Discovery of the Universe: An Outline of the History of Astronomy from the Origins to 1956

Physics Today ◽  
1957 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 38-40
Author(s):  
Gérard de Vaucouleurs ◽  
C. C. Kiess
Keyword(s):  
History Of Astronomy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe

Discovering the Universe. A History of Astronomy. Colin A. Ronan

Isis ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-110
Author(s):  
Victor E. Thoren
Keyword(s):  
History Of Astronomy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe

scholarly journals 'Absurd' Rationalist Cosmology: Copernicus, Kepler, Descartes and the Religious Basis for the end to Aristotelian Dogma

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Nicholas Smit-Keding
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Rene Descartes ◽  
World View ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
History Of Astronomy ◽  
Johannes Kepler ◽  
René Descartes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nicholas Copernicus ◽  
The Universe

Current popular narratives regarding the history of astronomy espouse the narrative of scientific development arising from clashes between observed phenomena and dogmatic religious scripture. Such narratives consider the development of our understandings of the cosmos as isolated episodes in ground-breaking, world-view shifting events, led by rational, objective and secular observers. As observation of astronomical development in the early 1600s shows, however, such a narrative is false. Developments by Johannes Kepler, for instance, followed earlier efforts by Nicholas Copernicus to refine Aristotelian-based dogma with observed phenomena. Kepler's efforts specifically were not meant to challenge official Church teachings, but offer a superior system to what was than available, based around theological justifications. Popular acceptance of a heliocentric model came not from Kepler's writings, but from the philosophical teachings of Rene Descartes. Through strictly mathematical and philosophical reasoning, Descartes not only rendered the Aristotelian model baseless in society, but also provided a cosmological understanding of the universe that centred our solar system within a vast expanse of other stars. The shift than, from the Aristotelian geocentric model to the heliocentric model, came not from clashes between theology and reason, but from negotiations between theology and observed phenomena. 

scholarly journals The universe is here

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S260) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika L. Antiche Garzón
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology ◽  
History Of Astronomy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe

AbstractAstronomy is a science devoted to the study of what existed, exists and will exist, from the most elemental particle to the most massive and powerful galaxy one observes. The study of the universe is not only meant to be to achieve an important understanding about it, but also in other fields of science and technology. The most important contribution from astronomy is perhaps social: it fascinates millions of people along the globe. The history of astronomy carries along the very history of humankind.

scholarly journals Large Synoptic Survey Telescope: From science drivers to reference design

2008 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Ivezic ◽  
T. Axelrod ◽  
W.N. Brandt ◽  
D.L. Burke ◽  
C.F. Claver ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Domain ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Fast Time ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
History Of Astronomy ◽  
Baseline Design ◽  
Special Programs ◽  
Reference Design ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe

In the history of astronomy, major advances in our understanding of the Universe have come from dramatic improvements in our ability to accurately measure astronomical quantities. Aided by rapid progress in information technology, current sky surveys are changing the way we view and study the Universe. Next- generation surveys will maintain this revolutionary progress. We focus here on the most ambitious survey currently planned in the visible band, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: constraining dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. It will be a large, wide-field ground-based system designed to obtain multiple images covering the sky that is visible from Cerro Pachon in Northern Chile. The current baseline design, with an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg2 field of view, and a 3,200 Megapixel camera, will allow about 10,000 square degrees of sky to be covered using pairs of 15-second exposures in two photometric bands every three nights on average. The system is designed to yield high image quality, as well as superb astrometric and photometric accuracy. The survey area will include 30,000 deg2 with ? < +34.5? , and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, ugrizy, covering the wavelength range 320-1050 nm. About 90% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep- wide-fast survey mode which will observe a 20,000 deg2 region about 1000 times in the six bands during the anticipated 10 years of operation. These data will result in databases including 10 billion galaxies and a similar number of stars, and will serve the majority of science programs. The remaining 10% of the observing time will be allocated to special programs such as Very Deep and Very Fast time domain surveys. We describe how the LSST science drivers led to these choices of system parameters.

scholarly journals The Universe in Images: an Art-Historical Approach to the Plurality of Worlds

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1 and 2) ◽  
pp. 283-303
Author(s):  
Lucia Ayala
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Extrasolar Planets ◽  
History Of Astronomy ◽  
Modern Cosmology ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
William Herschel ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Special Relevance

The idea of a plurality of worlds, consolidated in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is one of the most inspiring and exciting chapters in the history of astronomy. Nevertheless, one crucial aspect has yet to be written. In this paper I propose to recompose the fascinating visual mosaic around the subject, in order to establish the basis for a largely forgotten iconography. It represents a key period in the evolution of the notions around the large-scale structure of the universe, one of the milestones in Early Modern cosmology. This tradition continued until the nineteenth century, when astronomers such as William Herschel still considered the existence of multiple similar inhabited systems. Today, when extrasolar planets and the cosmic web are in the forefront of the astrophysical vocabulary and its images are so popular, reflecting on the visual genealogy of this field acquires special relevance. This paper invites the reader to look at the sky through a telescope provided with art historical lenses.

scholarly journals Pendidikan Ilmu Astronomi Dari Historis Sampai Heliosentris

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-110
Author(s):  
Nabil Nabil
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Dark Matter ◽  
Dark Energy ◽  
Human Life ◽  
History Of Astronomy ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Origin Of The Universe

Science in human life is very important to illuminate every walk of life, both physical (material) and metaphysical (immaterial). The universe was born millions and even billions of years ago, so many astronomical physicists calculate the origin of the universe, so the creation of the theory of bigbang, black holes, dark energy, dark matter, newton gravity, etc. Astronomy is important in teaching to know the phenomena of the universe (general), and to know times of worship (specifically). Before entering the science, it is better to know the history of astronomy, both the history of theory, and the figures then the hierarchy between geocentric and heliocentric in several views, both from the view of a character, as well as the view of the scriptures. Indeed, when humans think about the universe, in this case about the center of the universe there will be a hierarchy with the scriptures. This is a matter between different reason and revelation. Therefore, in this paper I touch on the issue of Heliocentric and Geocentric. And do not forget the astronomical figures from the West and East.

Benjamin Apthorp Gould and the Founding of the Argentine National Observatory

1971 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Hodge
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Major Change ◽  
History Of Astronomy ◽  
National Observatory ◽  
Great Work ◽  
History Of ◽  
Entire History ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Shape And Size

The nineteenth century witnessed the first major change in astronomy since the birth of the science in antiquity. With the exception, in the eighteenth century, of William Herschel's great work in the course of which he speculated on the origin, composition and shape of the universe itself, man's concern with the heavens had been limited to plotting and cataloguing the positions and the movements of the stars and planets. The entire history of astronomy had consisted of more and more accurate observations of the solar system and the stars within our own galaxy, although only the haziest notions of the shape and size of that “island universe” were entertained by thoughtful astronomers.

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