Astronomy as Among the Oldest Science - Essay Example

 Astronomy Astronomy is the science that deals with the study of celestial bodies such as the moons, planets, stars, galaxies and Nebulae. In addition, it also deals with the physics, chemistry, and the objects evolution, and phenomena that originate outside the earth’s atmosphere. Astronomy is among the oldest science. Astronomical artifacts including the Egyptian monument have been lefty by the prehistoric cultures to performed night sky observation (Renner et al., pg. 617).

According to (Trumper, pg. 12), before astronomy was able to undergo development into modern science, telescope invention was required. Historically, astronomy included disciplines that were diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy and calendar making. Along the line of telescope history, human beings developed a need to see deeper into space eventually. This period was revolutionary because man was getting closer to the things that were initially far away. A German, Hans Lippershy, created the first instrument that helped man view far away things (Schneider, N. p). A year later, Galileo Galilei, who was an Italian astronomer, made drastic modification to the design, which made production of images to be much clearer and larger t the eyes of the person observing.

Galileo’s telescope was able to change the distance being viewed through the instrument by addition of other variable lenses. This allowed one to see an image three times bigger than what could be with naked eyes. Galileo’s telescope helped in revealing the phases of Venus, and this was a striking moment to the explanation of the heliocentric theory (Basu and Matzner, N. p.). Both Galileo and Harriot were astronomers. They spent time in studying celestial bodies more so the moon. They both developed interest in studying the lunar.

Unlike Galileo, Harriot did no publish his observational drawing though he was able to share his telescopic findings with a group of English correspondents. They both drew “moon maps” and they believed to be the geographical surface of the moon to be (Hyslop, pg. 293). Works cited Basu, Dipak, and Richard A. Matzner. Dictionary Of Geophysics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy. N. P., 2001. Hyslop, Scott. “Thomas Harriot and His World: Mathematics, Exploration, and Natural Philosophy in Early Modern England Edited by Robert Fox.

” aestimatio 10 (2013): 293–313. Print. Renner, S et al. “Astronomy & Astrophysics.” Astronomy 620 (2005): 617–620. Schneider, Peter. Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology: An Introduction. N. p., 2006. Trumper, Ricardo. “University Students’ Conceptions of Basic Astronomy Concepts.” Physics Education 2000 : 9–15.