27 constellations associated with the motions of the sun and also the 12 zodiacal divisions of the sky. The ancient Greeks made important contributions to astronomy, among them the definition of the magnitude system. The Bible contains a number of statements on the position of the earth in the universe and the nature of the stars and planets, most of which are poetic rather than literal; see Biblical cosmology. In 500 AD, Aryabhata presented a mathematical system that described the earth as spinning on its axis and considered the motions of the planets with respect to the sun. East Asia's first astronomical observatory was developed in Silla, one of Three Kingdoms of Korea, under the reign of Queen Seondeok of Silla. It was termed Cheomsongdae, and is one of the oldest surviving scientific installations on Earth. It means star-gazing tower in Korean. Although classical astronomy was one of the seven key subjects taught at medieval universities in Europe, observational astronomy was mostly stagnant in medieval Europe until XIII century, when lived astronomers and astrologers as Johannes de Sacrobosco, in England, and Guido Bonatti from Forlì, in Italy. Tycho Brahe's work is very famous, in the 16th Century. However, observational astronomy flourished in the Iranian world and other parts of Islamic realm. The late 9th century Persian astronomer al-Farghani wrote extensively on the motion of celestial bodies. His work was translated into Latin in the 12th century. In the late 10th century, a huge observatory was built near Tehran, Persia (now Iran), by the Persian astronomer al-Khujandi, who observed a series of meridian transits of the Sun, which allowed him to calculate the obliquity of the ecliptic. Also in Persia, Omar Khayyám performed a reformation of the calendar that was more accurate than the Julian and came close to the Gregorian. Abraham Zacuto was responsible in the 15th century for the adaptations of astronomical theory for the practical needs of Portuguese caravel expeditions. In Europe during the Renaissance, Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model of the Solar System. His work was defended, expanded upon, and corrected by Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler. Galileo added the innovation of using telescopes to enhance his observations. Kepler was the first to devise a system that described correctly the details of the motion of the planets with the Sun at the centre. However, Kepler did not succeed in formulating a theory behind the laws he wrote down. It was left to Newton's invention of celestial dynamics and his law of gravitation to finally explain the motions of the planets. Newton also developed the reflecting telescope. Stars were found to be faraway objects. With the advent of spectroscopy it was proved that they were similar to Earth's own sun, but with a wide range of temperatures, masses, and sizes. The existence of Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way, as a separate group of stars was only proven in the 20th century, along with the existence of "external" galaxies, and soon after, the expansion of the universe, seen in the recession of most galaxies from us. Modern astronomy has also discovered many exotic objects such as quasars, pulsars, blazars and radio galaxies, and has used these observations to develop physical theories which describe some of these objects in terms of equally exotic objects such as black holes and neutron stars. Physical cosmology made huge advances during the 20th century, with the model of the Big Bang heavily supported by the evidence provided by astronomy and physics, such as the cosmic microwave background radiation, Hubble's Law, and cosmological abundances of elements. External Links about AstronomyNASA AbsoluteAstronomy.com MarsLife Alachua Astronomy Club, Inc. The San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) Astronomy Group University of Washington : Astronomy Department Astronomy Tools Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii AstronomyTeacher.com Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland Amateur Astronomers Association of New York Astronomy Now Online Astronomy Research: The University of Texas at Austin Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Iowa Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) Space Telescope Science Institute Astronomy in Australia The Solar System NASA Astronomy Picture Astronomy Basic Astronomy Laboratory Astronomy at 0-0-0Checkmate Joint Australian Centre for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica, JACARA Online Astronomy Publications National Solar Observatory Mount Wilson Observatory HubbleSite Amateur CCD Astronomy by Richard Jacobs, M.D. Radio Astronomy Laboratory National Optical Astronomy Observatory The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Astronomy in Spain The Atheism Of Astronomy The Observatory The American Astronomical Society (AAS) Astra's Star Gate Rice Space Institute |
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Deep Sky Astronomy - Comprehensive introduction to deep sky astronomy: galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, quasars, comets and asteroids. Astronomy in Chile - Astronomical sites related with Chile or Chileans. Hawaii Solar Astronomy - The Solar Group at the Institute for Astronomy studies solar flares, magnetic fields on the sun, and solar oscillations. ICSTARS Astronomy - Looking for a different kind of Star Party with some new faces and a new sky? Scott's Astronomy Page - To determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name... Caltech Computational Astronomy - The Caltech Computational Astronomy Group is directed by Tom Prince. We use high-performance parallel computers for analysis of data from many different observatories, e.g. Palomar, Arecibo, Parkes, the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. CVC Astronomy Home Page - CVC's Astronomy Freeware and Software. Aastrometry.org - A site for popularization of Astrometry and Celestial Mechanics. |
AstroWeb - Collection of pointers to information on Astronomy & Astrophysics in the Internet.... Institute of Astronomy - Came into being in 1972 by the amalgamation of three institutions which had developed on the site. These were the Cambridge University Observatory which was established in 1823, the Solar Physics Observatory (1912) and the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy (1967). Astronomy Sight - An in-depth, concise website about astronomy, provided you with helpful information in a clean, easy to read environment so you can easily learn about astronomy. European Southern Observatory - An intergovernmental, European organisation for astronomical research. It has eleven member countries. ESO operates astronomical observatories in Chile and has its headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany. Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council [PPARC] - The UK's strategic science investment agency. By directing, coordinating and funding research, education and training in particle physics and astronomy, PPARC delivers world-leading science, technologies and people for the UK. Papa G's Astronomy Page - This sight is filled with links to some 300 different Astronomy related sights and is placed here for your reference. |
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