Exploration of Space

The scientific study of all celestial objects, such as planets, stars, and galaxies, as well as everything that occurs outside of the Earth’s atmosphere is called Astronomy. One major question presented by astronomy is ‘How was the universe formed and how has it changed since its formation?’ This question and others are examined through a number of scientific fields and processes, such as evolution, physics, and chemistry.

Astronomy is widely regarded as one of the oldest scientific fields of study. Civilizations from ancient times observed the night sky and documented what they saw. Artifacts that have been uncovered by archaeologists suggest early astronomy recordings of stars and other observations seen in the sky. Early people used the stars to measure time in the long-term by formulating calendars. Not only were the stars used to make observations and to measure time, but some early civilizations used stars as a navigational tool, especially when sailing through the ocean.

Today, astronomy is a vital tool for the further development of space astronomy exploration. Exploration of outer space is done by various methods, such as manned spacecraft flights and remotely-controlled robotics. Both space astronomy and space exploration are professions which complement each other, while providing useful information to the development of astronomy space and relying on each other’s advancements. Without space exploration, images from the Hubble Space Telescope would not be possible. At the same time, without images from the Hubble Space Telescope, dreams and planning of deep space exploration would not be feasible.

Technology has always paved the way for advancements in space exploration and astronomy. Space exploration would not be possible if it wasn’t for the invention of liquid-fueled rocket engines and of course, the telescope used for astronomy. Space exploration is continued due to many reasons, such as advancing scientific knowledge, as a means of united nations together, for military and strategic advantages, and for the preservation of humanity’s future.

Space astronomy and exploration has been historically used as a proxy for the rivalries that were fueled during the Cold War. The term, “Space Race” was often used to describe the Soviet Union and United States’ entry into space exploration. The Soviet Union was the first nation to put a man in space to orbit the Earth, which was called Sputnik 1. The United States, however, was the first nation to put a man on the moon, using the spacecraft Apollo 11.

While most space exploration were performed by governmental-funded agencies, such as NASA, the future of space exploration may turn out to be quite different. There are already plans of private ventures of spaceflight companies. There are even incentives given for privately-funded entities to place a robot on the moon successfully, such as in the case of the Google Lunar X-Prize. This is a contest that will award a sum of $20 million to the first team to perform this task.

Radio Astronomy

The scientific study of all celestial objects, such as planets, stars, and galaxies, as well as everything that occurs outside of the Earth’s atmosphere is called Astronomy. One major question presented by astronomy is ‘How was the universe formed and how has it changed since its formation?’ This question and others are examined through a number of scientific fields and processes, such as evolution, physics, and chemistry.

Astronomy is widely regarded as one of the oldest scientific fields of study. Civilizations from ancient times observed the night sky and documented what they saw. Artifacts that have been uncovered by archaeologists suggest early astronomy recordings of stars and other observations seen in the sky. Early people used the stars to measure time in the long-term by formulating calendars. Not only were the stars used to make observations and to measure time, but some early civilizations used stars as a navigational tool, especially when sailing through the ocean.

Today, celestial objects are observed using many different types of astronomy equipment, both simple and complicated in nature. With the introduction of new observational technologies, astronomy observation has been divided up into several different types, each requiring specific uses of astronomy equipment. The different groups of observational astronomy have been generally divided up depending on the observed area of the electromagnetic spectrum. Specific telescopes must be used for each type of observation because they are only sensitive to a certain part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Radio Astronomy:
Radio astronomy is concerned with the observation of radiation wavelengths that have a distance of no more than millimeter apart from each other. This type of observational astronomy is generally the easiest to perform due to the nature of the wavelengths. Radio waves are produced by astronomical objects through a process called thermal emission, these radio waves are observed on Earth in the form of synchrotron radiation. This type of radiation is caused by electrons that oscillate around magnetic fields. Radio telescopes are used to pick up these radio waves.

Infrared Astronomy:
Astronomy based on the detection of infrared radiation. Infrared radiation has wavelengths that are slightly longer than red light. Infrared radiation is absorbed a great deal in the Earth’s atmosphere, making it very difficult to pick up unless telescopes are positioned in high and/or dry places. It is ideal to set up infrared telescopes and astronomy equipment in space because without the Earth’s atmosphere to distort infrared radiation, very detailed infrared images can be captured.

Optical Astronomy:
The oldest form of astronomy, this type picks up images in the form of visible light. Originally, telescopes were used to observe celestial objects and then drawn by hand. Today, telescopes capture images using photograph astronomy equipment.

Ultraviolet Astronomy:
Observations by astronomy equipment and telescopes in ultraviolet wavelengths, a type of wavelength that is generally absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere. As a result, ultraviolet astronomy can only be performed with telescopes that are placed at a high region in the Earth’s atmosphere or in space.

Astronomy is the scientific study of all celestial objects– in other words, the study of all planets, stars, and galaxies. Astronomy also includes the study of everything else that occurs outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. Astronomy attempts to answer questions about how the universe was formed and how it has evolved over the years into the way it is now. Astronomy observations are done through many specific scientific processes and disciplines, such as evolution, physics and chemistry.

Telescopes on the Ground Begin Searching for Extraterrestrial Life:
Astronomy news makes scientific headlines every day as techniques for observing objects in the universe become increasingly more advanced. Recently, astronomy news has reported images from powerful telescopes on the Earth’s surface in Hawaii. This is significant news because this is a rare moment where significant findings have been made from the Earth’s surface rather than from telescopes on satellites orbiting the Earth or traveling through space, such as the Hubble or Spitzer space telescopes.

The first major finding using this ground-based telescope has yielded some promising news in the astronomy news community. A large distant planet was observed from the Infrared Telescope Facility called HD 189733b, located about 63 light years from the constellation of Vulpecula. The telescope that picked up these observations is located on a volcanic island in Hawaii and showed signs that the planet contains methane in its atmosphere. It was found that the methane in the atmosphere was absorbing radiation nearby and reflecting it as light. According to researchers, the methane found is very similar to traces of methane found within the atmospheres of both Jupiter and Saturn.

This is a significant finding within the astronomy community because methane is a gas that is generated by living organisms on Earth. This contrasts the way that methane is produced on such planets as Jupiter and Saturn, in which methane is produced by light converging with other chemicals within their atmosphere. Researchers and astronomers will soon better understand how these two ways of creating methane contrast from each other.

Collision of Asteroids Leaves Astronomy Community Baffled:
In further recent astronomy news, the Hubble Space Telescope has found an X-shaped pattern of debris and a trail of dust accompanying it. Many astronomers believe this has been caused by a collision of asteroids, but an observation such as this has never been made before. According to astronomy researchers, asteroid impacts are generally very violent, as they may be traveling more than 10,000 mph at the moment of impact. This is a contrast from the relatively evenly dispersed set of debris that follows a collision. The trail has been theorized to be caused by a debris falling off the surface following the impact between two objects, and it is not caused by ice melting away like in normal cases of traveling comets.

According to one astronomy theory, the asteroid belt contains significant evidence of ancient collisions, causing fragments to scatter across the solar system. One of those fragments is thought to have possibly hit the Earth and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Astronomy

The scientific study of all celestial objects, such as planets, stars, and galaxies, as well as everything that occurs outside of the Earth’s atmosphere is called Astronomy. One major question presented by astronomy is ‘How was the universe formed and how has it changed since its formation?’ This question and others are examined through a number of scientific fields and processes, such as evolution, physics, and chemistry. The history of astronomy is vast and encompasses many civilizations over thousands of years.

Astronomy is regarding as one of the oldest scientific fields of study, dating back to ancient times. Ancient civilizations began observing the night sky and recorded stars and other celestial bodies that they saw. They even documented them to make them easier to remember through the use of constellations. Artifacts have been uncovered by archaeologists, proving that patterns of stars in the sky have been recorded by early people in early astronomy history. Early civilizations even used astronomy as a tool to measure time by creating calendars that coincided with the cycles of the sun, moon and stars. In addition, the stars were used as a navigation tool for ships traveling across the ocean by observing stars in the sky to determine which direction they were heading in.

The Earliest History of Astronomy- Babylonia
The origin of Western astronomy history can be traced as far back as 1200 BC, by a civilization living in Mesopotamia. In this region, the kingdoms of Sumer, Assyria and Babylonia were located. Babylonia is known for having the earliest records of star cataloging, writing their findings in Sumerian. Babylonian observations began to improve during 747-733 BC as the discover of an 18-year cycle of lunar eclipses was observed and recorded.

Egypt:
Egypt’s large amount of technical skill and know-how required to build the ancient Pyramids suggests their advanced capabilities to observe the sky. The Pyramids were proven to have been aligned in a way as to be lined up with the pole star, a star in the constellation of Draco. Also, the Great Temple has been proven to have been built so that it would be lined up with the rising of the midwinter sun. At other times of the year, the corridor of the Great Temple is less illuminated then during the winter. During this time, astronomy and religious beliefs were strongly connected and celebrations and festivals were planned in relation to the observations made within the astronomy researchers during this time.

Greek:
The Ancient Greek civilization was the first to develop astronomy and to implement it with mathematics. They developed the first three dimensional demonstrations to show movement of celestial bodies. The influence of Greek astronomy would have a significant influence in the development of further research.

Copernican Revolution:
This is considered to be the renaissance of astronomy, largely influenced by Nicolaus Copernicus, who believed that the Earth revolved around the Sun, rather than the Sun and all other celestial bodies revolved around Earth. During this time, telescopes were developed to observe the sky, which paved the way for modern astronomy aspects and techniques of today.