The year is 2061. Ordinary astronomy enthusiasts and seasoned astrophysicists alike flock to the darkest, most obscure corners of the Earth to witness the return of what is arguably the most famous near-Earth object in history. This celebrated occurrence is known as the perihelion of Halley’s Comet, and though its observance dates back to at least 239 B.C., the man responsible for accurately analyzing its repeated occurrences and calculating its seventy-five year orbit is no other than Edmond Halley. A human marvel of the Scientific Revolution, Edmond Halley’s contribution to the field of physics is unprecedented. His work has left an everlasting impression on the way we, not only as physics students but as human beings as well, view the world and the vast expanse of the universe beyond.
Edmond Halley was born on November 8th, 1656 to parents Gracey Halley and Edmond Halley Sr. in Haggerston, Shoreditch, England. Halley’s father was a prominent soap maker in London and brought a great deal of wealth to his family. Halley noted his profound interest in astronomy at a very young age, stating that it gave him “so great a pleasure as is impossible to explain to anyone who has not experienced it” His interest in astronomy was likely a result of growing up during a period of widespread scientific and mathematical advancements known the Scientific Revolution. It was during this period of rapid scientific enlightenment that some of the most renowned scientists emerged, including Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Nicolaus Copernicus. The Scientific Revolution and the thinkers who propelled it undoubtedly fostered Halley’s early passion for the sciences.
Although much of their wealth was lost in the Great Fire of London, the H...
... middle of paper ...
...ypublishing.org/content/16/179-191/563.full.pdf>.
Hammond, Chuck. "Edmond Halley." Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Physics. Wichita State University. Web. 25 Mar 2014. .
Howell, Elizabeth. "Halle'ys Comet: Facts About the Most Famous Comet." Space. TechMedia Network, 20 Feb 2013. Web. 25 Mar 2014. .
Mallin, S. R. C. Edmond Halley - Geophysicist. London: Royal Astronomical Society , 1993. Web. .
O'Connor, J.J. "Edmond Halley." Turnbull. University of Saint Andrews, n.d. Web. 25 Mar 2014. .
"Sextant." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. .
Halley’s Comet or Comet Halley is a comet who orbits earth every 74.5 years! This comet is also the most known comet ever to be documented! Halley is very interesting comet.
Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19th 1473 in Thorn, Poland (now known as Torun) to a merchant father who was also a local official. At the age of ten, Copernicus’ father died and he was sent to live with his uncle who at the time was a priest. In 1491, at the age of 18, Copernicus went to Krakow Academy as a pupil. In 1496, Copernicus then travelled to Italy and studied law at the University of Bologna. During his time at the University of Bologna, Copernicus lived with Domenico Maria de Novara, a mathematics professor who encouraged him to study geography and astronomy. Furthermore, throughout his time in Italy, Copernicus travelled to Rome and studied at the universities of Padua and Ferrara. Than in 1503, Copernicus moved back to Poland and worked for his uncle now the bishop of Ermland as a secretary. When his uncle died in 1512, Copernicus moved to Frauenberg and worked for the church. During his time working at the church, Copernicus studied astronomy and in 1514, when the catholic church was looking to improve the calendar, Copernicus was asked to help. Copernicus’ upbringing helped shape his interests in the sciences, especially astronomy. Copernicus is known to have established the heliocentric theory, which replaced the previously accepted geocentric model. However, prior to Copernicus other thinkers such as Aristarchus as well as thinkers after such as Galileo developed a similar theory. Even though it is unclear who established the heliocentric model, Copernicus has had a major impact on our modern sciences.
The Orion Nebula contains one of the brightest star clusters in the night sky. With a magnitude of 4, this nebula is easily visible from the Northern Hemisphere during the winter months. It is surprising, therefore, that this region was not documented until 1610 by a French lawyer named Nicholas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc. On March 4, 1769, Charles Messier inducted the Orion Nebula, M42, into his list of stellar objects. Then, in 1771, Messier released his list of objects for its first publication in Memoires de l’Academie.1
Later after Copernicus came Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei, who confirmed some of Copernicus’ observations. Kepler provided concise evidence of planetary motion regarding their path around the s...
"Edwin Hubble." DISCovering Science. Online Edition. Gale, 2003. Reproduced in Student Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC
Zimmerman, Robert. "The Great Supernova Race." Sky & Telescope 126.4 (2013): 16. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 7 Apr.
Copernicus’ Secret is a biography of an astronomer and a cleric who established that the earth was never the center of the cosmos. The author, Jack Repcheck, explores the action-packed last 12 years of Copernicus’s life that altered the track of western history. The main aim of the author is to give a precise in-depth human explanation of the events that led to the scientific revolution. He also tries to bring this scientific genius to life in a manner, which has never been achieved in the past. In addition, the author also tries to reveal some of the little known weak character traits of Copernicus at the time of his major theories.
Dyson, Marianne J. Space and Astronomy: Decade by Decade. New York: Facts on File, 2007. 14+. Print.
Redd, Nola T. "Space and NASA News – Universe and Deep Space Information | Space.com." Space.com. Space.com, 08 Mar. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. .
Research News Planetary Scientists are Seeing the Unseeable Richard A. Kerr Science, New Series, Vol. 235, No. 2 -. 4784. The. Jan. 2, 1987, pp. 113-117. 29-31. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Stable URL:
Sophia Brahe then began to assist her brother with many observations and projects some of which included tracking comets, watching lunar eclipses and timing them and predictions of planetary movements and orbits. Although Tychro specifically told Sophia not to study astronomy, she continued doing so anyway by increasing her knowledge in astronomy by reading and studying German books and paying a great deal of money so that old Latin books could be translated (Christianson, Page 112). Sophia was determined to become more knowledgeable in her field that she would do so at any cost even ...
'A discovery so unexpected could only have singular circumstances, for it was not due to an astronomer and the marvelous telescope…was not the work of an optician; it is Mr. Herschel, a [German] musician, to whom we owe the knowledge of this seventh principal planet.' (Hunt, 35)
Rao, Joe . "10 Popular Misconceptions About Astronomy Explained." Environmental News and Information. N.p., 14 Nov. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. .
Comets have a predictable orbit. There are one thousand comets that have been charted. Some comets go by the sun once and others, which are called periodic comets, pass the sun repeatedly following a predicable pattern. I have chosen a periodic comet called Tempel-Tuttle. Ernst Wilhelm Liebrecht Tempel and Horace Parnell Tuttle discovered this comet. This comet has been witnessed as early as 1366. The best apparition was that of 1366 when it passed 0.
2) Fundamentals of Physics Extended: Fifth Edition. David Hanley, Robert Resnick, Jearl Walker. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc, New York, Chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore. 1997.