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The universe was once a vast uncharted area; an area of the unknown. People looked up to the sky in wonder and awe, curious as to what was beyond Earth. What were those lights in the sky? Where did they come from? How did they get there? As time has passed, the universe made up of stars and planets has evolved. What we did not know before, we know now, our cosmos has changed immensely, transforming into what we now call our solar system.
Before people had the knowledge and technology we have today, the heavenly skies were an area of endless speculation and inspiration. People from all around the world created their own myths and explanations about the cosmos and the celestial bodies within it. Roughly six thousand years in the past, the Sumerians had the belief that Earth lied in the center of the universe. The Babylonians and Greek civilizations further carried this same belief into their centuries, depicting the heavenly skies as a cosmos revolving around the earth.
Looking back into history, the Greeks were the first to put forward the idea that planet Earth was a sphere (now known as an oblate ellipsoid). Then around 340 BC, a Greek philosopher named Aristotle made the discovery of a few of our most influential and fundamental theories that helped to further prove this idea. Aristotle first proposed that one always witnesses the sails of a ship approaching past the horizon first and then its framework. This suggested that the surface of the ocean must be curved and not flat as it was once thought to be. Secondly, Aristotle discovered that the eclipses of the moon were generated by the shadow that Earth casted on it. This further proved the point that if the Earth was flat, the shadow it casted upon the Moon would not app...
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...years later that non-uniformity in the antediluvian commenced the formation of galaxies and ancient stars out of pouches of gas condensing due to gravity. Approximately five billion years ago, such pouches of gas that resided in a spiral channel of the MIlky Way Galaxy formed the Sun. An immense circle of gas and refuse that was whirling around the ancient Sun formed to the planets, Earth included, which is predictably 4.6 to 4.5 billion years old.
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"Big Bang Theory - An Overview." All About Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2011.
Cessna, Abby. "Heliocentric Model." Universe Today. N.p., 22 June 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2011.
"Isaac Newton." Scientists: Their Lives and Works. Gale, 2006. Gale Biography. Dec. 2011.
"The Universe." The Big View. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2011.
Many of the heavenly bodies were considered to be the representations of deities. The master of reason, Aristotle, stated once long ago that everything was made of only five elements the final being what makes up the heavenly bodies, after all they lacked the proper technologies to know differently. It was Galileo in 1610, using his telescope, that found dark spots on the sun. So as technological innovations occur our understanding of physics and astronomy grow. Newton in 1687 discovered the laws of gravity, suggested that all the solar and stellar bodies operated the same.
Throughout history there has always been discussions and theories as to how the universe came to be. Where did it come from? How did it happen? Was it through God that the universe was made? These philosophies have been discussed and rejected and new theories have been created. I will discuss three theories from our studies, Kalam’s Cosmological Argument, Aquinas’s Design Argument, and Paley’s Design Argument. In this article, I will discuss the arguments and what these arguments state as their belief. A common belief from these three theories is that the universe is not infinite, meaning that the universe was created and has a beginning date. Each believe that there was a God, deity, or master creator that created the universe for a reason. They also believe that
Impey, Chris. How It Began: A Time-traveler's Guide to the Universe. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 123+. Print.
Have you ever wondered who discovered that the sun is the center of our universe? If so, the answer is Nicolai Copernicus. This man was a well-respected as well as well educated man. He explored many different subjects including mathematics, medicine, canon law, and his favorite astronomy. The Earth-centered universe of Aristotle and Ptolemy were Western thinking for almost 2000 years until the 16th century when Copernicus proposed his theory.
For over a hundred years now a battle has been raging over the origin of the Universe and man. Soldiers of Science have drawn the battle lines with each side using various scientific and non - scientific theories as their weapons.
time, people all believed that all planets circled by the earth. There is no doubt that it must be an
Outer space has always intrigued the human mind. Ever since humans inhabited the Earth, they have always looked to the heavens. Ptolemy, who lived over two thousand years ago, dreamed of being with the stars. He said, “I know that I am mortal by nature, and ephemeral; but when I trace at my pleasure the windings to and fro of the heavenly bodies I no longer touch the earth with my feet: I stand in the presence of Zeus himself and take my fill of ambrosia” (Tyson). At that time, reaching the “final frontier” was not even remotely possible.
astounding wonders of the galaxy, but we may never find the answers that we’re looking for.
Our solar system, as we see it today, originally formed from the collapse of a very cold and low-density cloud of gas. The mass of this cloud was composed of 98% hydrogen and helium, 1.4% hydrogen compounds, .4% rock, and .2% metal. The nebula was thought to be a few light years across and was roughly spherical in shape. The cloud was in a state of balance, it was neither contracting or expanding, until a cataclysmic event, most likely a supernova, created a shock wave through the nebula, resulting in an area of higher mass. Once this area became more massive than the rest of the nebula it begin to collapse with the area of hig...
Astronomy is a very important field in science. Ancient Greece, China, and India all contributed to our everyday ideas and uses of astronomy. Ancient Greece was the most influential because the Indian’s based most of their astronomy off of Greece. The Greeks created calendars that were based off of the eclipse cycle, which they called by two different names, Hellenic Calendars and Lunisolar Calendars. Because of Ancient Greece, we now have calendars to keep us on track every day. The Greeks observed a celestial object passing through the eastern and western morning sky. After a long time of observations, they came to a realization that it was a planet and now that is the planet is well known as Venus. (Sarton, 75) Plato and Aristotle’s theories were incredible contributions on us today. Both of their theories were all about the behavior and life of the planets, such as their theory that the earth is spherical. (Sarton, 421). Ancient Greece als...
The idea behind the Solar Nebular Hypothesis is that the solar system was condensed from an enormous cloud of hydrogen, helium, and a few other elements and rocks. Around five billion years this cloud of materials began to spin and contract together into a disk shape under their own gravitational forces. The particles started combined together, protoplanets, to eventually form planets. A great mass of the material eventually began to form together, protosun, and make up the sun.
Time after time, science and technology have proven that we live on a spherical planet. Now that we have access to space, the easiest way to prove the Earth is a sphere is to leave it and view it
He also used evidence based on observation. If the earth were not spherical, lunar eclipses would not show segments with a curved outline. Furthermore, when one travels northward or southward, one does not see the same stars at night, nor do they occupy the same positions in the sky. (De Caelo, Book II, chapter 14) That the celestial bodies must also be spherical in shape, can be determined by observation. In the case of the stars, Aristotle argued that they would have to be spherical, as this shape, which is the most perfect, allows them to retain their positions. (De Caelo, Book II, chapter 11) By Aristotle's time, Empedocles' view that there are four basic elements - earth, air, fire and water - had been generally accepted. Aristotle, however, in addition to this, postulated a fifth element called aether, which he believed to be the main constituent of the celestial bodies.
Even though we know a great amount more than the astronomers in the past, there is still an even larger amount we do not know about the universe to this day. Even our own solar system contains many questions yet to be answered. Some of these include the possibility of a planet beyond Pluto (Planet X), the means by which the system was created, and even the possibility of a sister star to the Sun named Nemesis. Another astronomical mystery is the creation of the universe. In time, many questions will be answered but some will always remain. Astronomy is something that will never be completely understood.
Our solar system has eight planets, their moons and satellites, and they are all orbiting the Sun. The eight planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto used to be the ninth planet but IAU changed the definition of planet and Pluto did not meet the standards so it is now a Dwarf planet.