Astronomy teaches patience and humility and although I had the latter to some degree, this five week project helped me to develop the former. Not everything worked on the first attempt to find planets, stars, constellations, and other celestial objects. I started this project sometime in September actually, but was so discouraged by not seeing anything in the night sky due to visibility obstructions that I postponed it for another three weeks. When panic over deadlines got the best of me I finally forced myself to go outside to look up at the night sky and ask myself the age old question…”Is that a star or a plane.”
Observation day one started out with a bang from the fireworks display coming from Sea World. I was able to make out one possible planet and one constellation. The rest of the sky was too overcast and murky to see much of anything. Day two was the same in visibility and I was able to see a couple bright stars that shone through the hazy marine layer. Day three was a breakthrough as it was the first time I could record the visibility of the moon in its illuminating...
not much was known about the night skies as it is so far away nobody
For many years astronomers and people alike have constantly heard about the observations and records of the Chinese and Europeans. No other culture can provide as much information as that gathered by the Chinese and Europeans, but there are many other cultures that observed and recorded the night sky, one of those being the Native Americans. During the last fifteen to twenty years archaeoastronomers have uncovered much concerning the beliefs and records of Native Americans. Unfortunately, the methods of keeping records of astronomical events were not as straight forward as the Chinese and Europeans. The Native Americans had to use what they could to record what they observed. Their records were found on rock and cave drawings, stick notching, beadwork, pictures on animal skins and story telling. One of the few dateable events among the various records of Native Americans was the 1833 appearance of the Leonid meteor shower.
Sharp, Nigel(NOAO), et al. "Astronomy Picture of the Day." 21 Oct. 2012. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121021.html. Photograph. 1 Dec. 2013.
From 1667 to 1669 he observed that it was sometimes fainter than usual and in 1670 he watched the star fade to about one-third normal brightness and later recover.... ... middle of paper ... ... The system has an ensemble magnitude of about 8.5 and consists of two young blue stars of spectral type B5 and B4. The magnitude varies between 8.4 and 9.1 during an eclipse lasting 10.55 days.
Historians and archeologists have found physical evidence that ancient civilizations had an active interest it the apparent motion of the celestial objects. Stonehenge in England, The Bighorn Medicine Wheel in the Unit...
I know that astronomy is getting more popular by the day since the comet came and all those people got killed. But that really did not have anything to do with astronomy, so I am not going to get into that. To me astronomy is really cool. If you have a telescope and it is a clear night you can see different constellations such as: Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Hercules, Pegasus, Perseus there are many more that is so cool. But it is even cooler to look up and see them in the sky. To do all of that you first have to be in the correct place. What you can do first is look for the north star, when you find that then you are all set. If you cannot find it just simply face north and look for the brightest star in that direction. If you still cannot find it buy a compass then hopefully you will find it. If you still cannot find it ask somebody, I made no grantee that you would find it these ways. That is really all I know about astronomy, but after this paper I bet you I will know a whole lot more.
My interest in satellite surveillance did not really appear to after I saw the movie "Enemy of the State" in 1998. The synopsis of the movie is: Robert Dean (Will Smith) is a labor lawyer who is unknowingly in possession of evidence related to a serious politically motivated crime. Government agents eager to hide their guilt believe that Dean is on to them, and proceed to turn his life upside-down, ruin his reputation, and frame him for various incidents, thanks to the latest in high-tech government surveillance techniques. In an attempt to clear his name and reclaim his life, Dean teams up with the reclusive Brill (Gene Hackman), a former federal employee who has as much high-tech equipment and expertise as the government itself. Smith scores as a man who is desperate to reclaim his identity and prove his innocence. This intense technological thrill-ride from director Tony Scott questions how much access the government should have to the communications of private citizens, and leaves the viewer with the unsettling feeling that Big Brother is definitely watching. After this movie I was amazed that we have the capability in our hands to do this. I have two scenes from the movie that show the technology at work.
Dyson, Marianne J. Space and Astronomy: Decade by Decade. New York: Facts on File, 2007. 14+. Print.
Centuries ago, people gazed into the night sky wondering what it was that they were looking at. When astronomers first started to study the night sky, like Galileo, Copernicus and even modern day astronomers, they all shared one goal, and that was to see further than anyone has ever before. The invention of the Hubble Space Telescope changed the study of astronomy forever. Astronomers were seeing and learning more in just days of the launch of the telescope than past astronomers had in their lifetimes. The Hubble Space Telescope is the most technologically advanced telescope to enter space. Its advanced technology has made it possible to obtain countless amounts of data about space and open many doors in the exploration of space. Its accuracy has and still is proving/debunking the myths of space.
Human fascination with the stars is as ancient as Babylonians and has been suggested to be older than Stonehenge. From “be fruitful and multiply” to “live long and prosper,” the instinct to protect and propagate the species has manifested in religion, art, and the imaginations of countless individuals. As human understanding of space treks out of the fantastical and into the scientific, the realities of traveling through and living in space are becoming clearer. Exploring, investigating, and living in space pose an expansive series of problems. However, the solutions to the problems faced by mankind's desire to reach beyond the horizon, through the night sky, and into the stars are solutions that will help in all areas of life on Earth.
Venus, the second planet closest to the Sun and Earth’s closest neighbor, is known for its many wonders and harsh conditions. Venus is possibly the first planet discovered by humans and is said to have been first discovered in 17 B.C. by Babylonian astronomers. Venus is the first planet to be explored by spacecraft although many of these attempts have proven unsuccessful. Fortunately, more than twenty of the spacecraft explorations been proven successful, and through those we have gained knowledge about this wonder of the night sky.
The invited participants were chosen from a diverse group based on his or her interest or knowledge of science and astronomy, work experience, and the ability to easily engage in conversation. Out of...