Astronomía
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THE ASTRONOMY<br />
Astronomy is the science that<br />
deals with the study of the<br />
celestial bodies of the<br />
universe, including the<br />
planets and their satellites,<br />
comets and meteors, stars and<br />
interstellar matter, the<br />
systems of dark matter, stars,<br />
gas and dust called galaxies<br />
and clusters of galaxies; by<br />
what he studies their<br />
movements and the<br />
phenomena linked to them. His recording and investigation of its origin come<br />
from the information that comes from them through the electromagnetic<br />
radiation or any other means. Astronomy has been linked to human beings since<br />
antiquity and all civilizations have had contact with this science. Characters<br />
such as Aristotle, Thales of Miletus, Anaxagoras, Aristarchus of Samos,<br />
Hiparco of Nicea, Claudius Ptolemy, Hypatia of Alexandria, Nicolas<br />
Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Christiaan<br />
Huygens or Edmund Halley's Comet have been some of the farmers.<br />
It is one of the few sciences where amateurs can still play an active role,<br />
especially in the discovery and follow-up to phenomena such as light curves of<br />
variable stars, the discovery of asteroids and comets, etc.<br />
During the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into<br />
observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on<br />
acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects, which is then<br />
analyzed using basic principles of physics. Theoretical astronomy is oriented<br />
toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe<br />
astronomical objects and phenomena. The two fields complement each other,<br />
with theoretical astronomy seeking to explain the observational results and<br />
observations being used to confirm theoretical results.
Changes in the world<br />
For centuries, the geocentric worldview that the Sun and other planets revolved<br />
around the Earth is not questioned. This vision was what our senses are noted.<br />
In the Renaissance, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model of the<br />
Solar System. His work De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium was defended,<br />
disclosed and corrected by Galileo<br />
Galilei and Johannes Kepler, author<br />
deHarmonices Mundi, which was<br />
developed for the first time the third<br />
law of planetary motion.<br />
Galileo added the novelty of the use<br />
of the telescope to improve their<br />
observations. The availability of<br />
accurate observational data led to<br />
investigate theories to explain the<br />
observed behavior (see his book<br />
Sidereus Nuncius). At the<br />
beginning only rules were obtained<br />
ad-hoc, as the laws of planetary motion of Kepler, discovered in the early<br />
seventeenth century. It was Isaac Newton who extended toward the celestial<br />
bodies the theories of earth's gravity and shaping the Law of universal<br />
gravitation, inventing and celestial mechanics, which explained the motion of<br />
the planets and achieving join the gap between the laws of Kepler and the<br />
dynamics of Galileo. This also marked the first unification of astronomy and<br />
physics.
Astronomy in the century XlX<br />
At the end of the 19th century it was discovered that multitude of lines of<br />
spectrum (regions where there was little or no light) could be observed to<br />
decompose the light of the Sun. Experiments with hot gases showed that the<br />
same lines could be observed in the spectrum of gases, specific lines<br />
corresponding to different chemical elements. In this way showed that the<br />
chemical elements in the Sun (mostly hydrogen) could be found equally in the<br />
Earth. In fact, helium was<br />
first discovered in the<br />
spectrum of the Sun and only<br />
later his name was found in<br />
the land, hence.<br />
It was discovered that stars<br />
were distant objects and with<br />
the spectroscope showed that<br />
they were similar to the Sun,<br />
but with a wide range of<br />
temperatures, masses, and sizes. The existence of the milky way as a separate<br />
Star Group was not demonstrated until the 20th century, along with the<br />
existence of external galaxies and, shortly after, laexpansion of the universe,<br />
observed in the effect of the shift to the red. Modern astronomy has also<br />
discovered a variety of exotic objects<br />
such as quasars, pulsars, radio, black<br />
holes, neutron stars, and has used these<br />
observations to develop physical theories<br />
that describe these objects. Cosmology<br />
made great advances during the 20th<br />
century, with the model of the Big<br />
Bangfuertemente supported by<br />
the evidence provided by astronomy and<br />
physics, such as the background radiation<br />
of microwave, Hubble's law and<br />
cosmological abundance of the chemical elements.
Telescope<br />
It is called alinstrumento optical<br />
telescope that allows you to view distant<br />
objects with greater detail than with the<br />
naked eye to capture electromagnetic<br />
radiation, such as light. It is a<br />
fundamental tool in astronomy, and each<br />
development or improvement of this tool<br />
has allowed progress in our<br />
understanding of the Universe. Thanks to<br />
the telescope -ever since Galileo Galilei<br />
in 1610 used it to look at the Moon, the<br />
planet Jupiter and the stars - the human<br />
being could finally begin to know the true<br />
nature of the celestial bodies which<br />
surround us and our location in the<br />
universe.<br />
the first Telescope<br />
In May of 1609, Galileo Paris receives a<br />
letter from the French Jacques Badovere,<br />
one of his former students, who confirms<br />
a rumor insistent: the existence of a telescope that allows viewing of distant<br />
objects. Made in Holland, this telescope would have allowed already seeing<br />
stars invisible to the naked eye. With this single description, Galileo, which no<br />
longer gives courses to Cosimo II de' Medici, he built his first telescope. On the<br />
contrary that the Dutch telescope, this not deforms the objects and the increases<br />
by 6 times, or twice that of the opponent. It is also the only of the time that you<br />
successfully obtain a right image through the use of a diverging lens in the<br />
eyepiece. This invention marked a turning point in the life of Galileo.The<br />
advantages of a large refractor telescope in front of a large telescope reflection.<br />
The refracting telescope is in what most people think of when you hear the word<br />
"telescope". A large end optical lens is used to focus the light to a much smaller<br />
extent at the other end, enlarging the image and making dark objects appear
ighter in the night sky. While refraction model has some inherent limitations<br />
to the size scale of observation, a great refractor telescope has some advantages<br />
over a large reflecting telescope.<br />
Easeofuse<br />
A refractor telescope is a very simple device, and use one to scan the night sky<br />
is simple and intuitive. The objective lens, the big at the end of the telescope<br />
lens, is fixed in place and does not require adjustments. Any approach occurs in<br />
the eye, where the hand and the user's attention is fixed in any case. A reflecting<br />
telescope optics, on the other hand, needs to be calibrated regularly to avoid a<br />
serious degradation of the image.<br />
Durability<br />
Despite the fragile lenses involved, a refractor telescope is tough enough. A<br />
large telescope objective lens is made of a glass is much more dense than the<br />
thin material of a reflector telescope, so it is more likely that it will survive<br />
intact to minor accidents. The sealed tube also protects the optics inside of that<br />
dirty, while reflection telescopes often require a complex cleaning of indoor<br />
optical mirrors. This can be especially difficult for large telescopes, lenses can<br />
be extremely difficult to reach from outside.<br />
Imagequality<br />
On the scale of a large amateur telescope, the method of collection of light in a<br />
refractive telescope has a couple of major advantages over a reflecting<br />
telescope. The reflector telescope will suffer a certain loss of light due to the<br />
diagonally tilted secondary mirror obstruction. This means that dark objects<br />
tend to look brighter on a refractor telescope. The sealed tube also eliminates<br />
some potential sources of distortion of the image, such as rebel air currents,<br />
which the reflecting telescopes must fight.<br />
DIYtelescopes<br />
In general, a lens of soil is a more indulgent piece of a home mirror optics. Small<br />
errors will be less visible in a lens as a mirror, where slight variations can result<br />
in a great loss of image quality. Therefore, very useful for the large reflecting<br />
telescopes lenses can grind glass porthole, making this design a popular choice<br />
for fans who wish to build your own telescope at home.<br />
Rayos X<br />
In its more than eight years in orbit, the telescope space-based X-ray of the<br />
European Space Agency (ESA), XMM-Newton, has changed our view of the<br />
universe. XMM-Newton has revealed the importance of the black holes as<br />
"engines" energy of the galaxies; has helped us to understand the stellar
On August 21,<br />
scarcely finished<br />
its second<br />
telescope (eight<br />
increases) ,<br />
presents it to the<br />
Senate of<br />
Venice.<br />
The<br />
Demonstration<br />
takes place in<br />
the<br />
top of the<br />
Campanile of<br />
the<br />
square of San<br />
corpses neutron stars, supernova remnants; has<br />
observed galaxies in the early universe; has discovered<br />
phenomena all new.<br />
X-ray astronomy is the study of astronomical objects<br />
at X-ray wavelengths. Typically, X-ray radiation is<br />
Marco.<br />
The<br />
produced by synchrotron<br />
emission (the result of<br />
electrons orbiting magnetic<br />
field lines), thermal<br />
emission from thin gases<br />
above 10 (10 million)<br />
kelvins, and thermal<br />
emission from thick gases<br />
above 10 Kelvin. Since X-rays are absorbed by the<br />
Earth's atmosphere, all X-ray observations must be<br />
performed from high-altitude balloons, rockets, or<br />
spacecraft. Notable X-ray<br />
sources include X-ray binaries, pulsars, supernova<br />
remnants, elliptical galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and<br />
active galactic nuclei.<br />
X-rays were first observed and documented in 1895 by<br />
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, a German scientist who found them when<br />
experimenting with vacuum tubes. Through a series of experiments, Röntgen<br />
was able to discover the beginning elements of radiation. The "X", in fact, holds<br />
its own significance, as it represents Röntgen's inability to identify exactly the<br />
type of radiation.
Stellar astronomy<br />
At a distance of about eight light-minutes, the most frequently studied star is the<br />
Sun, a typical main-sequence dwarf star of stellar class G2 V, and about 4.6<br />
billion years (Gyr) old. The Sun is not considered a variable star, but it does<br />
undergo periodic changes in activity known as the sunspot cycle. This is an<br />
11year fluctuation in sunspot numbers. Sunspots are regions of lower-thanaverage<br />
temperatures that are associated with intense magnetic activity.
The Sun has steadily increased in luminosity over the course of its life,<br />
increasing by 40% since it first became a main-sequence star. The Sun has also<br />
undergone periodic changes in<br />
luminosity that can have a<br />
significant impact on the Earth.<br />
The Maunder minimum,<br />
for example, is believed to have<br />
caused the Little Ice Age<br />
phenomenon during the<br />
Middle Ages.<br />
The visible outer surface of the<br />
Sun is called the photosphere.<br />
Above this layer is a thin region<br />
known as the chromosphere.<br />
This is surrounded by a<br />
transition region of rapidly increasing temperatures,<br />
and finally by the super-heated corona.<br />
At the center of the Sun is the core region, a volume of sufficient temperature<br />
and pressure for nuclear fusion to occur. Above the core is theradiation zone,<br />
where the plasma conveys the energy flux by means of radiation. Above that<br />
are the outer layers that form a convection zonewhere the gas material transports<br />
energy primarily through physical displacement of the gas. It is believed that<br />
this convection zone creates the magnetic activity that generates sun spots. A<br />
solar wind of plasma particles constantly streams outward from the Sun until,<br />
at the outermost limit of the solar system, it reaches theheliopause. This solar<br />
wind interacts with the magnetosphere of the Earth to create the Van Allen<br />
radiation belts about the Earth, as well as the aurora where the lines of the<br />
Earth's magnetic field descend into the atmosphere.<br />
Radio astronomy<br />
Radio astronomy studies<br />
radiation with wavelengths<br />
greater than approximately<br />
one millimeter. Radio astronomy is<br />
different from most other forms of<br />
observational astronomy in that the<br />
observed radio waves can be treated as<br />
waves rather than as discrete photons.<br />
Hence, it is relatively easier to measure
oth the amplitude and phase of radio waves, whereas this is not as easily<br />
done at shorter wavelengths.<br />
Although some radio waves are produced by astronomical objects in the form<br />
of thermal emission, most of the radio emission that is observed from Earth is<br />
the result of synchrotron radiation, which is produced<br />
when electrons orbit magnetic fields. Additionally, a number of spectral lines<br />
produced by<br />
interstellar gas, notably<br />
the hydrogen spectral line<br />
at 21 cm, are observable<br />
at radio wavelengths. A<br />
wide variety of objects<br />
are observable at radio<br />
wavelengths,<br />
including supernovae,<br />
interstellar gas, pulsars,<br />
and active galactic
Understanding our world: the importance of<br />
astronomy today.<br />
"They say that astronomy is the oldest science. There is no doubt that a look at<br />
the majestic Milky spreading across the sky on a clear night, it must have<br />
amazed people of all ages and cultures. Nowadays, astronomy stands out as one<br />
of the most modern and dynamic, sciences that uses some of the most advanced<br />
technologies and the most sophisticated techniques available to scientists. These<br />
are exciting for astronomy times, because technology allows us to study objects<br />
in the distant corners of the universe and detect evidence of planets around other<br />
stars. "We can begin to answer a fundamental question that fascinates each one<br />
of us: are we alone in the universe?"<br />
These are the words of Tim de Zeeuw, Director General of the European<br />
Southern Observatory ESO, in a magazine<br />
titled "A universe of discovery", and posted<br />
that on the occasion of its 50 years of<br />
existence. This publication presents, in a 48-<br />
page full-color, past and present<br />
achievements as the future prospects of this<br />
successful European international<br />
organization, which manages a total of three<br />
cutting-edge astronomical observatories in<br />
Chile. In the following I would like to quote<br />
some other paragraphs of the same<br />
magazine, for its general<br />
meaning: "Astronomers tackle<br />
key issues that challenge our<br />
minds and our imagination. How were the<br />
planets formed? How did life on Earth<br />
develop? Is life in the universe omnipresent? How are galaxies formed?<br />
What is dark matter and dark energy?"<br />
"Astronomy is a science modern and high technology that explores the space<br />
that surrounds us and tries to explain the amazing processes that take place in<br />
this huge volume. "Studying our beginning and tries to predict the future of our<br />
Solar system, our Galaxy, the milky way, as well as the entire universe."<br />
"Astronomy is a science of extreme conditions. Works with larger distances,<br />
longer periods of time, more massive objects, higher temperatures, more intense<br />
electric and magnetic fields, higher and lower densities and known extreme<br />
energies."
"Astronomy is a physical science which is based on observations. With the<br />
exception of some bodies of the Solar system, we can not touch objects that we<br />
investigate. We interpret the phenomena observed through the application of<br />
our knowledge of natural laws."<br />
"To enable these<br />
observations,<br />
astronomy employs<br />
some of the<br />
instruments and more<br />
sophisticated methods ever<br />
designed by human beings.<br />
High technology plays a<br />
very important role in<br />
astronomy." "Astronomy is<br />
an integral part of our<br />
culture and is a powerful<br />
representation of<br />
our inherent curiosity and desire to learn more about our environment. Now that<br />
we have explored most of the Earth's surface, the astronomy is exploring the<br />
vast Terra Incognita that surrounds us."<br />
"It also contributes to better understanding our fragile environment and the<br />
extraordinary fact of life possible on Earth. Through astronomy we have been<br />
able to truly appreciate how precarious is our position in the universe." "It<br />
provides also the necessary framework for future expeditions and the possible<br />
expansion of the human species through space. Investigating the conditions<br />
prevailing there outside, we prepare the tasks of the next generations."<br />
"Observe distant galaxies means looking back in time, sometimes almost to the<br />
beginning of the universe itself, when time began." It means studying the<br />
universe, how they formed the stars and the planets, including the Earth has<br />
evolved. Astronomy is the study of the origins. It is also the study of apocalyptic<br />
events. And great mysteries. However and above all, is the boldest attempt of<br />
mankind to understand the world in which we live."<br />
The future of astronomy<br />
Understanding our world: the importance of the is dangerous speculation about<br />
what will happen. I told the Danish physicist Niels Bohr: "prediction is very<br />
difficult, especially if it comes to the future". But on the other hand, it is true
that we all have in mind some schema, a point of view of how it will be the<br />
future of our profession.<br />
The astronomers saw, during the twentieth century, radical changes in the way<br />
of doing astronomy. The most important change had to do with the opening of<br />
the windows "invisible" of the electromagnetic spectrum. Let me explain this.<br />
Through the centuries, the astronomical observations were made with the first<br />
eye (for example, in the ancient Mesoamerican civilizations) and then using<br />
telescopes. In 1609 Galileo knew the invention of the telescope and was built<br />
one, starting to be observed in the heavens. He soon discovered many things.<br />
The Moon was not the perfect sphere that until then it was believed, but that<br />
was full of craters. Galileo discovered many things, including that to Jupiter,<br />
and was accompanied by several satellites.<br />
Since Galileo, until the early 1930s, the whole astronomy was made by<br />
observing the light that reaches us from the stars. What is light? The light is a<br />
form of energy that travels through space at great speed; its speed is<br />
approximately 300,000 kilometers per second. If a cosmic body emits light<br />
(for example, a star) we can, based on the discovery of such light, not only<br />
know the form of the body, but also to determine many things, such as its<br />
temperature, its<br />
chemical<br />
composition, and so<br />
on. Our eye is sensitive<br />
to light and for a<br />
long time human<br />
beings believed<br />
that light was the<br />
only form of energy<br />
with these<br />
characteristics. But the<br />
studies of the Scottish<br />
physicist James Clerk<br />
Maxwell was clear, in the nineteenth century,<br />
that the light was part of a general phenomenon, only one of the many waves<br />
emitted by celestial bodies.