Astronomy

Astronomy is the study of science of all the celestial bodies in the universe: planets, stars, galaxies etc., their origin, behavior, compositions and physical effects.

The origin of astronomy (often intermingle with astrology) was conceived since prehistoric times, perhaps around 5000 BC with the Chaldeans and Mesopotamia. It was discovered by the ancients that the celestial bodies exhibited some regularities of behavior and form certain identifiable patterns. These bodies can be grouped together to form constellations. Indeed, detailed constellation maps were already compiled by several civilizations such as the Babylonians, Egyptians, Maya and the Chinese.

However, astronomy was greatly advanced by Copernicus (1473-1543), a Polish Mathematician. Although his theory was not entirely correct, he wrote that the Earth is orbiting round the Sun, instead of the other way round. His idea was supported by few others, notably J. Kepler (1571-1630), a German mathematician, who discovered the laws of planetary motions.

However, astronomy took another great leap when Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who also believed the theory of Copernicus, pointed his telescope, a new invention from Holland, at the sky. Among many other celestial features, he discovered craters and mountains on the moon, four satellites orbit the planet Jupiter and rings of planet Saturn. The use of telescopes open up a new chapter on astronomy and have become indispensible tools for astronomers to study celestial objects in great details.

    

                                                               Sentences

1.-Copernicus changed the way of thinking, not only astronomically but also religiously. This was because the Catholic teachings were based on the theory.

2.-

• Kepler create the three laws of planetary:
  
  1. The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at a focus.
  2. A line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time.
  3. The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

  3.-Edwin Hubble was the first to demonstrate the existence of other galaxies besides the Milky Way, profoundly changing the way we look at the universe.

  4.- William Herschel was the founder of sidereal astronomyfor the systematic observation of the heavens. 

  5.-in 1929, Edwin Hubble demonstrated that the universe was expanding, (considered by many as one of the most important cosmological discoveries ever made), and formulated what is now known as Hubble's Law to show that the other galaxies are moving away from the Milky Way at a speed directly proportionate to their distance from it.