One thing us as humans have never been able to fully understand is astronomy. Always having an unexplained mystery, astronomy also has served as a way to keep time and predict the future. The word “astronomy” is defined as the study of heavenly bodies, meaning anything in the sky such as stars, galaxies, comets, planets, nebulae, and so on. Many people, if not everyone, is amazed by the night sky on a clear, moonless night. Astronomy dates back to ancient times when peoples such as the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Chinese kept written records of astronomical events and occurrences. Today’s seven day week originates from the Babylonians’ seven important bodies in the night sky: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The ancient Egyptians used the stars to align their pyramids and many of their corridors in almost perfect north-south or east-west directions. The Chinese were experts at predicting solar eclipses. They believed that a solar eclipse was a dangerous warning. Chinese astronomers were executed if they failed to predict an eclipse. Over the years there have been many more important figures in astronomy. One extraordinary astronomer was Galileo Galilei who invented the first refractor telescope in which light is bent to enlarge an image of the sky (“Galileo Project”). The next great astronomer to follow him was Isaac Newton. Newton had made a great amount of contributions to astronomy during his life. He further proved that the Earth was not the center of the universe and he also invented the Newtonian reflector telescope which is still used today in observatories. Also, he discovered that light could be split into a visible spectrum of colors. Spectral colors from stars would later be used to determine their size, temperature, chemical composition, and even the direction the star is moving. Today, professional astronomers play a very different role than hundreds of years ago. Surprisingly, astronomers today spend minimal time at the telescope gazing at the night sky. Operating planetariums, teaching astronomy classes, or operating and maintaining an observatory are some of the things astronomers today do. Along with professional astronomers are amateur astronomers who only observe the heavens for personal satisfaction and enjoyment. I myself am an amateur astronomer an... ... middle of paper ... ...enith (straight overhead position). Two galaxies which are believed to revolve around our own are the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. Only visible from the Southern Hemisphere, Magellan, the famous European explorer, was the first to describe these galaxies. Even though we know a great amount more than the astronomers in the past, there is still an even larger amount we do not know about the universe to this day. Even our own solar system contains many questions yet to be answered. Some of these include the possibility of a planet beyond Pluto (Planet X), the means by which the system was created, and even the possibility of a sister star to the Sun named Nemesis. Another astronomical mystery is the creation of the universe. In time, many questions will be answered but some will always remain. Astronomy is something that will never be completely understood. Works Cited: Goldsmith, Donald. The Astronomers. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991. Fradin, Dennis P. Astronomy. Chicago: Children’s Press, 1987. “The Galileo Project”. in History of Astronomy. [collection of sites] (rev. Dec. 2002; accessed 6 Jan, 2002); available from http://www.cv.nrao.edu/fits/www/yp_history.html
Crimes was mostly committed by the lower class, the ones who were poor and unable to work. The working class however were not thieves because they are able to afford the necessities of life. Highwaymen, murder, and theft of property were all common crimes committed by males unlike females whose crimes were infanticide, prostitution, and theft. The Ordinary of Newgate’s Account describes how “William Spiggot was indicted for four several Robberies on the High-Way, and found Guilty, with Thomas Cross otherwise Phillips, and William Burrows” (Ordinary’s Account, 4). As described in the lectures those offences were considered crimes without qualification because they were crimes with victims. Social crime was considered a victimless crime, and has no capital punishment tied to it. Highwaymen were hanged for their crimes because they robbed on the King’s highway and that was considered a capital crime. Crimes committed by people like Ethrinton Wrathan who “was condemned…for breaking open the Warehouse of John Hide, Esq; and taking thence 1080 Yards of Sail-Cloth, value £90.” (Ordinary’s Account, 4) This offence was punishable by death due to the reason that any crime over a shilling was a capital crime. Crime was considered a bad path to go on due to the reason that it was easy to commit crime again once that path was
O'Brien's repeated use of the phrase "they carried" attempts to create a realization in the reader that soldiers in wars always carry some kind of weight; there is always some type of burden that servicemen and women will forever hold onto both throughout the war and long after it has finished. The specification of what the soldier bear shows that the heaviness is both physical and emotional and in most cases the concrete objects carried manifest into the continued emotional distress that lasts a lifetime (sentence about what they carry from novel) "The Things They Carried" emphasis this certain phrase in order for those that do not have the experience of going to understand the constant pressure of burdens they are under. O'Brien draws on
Dyson, Marianne J. Space and Astronomy: Decade by Decade. New York: Facts on File, 2007. 14+. Print.
Since elementary school, I have been fascinated with the field of astronomy and have enjoyed learning, researching, and reading about this topic, purely to satisfy my own intellectual curiosity. I began visiting our school planterium and eventually found myself venturing into research on complicated celestial bodies such as black holes, quasars, and pulsars. Though my school does not offer courses on astronomy, I pursued topics of relevance such as calculus and physics, thus enabling me to delve deeper into topics at a collegiate level which are interrelated to astronomy.
...lieve the stars guide your life and look to them for answers. Or if you just love a night gazing at the beauty of the twinkling heavens. There is no denying the amazing impact that the stars have on humanity.
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...
This paper will discuss the following 4 Core Functions of a Counselor: Case Management, Client Education, Crisis Intervention, Referral and their primary purposes.
... with the rate at which the universe is accelerating, allows us to calculate how long it took for them to reach their current locations. The answer is about 14 billion years. The second method involves measuring the ages of the oldest star clusters. Globular star clusters orbiting our Milky Way are the oldest objects we have found and a detailed analysis of the stars they contain tells us that they formed about 13 billion years ago. The good agreement between these two very different methods is an encouraging sign that we are honing in on the universe’s true
As the Hubble telescope’s life comes to a historic end, we look back at all it has done for the scientific community. The Hubble has helped scientists make many new discoveries about our universe. Galileo Galilei and Edwin Hubble were huge contributes to the astronomical community, therefore a major help in transforming the first telescope into something as amazing as the Hubble. The first telescope was perfected by Galileo in 1609, and around four hundred years later the Hubble was launched into space. Since then the Hubble has shown scientists many new discoveries about space that they would have never been able to figure out without the Hubble’s help. Since April 1990 the Hubble telescope has been greatly appreciated by the scientific community because of everything it has done. However, the Hubble has faced many problems along its way as well.
Astronomy is a field where one looks into the great expanse of space and tries to find something that will bring the world a little closer to fully understanding the universe. The road to becoming an astronomer is not easy, as one must get an excellent education, hope that there are actual job openings, and then obtain a steady position. In order to be an astronomer, it is required to have a doctorate’s degree in either astronomy or physics (“Physicists and Astronomers”). After finishing their studies, an astronomer can really only hope to be lucky and secure a position working for the government, a university, or a college (“Astronomer Job Description”). If they somehow find a job, an astronomer’s job varies heavily depending on where they are employed (“Careers in Astronomy”). The first step with nearly every career is experiencing an education that will help them succeed through life.
For centuries, people from all latitudes have been fascinated by the night sky. The unreachable stars, the Moon, the comets and all the events happening in the sky, fired up imaginations and became symbols of life and death, of war, peace and the passing of time and the seasons. The movement of the stars was used to establish the time for planting and harvesting, to prepare for the long winters and to try to discover the future and destiny, the eternal unknown destiny of the human race. Three large human groups, the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Zapotecs populated the Central and Southeastern regions of Mexico long before the discovery of the continent by Columbus. These ancient cultures developed a very complex knowledge of Astronomy and built a large number of structures destined to be used as observatories. They made precise measurements and kept records of all the important events in the skies. This paper will explore some of the most important discoveries of these ancient astronomers and the precision of the alignments of their buildings. It will also establish the importance the astronomical knowledge had in their lives and societies.
Astronomy is a very important field in science. Ancient Greece, China, and India all contributed to our everyday ideas and uses of astronomy. Ancient Greece was the most influential because the Indian’s based most of their astronomy off of Greece. The Greeks created calendars that were based off of the eclipse cycle, which they called by two different names, Hellenic Calendars and Lunisolar Calendars. Because of Ancient Greece, we now have calendars to keep us on track every day. The Greeks observed a celestial object passing through the eastern and western morning sky. After a long time of observations, they came to a realization that it was a planet and now that is the planet is well known as Venus. (Sarton, 75) Plato and Aristotle’s theories were incredible contributions on us today. Both of their theories were all about the behavior and life of the planets, such as their theory that the earth is spherical. (Sarton, 421). Ancient Greece als...
Astronomy is a natural science focusing on the study of celestial objects such as moons, stars, planets, nebulae and galaxies. Astronomy is considered to be one of the oldest natural sciences; early civilizations throughout history such as the Babylonians, Egyptians and Greeks performed methodical observations of the sky. The Babylonians had different astronomical records regarding the position of the moon, sun and stars, on the other hand the Egyptians used astronomy to know the time and afterwards they developed a calendar based on the solar year. The following paper will focus on the ancient Greek astronomy, interestingly the origin of the word astronomy is Greek it comes from two words; astron meaning "star" and nemien refers to "to name". This paper will explain and highlight the methods used, famous figures and the achievements attained during the ancient Greek astronomy era.
Astronomy is the branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole. Astronomers study everything about galaxies, planets, energy, etc. Astronomers just don’t look through a telescope, they do much more. If they’re really great astronomers, it could land them a spot in NASA, well-known program for technology and science “related to space and air” (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). NASA has some interesting history; For example, NASA creates rockets and usually sends rockets or probes into space so they could study their field more in depth, but there is more than just rockets in NASA history.
Whenever we watch movies about space, the movie tends to influence our perspective of what is out there in space and how things work. Because of people’s lack of knowledge, it is easy for them to accept what the movies or pictures present to them. Therefore, there are many misconceptions in astronomy of how things really work out in the universe. In Neil Comens’ book, Heavenly Errors, he pinpoints over 1600 misconceptions! For example, many people have several different theories of how the moon changes shape every night or why the stars twinkle in the night time sky.