Early Astronomy and Its Achievements - Essay Example

Astronomy Introduction: Among the sciences astronomy is the oldest The rudiments of astronomy needed no instruments, no tools and no experimentation, for astronomy involves the study of space and all the bodies in it. (2). Observations of the sky and the heavenly objects seen in it formed the initial understanding of early humans of the world that they lived. From approximately 3000 BC the sun, the moon, the stars and the changing seasons had been observed and studied giving rise to the primitive form of astronomy and several incorrect views of the universe that humans lived in. It is from these humble beginnings that astronomy takes off to become one of the important sciences, as it provides the means to look back to the origin of all life including human kind, as well look forward to provide glimpses of what could happen in the future to the universe that we all live in. Early Astronomy and its Achievements: Early astronomy made known to the ancients the existence of five planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter besides the sun, moon and the stars with their visibility to the naked eye. To the Egyptians and the Chinese go the initial credits in astronomy. The Egyptians divided the stars into constellations, but in a different manner than what is known today, and the Chinese with their keen observation came to understand eclipses. However, early astronomy was affected significantly by the limitations of the vision of the naked eye. This gave rise to many fallacies that were to remain a part of early astronomy. These fallacies included the belief that the earth was flat and the earth was the centre of the universe, around which all other objects in space went round and round. That was what they saw and hence the believed it. It was not until development of astronomy in its true form, in Greece from approximately 600 B.C. onwards that there was a better understanding of the universe we lived. It was Aristotle who, based on his observations, suggested that the earth was round. Eratosthenes in 240 B.C. calculated the circumference of the earth, and Hipparchus drew up an accurate catalogue of the stars. Amidst these contributions from the Greeks was also the contribution of Ptolemy towards extending the false geo-centric belief, as he devised an ingenious system to explain observations on earth from a geo-centric perspective. The Church was to extend support to this theory and it remained in place for many centuries, right up to the fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century Nicolas Copernicus based on the observations of the movements of the sum moon and planets deduced that Ptolemy’s geo-centric theory was false and came up with our current perspective of a helio-centric system. He however kept his theory under wraps for fear of the powerful church and published his work only in 1530 before he died. He was right in his fear of the Church for the philosopher Giordana was burned at the stake for claiming Copernicus to be right. The Copernican theory went into oblivion till Johann Kepler on the basis of calculations deduced that earth and the planets did revolve round the sun, but not in circular orbits as suggested by Copernicus, but in elliptical orbits. This development in astronomy was closely followed by an invention in the form of the refracting telescope by Hans Lippershey in 1608. The refracting telescope reduced the limitations in the observation of distant objects by the naked eye, as it collected light rays from a distant object and provided a magnified image of the object. This enhanced viewing of the distant objects in the universe was used by Galilei Galileo to confirm the helio-centric theory with elliptic orbits for the planets. (3) Achievements in Astronomy since the Invention of the Telescope: Three factors impacted on the subsequent achievements of astronomy. The first was the advances in the fields of mathematics, physics and chemistry. The second was the developments in technology that allowed the creation of more efficient telescopes and observatories. The final factor was the waning influence of the Church in preventing imaginative deductions of the observations of space and the bodies in it. These three factors spurred achievements in the field of astronomy. In the seventeenth century introduced the laws on gravitation that govern the movement of objects in space and the reflecting telescope as advancement over the refracting telescope. All through the seventeenth and eighteenth century the telescope began to develop in size of the reflector and the more efficient images of distant objects. To house these large telescopes for observing space, large observatories came into being. By the nineteenth century the capability to take photographic images of objects in space became a reality. Radio telescopes that pick up long-wavelength radiation from distant objects in space and thereby increase the range of understanding came into existence in 1930. The curiosity to peer further and further into space to study even more distant objects and get a clearer understanding of space and the objects in it have led to the launching of the Hubble Space Telescope, in 1990, which rotates 370 miles above the earth in space and outclasses any telescope on the earth. These continuing advances gave led to a very clear picture of earth and the nearby objects in space, and an ever improving understanding of the more distant objects and the universe as a whole. Benefits of the Achievements in Astronomy: A valid question arises and that is the benefit that humankind has from the developments in astronomy. In the first place we have a clear picture of the world we live in and our planet earth the controversies over a flat earth and a geo-centric planetary system have long disappeared. We know how our planet looks, her exact size and her place in the order of the planetary system. We have an understanding of the laws that govern planetary motion and the motion of objects in space. We have a clear picture of our planetary system and an ever growing list of stellar objects in the skies and even stellar objects we cannot see like Black Holes. We have an understanding of the influence of the sun, moon and planets on our lives. In fact, we know today that but for the sun there would be no life on the earth and with that the understanding that life on earth will not be eternal and fade away as the sun dies out. We know how we are impacted upon by heat and radiation from the sun. The system of stars, galaxies and an ever expanding universe has brought about a more humble realization of the smallness of humankind in relation to the large universe we live in and the abundance of bodies that are present in this space that does not remain constant. (4). Enabling space travel has been one of the major achievements of modern human kind, which has resulted from advances in astronomy. At the dawn of the twentieth century if someone had to mention that in the twentieth century man would visit the moon, that person would have been scoffed. Yet that was what exactly happened. Not only were rockets exploring the space around us, but landings on the moon happened so often that it no longer holds anyone in awe. An international space station in the form of the MIR has been stationed in space for more than a decade, while the American Space Shuttle keeps shuttling to space and back. Space probes have gone close to the sun and are exploring our near and distant planets. Space tourism is no longer a dream, but a concept that is being put into action. No longer is space exploration and travel held in awe, but more of an expectation, which is an achievement of astronomy. (4). The achievements in understanding the universe and the objects have advanced to such an extent that one of the exercises in astronomy is to understand how the universe began and how it is likely to end. The ‘Big Bang’ theory of astronomy suggests that all space, time, and matter were created through a big bang or explosion 13,700 million years ago. Prior to that there was nothing and the big bang marks the start of time. The inconceivably small and hot infant universe expanded and as it continued expanding started cooling. Galaxies formed from condensed matter and from these galaxies came the stars. Planets formed next and life on planet earth began, from where humans have experienced the universe as we know it today. Astronomy not only has allowed theories on the origins of the universe, but also indications of what the future holds. Current astronomical studies indicate that the expansion of the universe will continue and that means the cooling process will continue leading to a cold universe with no life on it. These theories need not be necessarily correct, but indicates to human beings their limitations and their smallness in this huge universe. (5). The suggestion of astronomy that creation of life on earth was the result of the expansion and cooling of the universe, has led to the speculation that life exists in other places, though not necessarily in the same forms as seen on earth. This has led for the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI). Biology has shown that the foundation stones of all life are amino acids and proteins. Nascent life on earth was based on this with water as the medium. The possibility of such conditions existing in an ever growing number of planets cannot be rule out and so too the possibility of the existence of life in other distant parts of the universe. There is also the possibility that life in other planets could evolve from a different set of building blocks and a different medium, thus increasing the possibility of forms of life very different from human beings. It is these speculations spurred by astronomy that has led to a search for extra-terrestrial life forms, though there has been no success so far. (6). Conclusion: Starting from very humble beginning with early man and ancient civilizations, astronomy has made giant strides to contribute to the development of human kind. Through its various achievements it has led to n understanding that the earth and human beings are not the center of the vast universe, but a small factor in the scheme of the universe. Works Cited 1. Smith, Gene. “A Brief History of Astronomy”. University of California, San Diego, Center for Astrophysics & Apace Sciences. 1999. 7 August 2007. . 2. Gottlieb, Hans, Michael. “Astronomy”. 7 August 2007. http://www.aiaa.org/kidsplace/kidsplacepdfs/Astronomy%20Activity.pdf 3. Lawton, Chris. “History of Astronomy”. 1995. 7 August 2007. . 4. Sir Moore, Patrick. THE AMATEUR ASTRONOMER. Twelfth Edition. London: Springer-Verlag London Limited, 2006. 5. Singh, Simon. BIG BANG. London: Fourth Estate, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, 2004. 6. Murdin, Paul. “Is there Life in the Universe?” 2001 YEARBOOK OF ASTRONOMY. Ed. Patrick Moore. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 2000. 129-146. Read More