Astronomy

There are many misconceptions in astronomy. For example, many people (even Harvard graduates) believe that the reason that seasons exist is that the closer Earth is to the sun, the hotter it is, resulting in summer. Likewise, the further away the Earth is from the Sun, the colder it is, resulting in winter. We know that the reason seasons exist is because of the 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth. For instance, when Earth is on the right of the Sun, the tilt causes the northern hemisphere to be in…

Both of these branches of astronomy incorporate the Near Eastern ideas of the zodiac and the derivation of a horoscope based upon the position of seven planets at the time of one’s birth (Rochberg 1995, 1,932). In terms of the lunar theory of the Near East, the zodiac was invented…

To me, astronomy is the study of the universe and everything in it. This includes the planets, moons, stars, comets, etc. The major difference found between Muggle astronomy and Wizarding astronomy is that the Muggle world has "laws" that explain what they see in the universe. The study of these laws of the universe in the Muggle world is called "physics". Although these laws do explain a vast majority of what the Muggles see on Earth and in the universe, it may not hold true in the Wizarding…

Capricornus (The Goat) I picked Capricornus constellation for this assignment. I picked Capricornus because it looks interesting and Capricornus is my zodiac (I was born in January) The representation of Capricornus, The Sea-Goat or Goat-Fish, as a creature with the head and body of a goat and the tail of a fish, may well have originated from Assyro-Babylonian depictions of their god of wisdon Oannes, who was half-man, half-fish. In Greek mythology, this constellation is associated with the…

To me, Astronomy is the science relative to space. It is the answer to very natural questions: the exploration of time and space. When I go and wonder about what there is above the sky, or what was there at the beginning, astronomy, through its different sections (such as planetary, cosmology etc…) helps me to answer this questions. I’m grateful to live in an age already advanced in this matter. However, there is so much more to explore, and so much more answer to find, and finding these answers…

With the help of Tycho Brahe's observations, Kepler discovered that the orbits of the planets can be described with a curve. By trial and error, he discovered that an ellipse with the sun could accurately describe the path of a planet about the sun. Ellipses (which does not look like the usual circle, but as an egg) is described mainly by the length of its two axes. A circle has the same diameter if we measure it across or up and down. However, an ellipse has diameters of different lengths. The…

Whitney Noonan Philosophy of Revolution 2/29/2016 At the beginning of the scientific era people were not only shocked but also spiritually threatened by the new discovery that the Sun was actually in the center not the Earth. The “new philosophy” (since there was no word for “science” at the time) is the Copernican revolution. In 1610 Galileo had published the world’s first scientific bestseller, The Starry Messenger. This revolutionary work argued that the heavens are not organized the way…

better than any traditional geocentric model like that of described by Ptolemy in the Almagest, but also challenged the ancient belief in the uniform circular motions of the planets. Kepler’s new model is not only one of the greatest achievement in astronomy, but also advanced our understanding into modern physical concepts like gravity. In the sixteen hundreds, although more…

“Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.” Before the seventeenth and sixteenth century, the universe was based on the Ptolemaic System, which was developed by Ptolemy, Aristotle's theories, and Christian theology. However, as the astronomical revolution began to disembark, the Ptolemaic Theory was contradicted. The work, mathematical synthesis, and observations of astronomers such as Copernicus,…

Many analysts and historians claim that the current era is an era of science. Scientific innovation occurs at an almost startling pace and no ideas are safe from criticism. With this context in mind, it is sometimes hard to grasp the fact that until recently, human inspiration was not primarily derived from the possibilities of the future. Instead, it came from tradition. This article will review the works of Andreas Vesalius, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Francis Bacon to explain how their…