...February 19, 2012 The McDonald Observatory The McDonald Observatory is located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. This observatory was constructed in the 1930s. The initial funding for construction came from Texan banker, William Johnson McDonald, who left provisions in his will that $800,000 be donated to the University of Texas at Austin in order to construct an astronomical observatory. This structure which is open to the public sees more than 60,000 visitors each year. Likewise, the observatory has been the center of attraction for many astronomers, and its numerous resources have also contributed to the discovery and continuous research of many astronomic phenomena. The McDonald Observatory is presently the property of the University of Texas at Austin and currently receives most of its funding from them. It operates four research telescopes. One of the most pronounced features attached to the observatory is Otto Struve Telescope. When this telescope was dedicated in 1939 it was then the second biggest telescope in the world. Two other telescope note mentioning are the Harlan J. Smith Telescope (named after once director of the observatory, Harlan J. Smith), and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (known to be the fifth largest telescope in the world). The Hobby-Eberly is arguably the observatory’s most prized possession. This powerful telescope specializes in spectroscopy which enables astronomers to get a glimpse at stars, planets, and galaxies located...
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...Expert Committee Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies CRAF Expert Committee Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies What is the Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies? Established in 1988, the Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies (CRAF) represents all the major radio astronomical observatories in Europe. Its mission is to coordinate the protection of the frequency bands used by radio astronomers in Europe to keep them free from interference. This task will remain indispensable for astronomical science in the foreseeable future. The committee’s pursuit of this goal is becoming increasingly difficult because of the steady increase in global use of the electromagnetic spectrum for both terrestrial and space-borne communications such as mobile telephones. CRAF is working to address this issue by coordinating a common policy on spectrum protection for the European research communities in radio astronomy, passive remote sensing and related sciences; representing this policy and these communities in interactions with the relevant national and supranational entities at the European and international level; and initiating and encouraging scientific studies aimed at reducing interference and the effects of interference at source. At the European level, the committee plays a key role in defining, coordinating and articulating the frequency needs of the radio astronomy community. CRAF is an Expert Committee of the European Science Foundation (ESF). The ESF is an independent...
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...for its comprehension. Hundreds if not thousands of astronomers throughout the ages added some valuable pieces of information to astronomical big picture. As Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin brilliantly putted in her 1976 speech " [...] The old scientist cannot claim that the masterpiece is his own work. He may have roughed of part of the design, laid on a few strokes , but he has learned to accept the discoveries of others with the same delight that he experienced on his own[...] (Astronomy Today, Chap. 16, p 383) What we know today about the universe is a collective work of many generation of dedicated man and woman who continue to add new insight of astronomy great spectrum of universe. Some scholars may add a little, some may add a lot, yet some may change our understanding of a matter in question. Such man were Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton. Those man are credited with revolutionizing the study of astronomy. The heliocentric theory formulated by Copernicus caused strong turmoil within astronomy, physics and cosmology. Many man of science considered it as contrary to Aristotle’s physics and the Bible. However, some astronomers were engaged in...
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...Electromagnetic Fields, Telescopes and Black Holes Astronomy is defined as the scientific study of the universe and the objects in it, including stars, planets, nebulae, and galaxies. Astronomy deals with the position, size, motion, composition, energy, and evolution of celestial objects. Astronomers analyze not only visible light but also radio waves, x-rays, and other ranges of radiation that come from sources outside the Earth's atmosphere (American Heritage Dictionary, 2002). This particular assignment required we visit an institution that specializes in the education of astronomy so that we, as students, could delve deeper into the world of astronomy through hands on experience. I elected to visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on the 4th of July 2012. I also viewed the film Black Holes the Edge of Infinity in addition to the hands on exercise. I feel a new appreciation for astronomy through the interactive learning experience because it put how very far we’ve come to understanding our universe into perspective. The first exhibit I visited had to do with the four nonvisible wave lengths of light and telescopes. I integrated the two exhibits so that I can elaborate on them in a way that culminates the experience. For every nonvisible wave measured there is a corresponding telescope. These are radio waves, infrared, ultraviolet, and gamma ray. Because radio waves are larger than optical waves, radio telescopes work differently than optical telescopes. Radio telescopes...
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...Earth-bound vs Space-based Telescopes Why construct and operate telescopes in Earth orbit ? To address this question, contrast the advantages and disadvantages of telescopes on the ground and in space. Keep in mind that the Hubble Space Telescope is NOT the only space telescope. Advantages: • Orbiting telescopes are NOT affected by the image smearing caused by Earth’s atmospheric motions, hence they can produce much “sharper” images The Hubble Telescope records optical images with a resolution as sharp as 0.05 arc seconds. • Space-based telescopes can collect energy from the entire electromagnetic spectrum, not just the portion that passes through our atmosphere. New “windows” on the cosmos are open to our view. • Day and night are not the same in orbit as on the ground, permitting telescopes to observe for much longer times at some locations on the sky. Disadvantages: • Telescopes on the ground can be built with much larger mirrors. Compare the Keck telescope’s 10-meter mirror with Hubble’s 2.4 meter mirror. Placing massive objects in orbit remains an expensive proposition. The largest optical and radio telescopes are still Earth-bound. • Ground-based telescopes don’t move at 5 km/sec, don’t have to carry their own power source and communications gear, and don’t need to worry about orbiting debris crashing into them. These “features” drive up the cost of designing, launching and operating space-based telescopes. • Ground-based telescopes...
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...Astronomy of the Cosmos – the last frontier, and the data that supports our incessant desire to obtain knowledge about the universe is causing a surge in data storage, replication, and the need for more. How will this community of scientists and engineers deal with what to keep, what not to keep, and how to keep it when it comes to the vast array of data required our use? An Astronomical Surge of Data Degradation in performance should not be the expected course when saving such data. One cannot simply expect that by adding infrastructure as usage increases (common in commercial business enterprises) the problem will be solved. Because astronomy archives generally operate on limited budgets that are fixed for several years, any changes in computer architecture would have to be foreseen and budgeted years early. More so, who do you plan for new discoveries? The current data-access and computing model used in astronomy will be insufficient for future use at the rate it is being collected. Currently, data is downloaded from archives to a local machine to be analyzed. This is done on a very large scale in order to be made accessible to end users. Data discovery, access, and processing are likely to be distributed across several archives (an archive of data warehousing). Given that the maximum that science return will yield from this “federation of data” i.e. multiple archives, a broad wavelength range will be required. Astronomy data is collected and archived in Petabytes...
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...Inventions and Discoveries Paper Ryan Fagen University of Phoenix HIS 458 January 30, 2013 Stephanie Fink De Backer Inventions and Discoveries Paper The invention of the telescope and the microscope has led to many great discoveries that have been of great significance to us, the human race. First we will take a look at the telescope and provide some significant examples. Second we will look at the discoveries that came from the invention of the microscope and the impact they both had on our development as humans and our place in the universe. In addition to providing examples of significant discoveries, I will offer my opinion as to why these discoveries challenged traditions and changed society as a whole. The National Geographic Society (1996) website, since the first telescope was invented, there has been much advancement in the design and the types of telescopes used. Besides the early refracting telescope used by Galileo or the more modern reflecting telescope used by Hubble, the telescope has changed the way look at the cosmos and what we know of the universe. Telescopes are classified by the task performed. Some names given to the different types of telescopes are astrograph, comet seeker, graphic telescope infrared telescope, solar telescope, space telescope, or zenith telescope The invention of the telescope in the 17th century has brought forth many significant discoveries but none more significant then that of the Earth, Moon and other planets orbit around...
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...The Heroic Mind of Galileo Galilei As a heroic mastermind, Galileo Galilei, born February 15. 2015 grew up living in Pisa. Italy. Growing up Galileo lived with his parents Vincenzo Galilei and Guilia Ammannati, as he up his intelligence widen forward into the subject of Mathematics. As he grew up he attended a university in Pisa, Italy. Stretching out his heroic abilities, he ran into ideas that he knew no one could possibly believe but never that of these plans before. Galileo Galilei is a Hero because he makes the Enlightenment theory become more focused in on the actual idea that everyone thinks is an theory that cannot be actually explained in the least ways and he proves them wrong by going to the top of Pisa Tower in Italy to prove is relevant studies. One of the three reasons that Galileo Galilei is an important figure is because inventing the world's first telescope dwelling in on scientific reason dropping balls at the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, Leading the modern day people today to believe that heavier objects fall faster than the lighter ones. This theory was called the Copernicus theory that once was made up a man named Nicolaus Copernicus, who posed the theory that the hat the Sun is at rest near the center of the Universe, and that the Earth, spinning on its axis once daily, revolves annually around the Sun. This is called the heliocentric, or Sun-centered, system. Galileo took this theory upon his self to study and magnify even the smallest...
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...(wikipedia) Ancient Egypt’s direct ties to Astrology have proven itself many times. The famous pyramids of ancient Egypt are said to map out (or indicate to) different constellations. The pyramids of Giza, for example, are believed to map out the three stars in the belt of the constellation named Z. Nyajeka Page Two Orion. Other pyramids were said to have been aligned towards the pole star. It has also been discovered that The Great Temple was aligned on the rising of the midwinter sun. These are just architectural designs that directly showed the importance of astrology during these times. (astronomy) However, astrology was not just used for things like time and the occurrences in the natural world, it was also used widely in Egyptian religions. The ancient Egyptians often used the stars to decide when to time events, such as festivals and celebrations. (astronomy) Though Egyptians did invent basic Astrology, the Babylonians perfected the practice. Whilst being credited as the creators of an organized system of astrology, the Babylonians acted as if the stars and planets were living creatures (or gods) traveling through the night sky. Of every planet, five were recognized and named as gods of the Babylonian pantheon. Jupiter was Marduk, Venus was Ishtar, Saturn was Ninurta, Mercury was Nabu, and Mars was Nergal. The sun and moon were also acknowledged, as the moon-god Sin and the sun-god Shamash. (babylonian) To the Babylonians, unlike the ancient Egyptians...
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...Telescopes in Astronomy SCI151 October 08, 2012 Telescopes in Astronomy Telescopes were thought to be created in the year 1608; the earliest known refracting telescopes were created using a tube with a convex objective lens with a concave eyepiece. These devices were designed to assist users in gaining a better view of things that were further away. Initially they were primarily used aboard sea going vessels it was eventually found that they can also view things such as the moon, stars and anything in the heavens much more closely. Unfortunately back in the early 17th century the telescopes were not that powerful and it was not until the mid 17th century that more powerful telescopes were being built. Later astronomers realized that if you build a strong enough telescope and place them in the right spot the view of the night sky could be scientifically spectacular. * How Telescopes Changed Our Lives * Telescopes have been an instrumental tool for how astronomers view the stars, ever since Galileo used his in 1609 to look towards the sky and study the moon and the Milky Way galaxy as whole, the world was forever changed. It was with these devices that we learned that the earth is not the center of the solar system or the universe. With telescopes we learned that the moon has craters and mountains, and that Jupiter has storms and that other planets also have their own distinct weather patterns. With newer and more powerful telescopes we learned that there...
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...Astronomy is a natural science that is the study of celestial objects (such as moons, planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies), thephysics, chemistry, mathematics, and evolution of such objects, and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth, including supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, and cosmic background radiation. A related but distinct subject, cosmology, is concerned with studying the universe as a whole.[1]Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. Prehistoric cultures left behind astronomical artifacts such as the Egyptian monuments andNubian monuments, and early civilizations such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese, Indians, Iranians and Maya performed methodical observations of the night sky. However, the invention of the telescope was required before astronomy was able to develop into a modern science. Historically, astronomy has included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, and the making of calendars, but professional astronomy is nowadays often considered to be synonymous with astrophysics.[2]During the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects, which is then analyzed using basic principles of physics. Theoretical astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. The two fields...
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...During the Scientific Revolution scientists such as Galileo, Copernicus, Descartes and Bacon wrestled with questions about God, human aptitude, and the possibilities of understanding the world. Eventually, the implications of the new scientific findings began to affect the way people thought and behaved throughout Europe. Society began to question the authority of traditional knowledge about the universe. This in turn, allowed them to question traditional views of the state and social order. No longer was the world constructed as the somewhat simple Ptolemaic Model suggested. The Earth for the first time became explicable and was no longer the center of the universe. Many beliefs that had been held for hundreds of years now proved to be false. In addition to this, the Roman Catholic Church, which had always clarified the movements of the universe with the divine power of God, was now questioned by many. The Roman Catholic Church was naturally set as an opponent of the Scientific Revolution, not so much because of opposition to new ideas but instead because the new information contradicted the model of the world the church had created. Fortunately the revolution did not happen overnight but moderately over a 150-year period. Nicolaus Copernicus was one of the first astronomers to question the single worldview that the Christian faith supported. Though it was in the later years of his life that the he published On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres, the question was now raised...
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...Studying the Stars: How the Telescope Changed Astronomy As long as humans have been able to see, they have looked at the stars with either with worship or with wonder. The earliest cultures of humanity created their deities from the heavens, most of which were seating upon the glowing specks of light that show through the black night sky. Humans only have a few senses that let them interact with and receive information from the environment, sight being the most useful. Trying to figure out what something far away is, in a star’s case, far enough away to make a giant ball of burning helium look like a speck, is something that requires a tool. Telescopes were the first tool that really helped humans see into the heavens, letting them study the stars and the ‘wanderers’ which eventually were found out to be planets moving around the sun (although at the time they were discovered, it was thought that everything revolved around the earth); albeit all of these stars and planets were discovered before Galileo’s telescope. The tool still helped gain better calculations of the stars, which helped Galileo support Nicolaus Copernicus’ heliocentric (sun-centered) solar system as opposed to the geocentric (earth-centered) solar system that people in those times believed. With Isaac Newton, one of the most famous physicists, discovering most of laws of motion through his studies in astronomy, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, one of the greatest works in the Scientific Revolution...
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...well, his observations about sea organisms like Octopus, cuttlefish were accurate and fact on those early times. Arsitotle first segregated the genera of living organisms, categorized the animals into two categories. He also had contribution in Metrology. * Aristarchus (310-230 BC) He was one of the great astronomer and mathematician of the Greece history. He was the first one to give the concept of sun as center of the universe. He claimed that sun is the main source of flame. He contributed towards calculating the distance between sun and moon. He was strong in geometry in give resources and knowledge of that time, but his research and work on astronomy made the base for today’s advancements in this field. * Nicolas Copernicus (1473 – 1543) Nicola Copernicus was also one of the leading contributors of astronomy and a great mathematician, he sketched the universe with earth and sun published in his book De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium. His book was a significant contribution in the scientific revolution. Copernicus was born in royal Prussia, he was a polyglot and polymath, he attained doctorate in canon law. He was a physician and scholar, economist, diplomat, translator...
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...Objective: This lab is to use the internet to find out about telescopes and observatories in the US. Show space images and what was found to be interesting about them and also give information on a space mission. The Otto Struve Telescope is a part of the McDonald Observatory. It is located in the Davis Mountains in West Texas. The Otto Struve is operated by University of Texas astronomers and graduate students; along with other researchers from other institutions. The telescope is 45tons, has a diameter of 19meters (82ft.), and it has a visible light. Not only did it contain the 82inch (2.1 meter) telescope, which is what this telescope was known as before its name, it housed living and sleeping quarters for the astronomers who used and a library – then it was the second largest in the world. Otto Struve made the discovery of Uranus’ fifth moon, Miranda; it also discovered Neptune’s second-largest moon, Neveid. The Star V838 Monocerotis, I found to be interesting because it was a simple cream like swirled color and just the middle was a distinct red spot. This Nebula stood out to me because my favorit color is green and this is a very bright green formation. The Mars Polar Lander/ Deep Space 2 had a mission target of landing on Mars. The mission ended on December 03, 1999. The instruments that the spacecraft carried were: 1. Mars volatiles and climate surveyor (MVACS) 2. Mars descent imager (MARDI) 3. Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) 4. Mars microphone...
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