Is anyone into Astronomy? I know I am. There are alot of things that we do that are based on astronomy. We just don't know it. Here is a real and true example-
The anciet people always studied the sky. They knew the sky and the patterns of the stars like the back of their hand. Every star moves along the sky in the same pattern every year, and the ancient people knew that. But every once and a while there would be 5 stars that didn't move across the sky like the other stars. Those 5 stars were also alot brighter then the other stars. The ancient people didn't know how to explain these 5 bright stars that didn't follow the same pattern as the other stars. So the said that the 5 stars were gods. They also gave those 5 stars a name. They called those 5 stars 'wandering stars' or as we call them today, 'lanets' 5 of the planets in our solar system are visable in the night sky from earth, (mercury, veanus, mars, jupiter, and saturn). The ancient people knew nothing about planets, so they decided the 5 planets were Gods, because the planets are not only bright, but they don't follow the pattern that all of the stars do.
It might be hard to belive, but it is true. The fact that we can see planets at night is also true. Go outside any day that it isn't overcast between now and mid-march. There will be a super bright star. It will be over 3 times brighter then any other star in the sky. That super bright star is actually a planet, Veanus. It is so bright not only because it is so close to us, but also because of its color. Grab a decent pair of binoculars, and you will be able to see a yellow-orange color. That is The color of the immense clouds that are on Veanus.
Here is a good example on how things that we don't even think about are based on astronomy-
Have you ever wondered why we have 7 days? It the 7 days are for the 5 planets the ancient people could see, the sun, and the moon. Monday is lunes in spanish. (pronounced lunase) Lunes is the day for the moon. Tuesday is martes in spanish. Martes is the day for Mars. Wednesday is miercoles in spanish. (pronounced mear-e-coles) Miercoles Is the day for Mercury. Thursday is jueves in spanish. Jueves Is the day for Jupiter. Friday is viernes in spanish. Viernes is the day for Veanus. Saturday is sabado in spanish. Sabado is the day for Saturn. Sunday is domingo in spanish. Domingo is the day for the sun.
So there you have it- 2 great examples on how Astronomy has shaped our lives in ways that we don't even think about. If we could see 6 planets in the sky, then we would have an 8 day week!
I heard that there is going to be a replacement for the hubble going up soon. It's suppossed to be able to see alot more stuff, and it can see in thermal image. Hubble can't. So you'll be hearing alot more about deep space stuf if it ever goes up.
I know! That is going to be cool. Also, I think that they should fit it with more equipment to take pics in all wavelengths of light instead of just visible, UV and infrared.
I do. You have to admit, even the mids of the most enclosed people (people who are only concerned with themdelves) still start to wonder what is really out there. Compared to everything ever made, earth is like a spec of dust. No, our whole glaxcy is a spec of dust compared to everything. There are posssiblities of life on other terrestrial bodies in the universe. Imagine how big everything is. One of the biggest stars we have seen, called Antres is huge. If the Sun was the dot on this 'i' then antres would be bigger then my computer monitor. If it was where our sun is, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars would be inside it. Jupiter and Saturn would be vaporised, and Pluto would be nice and warm. Another example is supernovas and when galaxies collide. The Andromeda Galaxy is going to collide with us eventually. And it is almost 2x bigger then the milkey way. I could honestly go on forever about stuff like this. How is it that you can escape reality and not care?
I love astronomy theres so much to know like dark matter the virgo supercluster and quasars which I dont think astronemers have figured out what they are yet
I always like the idea that it took a probe (sorry thingthingfreak the name has gone from me) but it look I think 12 years top get to Pluto at that rate it would take 10,000 years to get to the edge of out solar system. If the earth was the size of a pea, Jupiter would be 300m away from it and Pluto would be 2.5km away and the size of a bacterium. Proxima Centauri, on te same scale, would be 16,000km away. Skrink Jupiter to the size of a full stop and pluto would stil be 10m away from it.
Adding on to that, the nearest star (proxima centuri) is 4.3 light years away. That means it took the light from that star 4 years to reach us. We have yet to discover anything faster then the speed of light. The space shuttle travels at over 2,000 miles an hour, and it takes nearly a week to get to the moon. It would take the space shuttle over 900 YEARS to get to the nearest star. And that's only 4.3 light years away. The farthest object (or objects) we can see with the naked eye is the Andromeda Glaxay, and it is 2 million light years away. If it takes the Space Shuttle over 900 years to travel 4.3 light years, think of how long it would take to get to somthing 2 million light years away... Another thing to think about is that if we look at the Andromeda Glaxay, we are looking at it the way it was 2 million years ago. That is how far away it is. And to think of how massive it is that we can see it when its so far away... It's mind-blowing.
Pixie, I forogt the name of that too, so Don't worry. But I did do some digging around, and I found some information that is pretty interesting. The new pluto project is called the new horizons project, and I think it will be on pluto on either 2013 or late 2012 I'm not entirely sure... Also, the Hubble's replacemet is going to be going up in 2013, and it is called the James Web telescope. Another intesting thing, is that the Hubble has been up since the 1970's thats over 40 years... I think that is amazing...
Another Quick fact: Did you know that there is supossed to be a planet where the astroid belt is? (the astroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter) During their stuides of where planets should be around our star, scientists discoverd that there should be a rocky planet where the astroid belt is. So far, they belive that the planet, that would be somewhere between Earth and Mars in size, failed to form at the beginging of the solar system due to a massive collision.
Last but not least, I decided to find out a little about Pluto. Pluto has in fact 3 moons. Its major moon is called Charon, and Charon is about 1/2 the size of Pluto. Pluto has another moon that has a moon orbiting it. (hard to word) Basically, 2 moons are orbiting Pluto, and 1 moon is orbiting one of the moons that is orbiting Pluto. Unlike all of the outer planets, Pluto follows an irrigular path, while every other planet doesnt. Pluto's path is more like an astroid's or a comet's. Pluto is also rocky, and all of the outer planets (planets past the astroid belt) are Gas. Last but not least, Pluto doesn't have a ring system while all of the other outter planets do, and pluto is belived to be an escaped moon of Neptune. And, due to is irrigular orbit, Pluto will eventually collide with Neptune if it is not captured by Neptune's gravity, thus turning it into a moon of Neptune once again.
The thing I find amazing about Charon is that it was only discovered in 1978 and this link is the image they used to see it.The discovery image of Charon
I've been doing some looking up and it was the Voyager crafts launched in 1977 that took 12 years to get to Pluto despite the gravity assist from the 3 three furthest gas giants which had aligned in a way that happens once every 175 years.
Everything in our solar system (the sun, planets, asteroids etc.) take up less than a trillionth of the available space. So it is hardly astonishing that we miss much. Pre-Voyager Neptune was thought to have only 2 moons. The Voyager craft found 6. 50 years ago the solar system contained 30 discovered moons. Now there are about 90, 30 of which have been discovered in the last 15 years.
It is strange watching sci-fi films that feature some kind of asterois belt and they always depict them as crowded and dangerous. The Millenium falcon dodging through one springs to mind but the average distance between asteroids in the belt is aqbout 1million km hardly dodging circumstances.
Everything in our solar system (the sun, planets, asteroids etc.) take up less than a trillionth of the available space. So it is hardly astonishing that we miss much.
That is interesting. I read somewhere that average density of universe is 3 or 4 atoms per m^3(They didn't say of which element). Metal astronomy
It is strange watching sci-fi films that feature some kind of asterois belt and they always depict them as crowded and dangerous. The Millenium falcon dodging through one springs to mind but the average distance between asteroids in the belt is aqbout 1million km hardly dodging circumstances.
That is so true. Either movie producers ignore that fact for a better movie, or they simply don't know. The astroid belt is so vast, that you would be lucky to see 3 astroids passing through it.
Another Quick fact: Did you know that there is supossed to be a planet where the astroid belt is? (the astroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter) During their stuides of where planets should be around our star, scientists discoverd that there should be a rocky planet where the astroid belt is. So far, they belive that the planet, that would be somewhere between Earth and Mars in size, failed to form at the beginging of the solar system due to a massive collision.
that planet is a dwarf planet named ceres.it was descovered by giuseppe piazzi in 1801.he found it while he was lookin for some random star but he then came to the conclusion that it was a comet.
that planet is a dwarf planet named ceres.it was descovered by giuseppe piazzi in 1801.he found it while he was lookin for some random star but he then came to the conclusion that it was a comet.
Ceres is currently classifed as an astroid. (at least to my knowlage) But it is not what should have been formed near the astroid belt. It is likely, that parts of the astroid belt formed together, making Ceres, but there are still alot of leftover astroids that could make a planet about the size of Mars.
there are still alot of leftover astroids that could make a planet about the size of Mars.
OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!! i am sorry but i do go crazy,get filled with rage and start hyperventilation when pple say that(espically teachers) this is after reading 8 astronomy books published in 2009(they are very up to date) and also browsing the web for 2 hours.this is propably the most straight forward paragraph i could find.
it is clear that the broken planet hypothesis was incorrect,as all the asteroids put together would form a body SMALLER THAT THE MOON.with an average mass of 9.4x10(raised to the power of 20)kilograms,ceres comprises about a third of the estimated mass of all the asteroids which togetger total ABOUT 4% OF THE MASS OF THE MOON.ceres's size and mass are sufficient to give it a nearly spherical shape
oh and also NASA is planning the DAWN mission which will reach ceres in 2015 for a better look.
