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In the following 4 discussion prompts, please add a response to TWO different prompts/questions.  Use your knowledge from the article and class notes you previously collected to add information to your posts.

Responses should include:

1. Research (with a citation) to provide answers WITH evidence.

2. Direct quotation (with citation) from one of your sources.

3. At least one question you still have regarding the topic.

4. Responses should be at least 5 sentences long (direct quotations do not count towards this).

5. Use this online textbook for help with topics: https://www.teachastronomy.com/textbook/How-Science-Works/The-Scientific-Method/

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Discuss an important turning point in the field of Astronomy. 

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Discuss an important turning point in the field of Astronomy. 

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Discuss how the field of Astronomy advances the human species.

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Discuss how the field of Astronomy advances the human species.

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Discuss the importance of knowing the history of Astronomy.

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Discuss the importance of knowing the history of Astronomy.

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Discuss how Astronomy can be used to advance other fields of science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geology, etc.).

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Discuss how Astronomy can be used to advance other fields of science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geology, etc.).

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DON'T FORGET TO LOG IN USING YOUR SCHOOL EMAIL

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DON'T FORGET TO LOG IN USING YOUR SCHOOL EMAIL

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I can only give you discussion points if you name appears above your posts (email me if you need help with this step).

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Astronomy's impact on other fields of science

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Astronomy's impact on other fields of science

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Astronomy not only improves our understanding of outer space, but it also helps us here on Earth to advance our understandings of other fields of science. One example of this would be in the field of medicine. We can use technology and equipment created for telescopes to also "accurately aim high-energy particles for radiation treatment" (cfa.harvard.edu). Another example would be MRI, which is also used in the study of molecular physics (cfa.harvard.edu). Through these applications of science, which stemmed from our knowledge of astronomy, we can see the importance of astronomy, and why we should continue to study it. A question I have: has our knowledge of astronomy impacted the field of music, or other arts?

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Originally we thought of Earth as the center of the solar system (and even the universe as a whole). However, Nicolaus Copernicus would then start "the drive to visualize the Sun, not the Earth, as the center of the solar system" (teachastronomy.com). This new model of the solar system (the "heliocentric model") would become the model that modern science accepts today. Another turning point for astronomy, and science as a whole, would be the discoveries of the famous scientist Galileo, as well as Newton. Both scientists understood the importance use using systematic procedures and math to insure the accuracy and credibility of scientific experiments and theories. One question I still have: What actually led to the start of the age of enlightenment? Could scientists not share their findings as easily before it?

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"It has allowed astronomers to learn from their past and have a greater appreciation for the science of present. "Opines that understanding the history of galileo and johannes kepler helps college students have a greater appreciation for what is out in the sky.

https://astronomy.as.virginia.edu/why-study-astronomy

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What is Astronomy?

Who hasn't felt a sense of awe while looking deep into the sky, lit with countless stars on a clear night? Who hasn't asked themselves if ours is the only planet that supports life? Who hasn't pondered the nature of the planets, stars, galaxies, and the Universe itself? Astronomy is a science that seeks to explain everything that we observe in the Universe, from the comets and planets in our own solar system to distant galaxies to the echoes of the Big Bang. By studying the cosmos beyond our own planet, we can understand where we came from, where we are going, and how physics works under conditions which are impossible to recreate on Earth. In astronomy, the Universe is our laboratory!

Why study Astronomy at UVA?

The Astronomy Department at the University of Virginia is a world leader in innovative and cutting edge science. With over 15 full time faculty, ours is one of the largest departments in the Southeast. In recent years undergraduates have participated in research in the following fields:

The Milky Way and the Local Group of galaxies (Steve Majewski)

High energy astrophysics, including black holes and clusters of galaxies (Craig Sarazin)

Astronomy instrumentation, especially detectors of infrared light (Mike Skrutskie)

Star formation in other galaxies (Kelsey Johnson)

Education and public outreach that brings astronomy to the people and classrooms of Virginia (Ed Murphy)

To see a list of all the research that goes on in our department, click here.

Students can take advantage of all the courses our department offers through one of two majors:

The Astronomy Major, which is meant for students who have a strong interest in astronomy but are not looking for an intensive science program

The Astronomy-Physics Major, which gives students a strong background in physics and math, and is meant for students looking to pursue a professional career in astronomy

Our undergraduates have the opportunity to work closely with the faculty. The ability to do research as part of their degree gives our students the chance to take part in the process of discovery, first hand.

Students needn't travel far to experience the wonders of the Universe, as we operate two observatories locally:

The Leander McCormick Observatory, situated on Mt. Jefferson on the UVa Grounds, houses one of the largest refractors in the world (one of the oldest operating telescopes in the United States).

Fan Mountain Observatory is a fully functioning research and education observatory located just 15 miles south of Charlottesville.

The headquarters of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the North American ALMA Science Center are also located on the UVa Grounds, just a short walk from the Astronomy Department. Many astronomers at NRAO are adjunct faculty in the department. NRAO operates telescopes such as the VLA in New Mexico and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia.

UVa is also a partner on world class telescopes such as Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, the brand new Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona, and the Magellan Telescope in Chile.

Careers in Astronomy

An Astronomy major gains skills in a wide range of fields including physics, math, computer science, critical thinking, and problem solving. For this reason, astronomy and physics majors are prepared for many careers, both inside and outside the physical sciences. Astronomy students often go on to graduate school or find a job related to astronomy, but astronomy majors are qualified for a wide range of positions related to engineering, mathematics, computer science, and environmental science. Many students also go on to study law or medicine or enter the world of business or education.

Those who do concentrate on astronomy typically find themselves employed as faculty or researchers at universities, observatories, and government labs, with about 10% working in private industry or at planetariums or museums. Astronomy is a close-knit field where you will get the opportunity to work with many people.

Professional astronomers are motivated by curiosity and a deep desire to understand some of the grandest and most beautiful phenomena in the universe, as well as a desire to share these wonders with others.

To learn more about careers in astronomy and how to prepare yourself for one, visit the website of the American Astronomical Society.

Life in Charlottesville

Charlottesville has the cosmopolitan feel of a big city combined with the cozy atmosphere of a college town.

Discover the historic Downtown Mall, with its wide variety of shops, bookstores, and ethnic food, complete with outdoor dining. Enjoy concerts, movies, and entertainers at the historic movie theatre, outdoor amphitheatre, and local music venues.

Hang out at the Corner! Immediately adjacent to Grounds, this student hangout includes restaurants and bookstores. This cobblestone stretch has been a meeting place between the University and the town for over a century.

Home to UVa's student body and a large population of young professionals, Charlottesville boasts a wide variety of affordable housing options, from economy flats to townhouses and condominiums. University and city buses provide free transportation all around Grounds, the city, and the shopping centers north of Charlottesville.

Go play outside! For those who love the outdoors, there are beautiful national parks and recreational areas with camping, hiking, and skiing just minutes away.

Learn More

If you have specific questions, you can email the Director of the Undergraduate Program at astro-ugradadv@virginia.edu.

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Who hasn't felt a sense of awe while looking deep into the sky, lit with countless stars on a clear night? Who hasn't asked themselves if ours is the only planet that supports life? Who hasn't pondered the nature of the planets, stars, galaxies, and the Universe itself?

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Astronomy has already given us advanced technology such as computers, satellites, and smartphones. it gives us technology that was never seen and completely new. It also have us technology for the medical field like Xray machines and MRI's "Work on nuclear magnetic resonance, which can be used to study molecular physics, can also be used to scan the human body." (https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth). Items like Smartphones, Xray machines, MRI Machines, have all impacted and advanced our society as well as medical fields. It has helped us detect disease, spread information, protect people, and much more that rolls over into daily life without even realizing. Without the study of Astronomy we wouldn't be as advanced in technology as we are today and we would live in a completely different society. So my final question is what will we discover next from our research? new technology? medical equipment? who knows.

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Astronomy advancements have a surprising impact on different fields of work. It can bring new technology advancements into different practices, making things like discovering diseases or checking your internal organ or bone health a lot easier and efficient. "None of these would have happened if we hadn’t first been dedicated to simple human curiosity about what may be out in the far reaches of our Universe." - (https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth). Astronomy helps us discover what we thought impossible because of physical limitations. For example, the idea of seeing inside of your body without having to do some form of medical procedure seemed impossible, but because of pure curiosity and drive to do more, we created a whole machine dedicated to it. So who knows what's next? we may see time travel as impossible but maybe if we keep digging further and further we may just discover some crazy inventions. Is it possible that we can cure disease by pure technology?

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Astronomy is used to advance the human species because understanding the universe we are born into is crucial to understanding ourselves and where we came from. Since the beginning of time, we have wondered as a species what the sun and the moon are, and how they affect us. We asked ourselves why things fell to the ground when we dropped them and why there were so many bright stars in the night sky. Without answers to these questions, we were left in the dust to do nothing but guess. Which brings us nowhere as a species. However, when we start to recognize patterns in the night sky and understand how the celestial bodies around us act we can use that information to our advantage. We can track the cycles of the moon and understand how the moon affects the tide. We can figure out which days the sun is likely to burn us more. We can track the planets in our solar system and calculate how to travel to them in the shortest path possible. In time we may be able to terraform those planets around us and harvest their resources for our own benefit. But we can also use the information we gather from astronomy and use it to better our lives on Earth. We invented GPS, Solar Panels, Airport Security Scanners, MRI scanners, and so many more life-changing inventions simply because we researched outer space and what technologies would help us in our space endeavors. As a result of that, we now have so much more information that we wouldn't have otherwise. "None of these would have happened if we hadn’t first been dedicated to simple human curiosity about what may be out in the far reaches of our Universe." Without astronomy, we would still be so clueless here on Earth. But being able to understand what truly happens beyond our atmosphere helps us feel more connected to the universe around us and answers questions we have been asking as a species for thousands of years. We need to ask ourselves, What else can we learn about the universe? What questions can we ask that will provide insight into how the world around us operates?

Sources:

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth#:~:text=Computers%2C%20satellites%20and%20the%20smartphones,the%20legacy%20of%20astronomy%2C%20and

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Astronomy is continually innovating and progressing. Seemingly by accident, scientific and technological developments in astronomy have worked their way into our daily lives. For example, the device you’re currently reading this text on is very likely to involve components and systems that saw their first application in astronomy.
None of these things would have happened if we hadn’t first been dedicated to simple human curiosity about what may be out in the far reaches of our Universe. As it has been throughout our history, the impulse to explore is still one of the greatest wellsprings of human ingenuity.

link: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth#:~:text=Computers%2C%20satellites%20and%20the%20smartphones,the%20legacy%20of%20astronomy%2C%20and

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How can astronomy improve life on earth? | Center for Astrophysics

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Much of astronomy is concerned with understanding distant phenomena, seeing the invisible, and studying the most extreme events in the Universe. But how does this pursuit help our daily lives here on Earth?

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The earth moves! This discovery was made from the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. He made the claim “We revolve around the Sun like any other planet.” (https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/OrbitsHistory)  Before anchine greek philospers were unsure of the diffrnet ways that the planets moved across the sky. In 1515, a  priest named Nicolaus Copernicus proposed that the Earth was a planet like Venus or Saturn, and that all planets circled the Sun. Afraid of criticism, he did not publish his theory until 1543, right before he died. The theory gathered few followers. The one question that I still have is how did people find these theories with such limited technology compared to today? How long would it take if we had the technology we do now back then?

-Theo

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Planetary Motion: The History of an Idea That Launched the Scientific Revolution

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Attempts of Renaissance astronomers to explain the puzzling path of planets across the night sky led to modern scienceâ€™s understanding of gravity and motion.

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It's a device made by Galileo and it's used to form magnified images of distant objects. It's used by all astronomers and provides the ability to collect and analyze radiation from celestial objects. Plus, as we all know it helps us to see the stars and planets. "These developments have contributed dramatically to advances in scientific knowledge about the soar system, the Milky way Galaxy, and the universes as a whole." There are also different types of telescopes that our used for other tasks, such as the X-ray telescope and radio telescope. I wonder how each kind of telescope works and how researchers modified the original telescope?https://www.britannica.com/science/optical-telescope

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telescope, device used to form magnified images of distant objects. The telescope is undoubtedly the most important investigative tool in astronomy. It provides a means of collecting and analyzing radiation from celestial objects, even those in the far reaches of the universe.

Galileo revolutionized astronomy when he applied the telescope to the study of extraterrestrial bodies in the early 17th century. Until then, magnification instruments had never been used for this purpose. Since Galileo's pioneering work, increasingly more powerful optical telescopes have been developed, as has a wide array of instruments capable of detecting and measuring radiation in every region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Observational capability has been further enhanced by the invention of various kinds of auxiliary instruments (e.g., the camera, spectrograph, and charge-coupled device) and by the use of electronic computers, rockets, and spacecraft in conjunction with telescope systems. These developments have contributed dramatically to advances in scientific knowledge about the solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy, and the universe as a whole.

This article describes the operating principles and historical development of optical telescopes. For explanation of instruments that operate in other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, see radio telescope; X-ray telescope; and gamma-ray telescope.

Commonly known as refractors, telescopes of this kind are typically used to examine the Moon, other objects of the solar system such as Jupiter and Mars, and binary stars. The name refractor is derived from the term refraction, which is the bending of light when it passes from one medium to another of different density-e.g., from air to glass. The glass is referred to as a lens and may have one or more components. The physical shape of the components may be convex, concave, or plane-parallel. This diagram illustrates the principle of refraction and the term focal length. The focus is the point, or plane, at which light rays from infinity converge after passing through a lens and traveling a distance of one focal length. In a refractor the first lens through which light from a celestial object passes is called the objective lens. It should be noted that the light will be inverted at the focal plane. A second lens, referred to as the eyepiece lens, is placed behind the focal plane and enables the observer to view the enlarged, or magnified, image. Thus, the simplest form of refractor consists of an objective and an eyepiece, as illustrated in the diagram.

The diameter of the objective is referred to as the aperture; it typically ranges from a few centimetres for small spotting telescopes up to one metre for the largest refractor in existence. The objective, as well as the eyepiece, may have several components. Small spotting telescopes may contain an extra lens behind the eyepiece to erect the image so that it does not appear upside-down. When an object is viewed with a refractor, the image may not appear sharply defined, or it may even have a predominant colour in it. Such distortions, or aberrations, are sometimes introduced when the lens is polished into its design shape. The major kind of distortion in a refractor is chromatic aberration, which is the failure of the differently coloured light rays to come to a common focus. Chromatic aberration can be minimized by adding components to the objective. In lens-design technology, the coefficients of expansion of different kinds of glass are carefully matched to minimize the aberrations that result from temperature changes of the telescope at night.

Eyepieces, which are used with both refractors and reflectors ( see below Reflecting telescopes), have a wide variety of applications and provide observers with the ability to select the magnification of their instruments. The magnification, sometimes referred to as magnifying power, is determined by dividing the focal length of the objective by the focal length of the eyepiece. For example, if the objective has a focal length of 254 cm (100 inches) and the eyepiece has a focal length of 2.54 cm (1 inch), then the magnification will be 100. Large magnifications are very useful for observing the Moon and the planets. However, since stars appear as point sources owing to their great distances, magnification provides no additional advantage when viewing them. Another important factor that one must take into consideration when attempting to view at high magnification is the stability of the telescope mounting. Any vibration in the mounting will also be magnified and may severely reduce the quality of the observed image. Thus, great care is usually taken to provide a stable platform for the telescope. This problem should not be associated with that of atmospheric seeing, which may introduce a disturbance to the image because of fluctuating air currents in the path of the light from a celestial or terrestrial object. Generally, most of the seeing disturbance arises in the first 30 metres (100 feet) of air above the telescope. Large telescopes are frequently installed on mountain peaks in order to get above the seeing disturbances.

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telescope, device used to form magnified images of distant objects. The telescope is undoubtedly the most important investigative tool in astronomy. It provides a means of collecting and analyzing radiation from celestial objects, even those in the far reaches of the universe.

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Talan oldenstadt. As the stars move across the sky each night people of the world have looked up and wondered about their place in the universe. Throughout history civilizations have developed unique systems for ordering and understanding the heavens. Babylonian and Egyptian astronomers developed systems that became the basis for Greek astronomy, while societies in the Americas, China and India developed their own.

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Talan oldenstadt. As the stars move across the sky each night people of the world have looked up and wondered about their place in the universe. Throughout history civilizations have developed unique systems for ordering and understanding the heavens. Babylonian and Egyptian astronomers developed systems that became the basis for Greek astronomy, while societies in the Americas, China and India developed their own.

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"In education, we see the teaching of astronomy at the primary or secondary level leading students to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). In international relations, we see astronomy as a scientific field that transcends borders and promotes collaboration between global teams in the unified pursuit of knowledge. In our culture, we see the impact of keystone scientific discoveries creating a more informed and scientifically literate society." (https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth) This is an excellent example of how astronomy takes different fields of science. Such as physics and biology. Talking about how the different planets have lifeforms on them. It relates to the stormy question simply because of the fact that it's in our solar system. The only question that I have after reading this article is if other sciences take from astronomy as astronomy takes from them. Are there concepts in physics that are solely based on astronomy?

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Space weather is a matter of concern for all of us: storms from the Sun can disrupt global communications and electrical power grids. However, we still don't understand exactly how these storms are formed, much less how to predict them. To complement existing solar observations, the Coronal Spectrographic Imager in the EUV (COSIE) is a proposed telescope for use on the International Space Station, designed to view the Sun in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. If the project is selected, COSIE would provide a thousand times improvement in EUV observations of the Sun's atmosphere over existing telescopes, providing a better means of spotting and predicting solar storms. COSIE is a proposal by researchers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, who are also developing the technology to make the instrument possible.

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How can astronomy improve life on earth?

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Space weather is a matter of concern for all of us: storms from the Sun can disrupt global communications and electrical power grids. However, we still don't understand exactly how these storms are formed, much less how to predict them.

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Talan oldenstadt. astronomy is the study of everything beyond earths atmosphere that includes objects we can see with the naked eye like the sun the moon and the stars. 

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Talan oldenstadt. astronomy is the study of everything beyond earths atmosphere that includes objects we can see with the naked eye like the sun the moon and the stars. 

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Why the history of astronomy is important.

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Why the history of astronomy is important.

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It is important to know the history of astronomy for many reasons but one is because it helps us answer many questions. "Astronomy isn't just relevant, it's essential to freedom." There are many different questions pertaining to astronomy that can easily be answered with history such as, how old is the telescope? Where did the telescope originate? Who made the first telescope? What was astronomy first used for? It's important to know that many things we have today are because of astronomy(Like calenders!) not only can history be a fun fact but it gives us greater appreciation for all the things we have, because now-a-days, I doubt we would get off our phones enough to look at the sky for more than 5 minutes to find out they there are other planets. https://www.space.com/why-astronomy-is-important-today

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The truth is, astronomy remains as real, human and relevant as ever, though the reason why might surprise you.

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Relationship between astronomy and medicine 

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Relationship between astronomy and medicine 

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Astronomy and health care are closely related, they are constantly working together to create groundbreaking inventions. Scientists are designing mirrors for the new generation of space-based telescopes. This invention can then be transferred to the medical field. The article, we read said, "with a simple modification, these optics can accurately aim high-energy particles for radiation treatment, focusing on destroying tumors while leaving surrounding tissue unharmed" (https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth). This new technology is helping to get closer to getting rid of cancer.
Questions I still have: What other things from astronomy could transfer into medicine?
-Alannah

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Space weather is a matter of concern for all of us: storms from the Sun can disrupt global communications and electrical power grids. However, we still don't understand exactly how these storms are formed, much less how to predict them. To complement existing solar observations, the Coronal Spectrographic Imager in the EUV (COSIE) is a proposed telescope for use on the International Space Station, designed to view the Sun in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. If the project is selected, COSIE would provide a thousand times improvement in EUV observations of the Sun's atmosphere over existing telescopes, providing a better means of spotting and predicting solar storms. COSIE is a proposal by researchers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, who are also developing the technology to make the instrument possible.

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How can astronomy improve life on earth?

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Space weather is a matter of concern for all of us: storms from the Sun can disrupt global communications and electrical power grids. However, we still don't understand exactly how these storms are formed, much less how to predict them.

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Originally scientists thought that the earth didn't move and was at the center. They believed that everything revolved around the earth. Until mathematician and astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus started questioning that theory. He used different models and as it said in the sideshow "In 1512 Copernicus circulated a short commentary containing the essence of his new hypothesis: the Sun is the center of the solar system, the planets move around it, and the stars are immeasurably more distant (https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-81b1Q2LdxP97Z6Ma84cC3ciPktXQGpyQO2lePBlyz8/edit#slide=id.p)This is important for understanding where we are in the universe and helps understand gravity.
Questions I still have: What made Nicolaus question it in the first place?
-Alannah M

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Galileo and Newton were some of the most important contributors to astronomy in the 17th century. Galileo wasn't the inventor of the telescope, but he was able to build his own, and improve the original design many times. Using his new, more powerful telescope, he observed the skies, and discovered many things. For example, he got a closer look at the moon, and was able to describe what its surface looked like. He also discovered Jupiter's moons. These discoveries helped fight the idea that the earth was the center of the universe. Newton, on the other hand, worked with physics and gravity, which helped explain orbits like planets and moons.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Newton#ref12247

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Galileo-Galilei/Telescopic-discoveries

- Milo B

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Astronomy and it's synergies with other fields of science.

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Astronomy and it's synergies with other fields of science.

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We already know that astronomy is a science that requires collaboration, not just with other astronomers, but physicists and other scientists as well. There have been many findings of astronomers that have changed how we see our universe and space. An example of an interesting theory is the theory of the existence of dark matter, a form of matter that cannot  interact with light! Some, more locked in concepts can be things like supernovas and black holes, which tie in with physics and chemistry closely. Astronomy has close ties with physics and particular, as there are a few types of physics that apply to astronomy, like particle and nuclear physics. For example, the quote, "Astronomical objects present a much wider range of scales and properties than can be achieved in the laboratory. Pulsar magnetic fields are a million times stronger, solar convection Reynolds numbers a million times larger, and intergalactic vacuums more than a million times emptier than the most extreme terrestrial conditions. But the underlying physics is the same." from https://nap.nationalacademies.org, states that the underlying physics can bring this all together so it is understandable. And Finally, a question that I had was, how many types of science would be affected if astronomy didn't exist?

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Chapter:Benefits to the Nation from Astronomy and Astrophysics

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Astronomy's history is important, this is why.

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Astronomy's history is important, this is why.

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Did you know that astronomy wasn't actually called that when it was first thought of? It was actually a part of a thing called natural philosophy! Although, this is just a fun fact. You came here to see why it's history is important. I think that its history is important because knowing what people have already done and discovered is a good way to see what direction you need to move in. For example, back in the 1900s, Astronomy was linked very closely with mathematics. Then in the late 1900s and 2000s, chemistry and physics took the lead, with heavy research into spectroscopy and nuclear fusion. Some events in history are very important to know as well, as understanding how something was found might help you unlock its secrets later. A quote I found pertains to this, "Eddington, contemplating the problem of stellar longevity in the 1920s, was the first to appreciate nuclear fusion as a potential source of enormous quantities of energy." This quote is a good example of a finding that happened in astronomy's history that was a turning point in the way that we acquire energy now! This leads me to a question I thought of. What theories have people made in the past that have been proven by people outside of their lifetime?

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Chapter:Benefits to the Nation from Astronomy and Astrophysics

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Working Papers: Astronomy and Astrophysics Panel Reports Get This Book

This volume contains working papers on astronomy and astrophysics prepared by 15 non-National Research Council panels in areas ranging from radio astronomy to the status of the profession.

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Read "Working Papers: Astronomy and Astrophysics Panel Reports" at NAP.edu

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Chapter:Benefits to the Nation from Astronomy and Astrophysics Visit NAP.edu/10766 to get more information about this book, to buy it in print, or to download it as a free PDF. MyNAP members SAVE 10% off online. Not a MyNAP member yet? Register for a free account to start saving and receiving special member only perks.

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Ryder M. Importance of astronomy to humans

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Ryder M. Importance of astronomy to humans

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Astronomy has helped humans in many ways. Astronomy drives research and countless technological creations. These creations are built to study space and prevent possible catastrophic events. "Coronal mass ejections (CMEs), like the 1859 event, are giant eruptions of charged particles that threaten satellites, astronauts, and our electrical grid. A suite of CFA missions and instruments are monitoring the Sun, giving us warning of incoming CMEs, allowing time to prepare and protect people and our highly susceptible electronic and communication systems." - www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth. This proves that an event caused scientists and researchers to create a device that helps and protects us from the sun. This furthers our knowledge on space and improves life on earth for humans.

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How can astronomy improve life on earth? | Center for Astrophysics

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Much of astronomy is concerned with understanding distant phenomena, seeing the invisible, and studying the most extreme events in the Universe. But how does this pursuit help our daily lives here on Earth?

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The study of Astronomy has helped develop many kinds of technology that affect us greatly. Things like solar panels, satellites, GPS, MRI, digital camera sensors, airport security scanners, portable x-rays, and even things like computers and phones.
- https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth

Apart from every day life influences, Astronomy can help us in bigger, more obscure ways.
"By studying the cosmos beyond our own planet, we can understand where we came from, where we are going, and how physics works under conditions which are impossible to recreate on Earth."
- https://astronomy.as.virginia.edu/why-study-astronomy

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Importance of Astronomy for humans -Charlisse Mootz

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Importance of Astronomy for humans -Charlisse Mootz

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Astronomy has directly affected the way we live our lives on the day to day basis. Nearly all technology we use today stems from when we first dipped our toes into curiosity beyond earth. Scientists have researched and created many devices to help improve life on earth for humans and further our knowledge beyond what we know on earth. "A suite of CFA missions and instruments are monitoring the Sun, giving us warning of incoming CMEs, allowing time to prepare and protect people and our highly susceptible electronic and communication systems." Because the advancement in technology stems from astronomy we are able to be alarmed when debre and objects are coming near our solar system and satellites. This would have never even been thought without the human urge to explore what we don't know, and learn more about why we are here on earth.
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth

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Space weather is a matter of concern for all of us: storms from the Sun can disrupt global communications and electrical power grids. However, we still don't understand exactly how these storms are formed, much less how to predict them. To complement existing solar observations, the Coronal Spectrographic Imager in the EUV (COSIE) is a proposed telescope for use on the International Space Station, designed to view the Sun in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. If the project is selected, COSIE would provide a thousand times improvement in EUV observations of the Sun's atmosphere over existing telescopes, providing a better means of spotting and predicting solar storms. COSIE is a proposal by researchers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, who are also developing the technology to make the instrument possible.

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How can astronomy improve life on earth?

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Space weather is a matter of concern for all of us: storms from the Sun can disrupt global communications and electrical power grids. However, we still don't understand exactly how these storms are formed, much less how to predict them.

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Astronomy has allowed us to push forward and expand the boundaries of science, with the help of new technology and theoretical modelling. In the process of new technology, we were presented with satellites, computers, and smartphones. the advancements also made way for other things like self-landing rockets, the ability to go and land on the moon, sending a flying craft to mars, and even creating a device to harness the type of energy that stars burn; the fusion reactor.

without astronomy, we would be not as advanced as we are today, and we would have lived in an entirely different world.

what will await us in the future? solar sails? space cruising? moon tours? who really knows for sure.

Sources:
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth

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Photograph of the aurora of March 13, 1989, taken from Sea Cliff, NY, by Ken Spencer.

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One important event in the field of Astronomy was when aurora borealis, also known as "northern lights," stretched all across the skies of North America on March 5th, 1989. This happened because a large sunspot came into view, creating the beautiful stretch of glowing aurora borealis. To this day, Joe Rao for space.com says "It was the largest spot that had ever been seen at so high a northern latitude on the sun." This was a turning point for Astronomy because it was one of the biggest cases of aurora borealis that we know of in North America. The next day, the sunspot produced a huge solar flare that is said to be ranked as an X15, it was one of the most intense solar flares recorded. One question that I have is if this is possible to happen again and if Astronomists are able to predict it happening.

Source:
https://www.space.com/24983-auroras-1989-great-solar-storm.html

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astronomy is the study of everything beyond earths atmosphere that includes objects we can see with the naked eye like the sun the moon and the stars.
https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/astronomy/what-is-astronomy

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Huge distances, gigantic sizes, and long periods of time—astronomy is a BIG subject. We’ve brought learning about it down to size with this look at the big ideas you need to know.

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As the stars move across the sky each night people of the world have looked up and wondered about their place in the universe. Throughout history civilizations have developed unique systems for ordering and understanding the heavens. Babylonian and Egyptian astronomers developed systems that became the basis for Greek astronomy, while societies in the Americas, China and India developed their own.

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As the stars move across the sky each night people of the world have looked up and wondered about their place in the universe. Throughout history civilizations have developed unique systems for ordering and understanding the heavens. Babylonian and Egyptian astronomers developed systems that became the basis for Greek astronomy, while societies in the Americas, China and India developed their own.

Ancient Greek astronomers' work is richly documented in the collections of the Library of Congress largely because of the way the Greek tradition of inquiry was continued by the work of Islamic astronomers and then into early modern European astronomy. This section offers a tour of some of the astronomical ideas and models from ancient Greece as illustrated in items from the Library of Congress collections.

The Sphere of the World

By the 5th century B.C., it was widely accepted that the Earth is a sphere. This is a critical point, as there is a widespread misconception that ancient peoples thought the Earth was flat. This was simply not the case.

In the 5th century B.C., Empedocles and Anaxagoras offered arguments for the spherical nature of the Earth. During a lunar eclipse, when the Earth is between the sun and the moon, they identified the shadow of the Earth on the moon. As the shadow moves across the moon it is clearly round. This would suggest that the Earth is a sphere.

Experiencing the Sphere of the Earth

Given that opportunities for observations of a lunar eclipse do not come along that often, there was also evidence of the roundness of the earth in the experiences of sailors.

When a ship appears on the horizon it's the top of the ship that is visible first. A wide range of astronomy texts over time use this as a way to illustrate the roundness of the Earth. As the image suggests this is exactly what one would expect on a spherical Earth. If the Earth were flat, it would be expected that you would be able to see the entire ship as soon as it became visible.

Measuring the Size of the Earth

Lunar eclipses also allowed for another key understanding about our home here on Earth. In 3rd Century B.C., Aristarchus of Samos reasoned he could figure out the size of the Earth based on information available during a lunar eclipse. The diagram at the right illustrates a translation of his work. The large circle is the sun, the medium circle is the Earth and the smallest circle is the moon. When the Earth is in-between the sun and the moon it causes a lunar eclipse and measuring the size of the Earth's shadow on the moon provided part of the information he needed to calculate its size.

Eratosthenes estimated Earth's circumference around 240 B.C. He used a different approach, measuring the shadows cast in Alexandria and Syene to calculate their angle relative to the Sun. There is some dispute on the accuracy of his calculations as we don't know exactly how long the units of measure were. The measurement however was relatively close to the actual size of the Earth. The Greeks were applying mathematics to theorize about the nature of their world. They held a range of beliefs about nature and the world but they were, in many cases, working to ground those beliefs in an empirical exploration of what they could reason from evidence.

Aristotle's Elements and Cosmology

In the tradition of Plato and Empedocles before him, Aristotle argued that there were four fundamental elements, fire, air, water and earth. It is difficult for us to fully understand what this meant as today we think about matter in very different terms. In Aristotle's system there was no such thing as void space. All space was filled with some combination of these elements.

Aristotle asserted that you could further reduce these elements into two pairs of qualities, hot and cold and wet and dry. The combination of each of these qualities resulted in the elements. These qualities can be replaced by their opposites, which in this system become how change happens on Earth. For example, when heated, water seemingly turns steam which looks like air.

The Elements in Aristotle's Cosmic Model

In Aristotle's Cosmology, each of these four elements (earth, water, fire and air) had a weight. Earth was the heaviest, water less so, and air and fire the lightest. According to Aristotle the lighter substances moved away from the center of the universe and the heaver elements settled into the center. While these elements attempted to sort themselves out, to achieve this order, most of experience involved mixed entities.

While we have seen earth, fire, air and water, everything else in the world in this system was understood as a mixture of these elements. In this perspective, transition and change in our world resulted from the mixing of the elements. For Aristotle the terrestrial is a place of birth and death, based in these elements. The heavens are a separate realm governed by their own rules.

The Wandering and Fixed Stars in the Celestial Region

In contrast to the terrestrial, the celestial region of the heavens had a fundamentally different nature. Looking at the night sky the ancient Greeks found two primary kinds of celestial objects; the fixed stars and the wandering stars. Think of the night's sky. Most of the visible objects appear to move at exactly the same speed and present themselves in exactly the same arrangement night after night. These are the fixed stars. They appear to move all together. Aside from these were a set of nine objects that behaved differently, the moon, the sun and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter each moved according to a different system. For the Greeks these were the wandering stars.

In this system the entire universe was part of a great sphere. This sphere was split into two sections, an outer celestial realm and an inner terrestrial one. The dividing line between the two was the orbit of the moon. While the earth was a place of transition and flux, the heavens were unchanging. Aristotle posited that there was a fifth substance, the quintessence, that was what the heavens were made of, and that the heavens were a place of perfect spherical motion.

The Unchanging Celestial Region

In Aristotle's words, "In the whole range of time past, so far as our inherited records reach, no change appears to have taken place either in the whole scheme of the outermost heaven or in any of its proper parts." It's important to keep in mind that in Aristotle's time there simply were not extensive collections of observational evidence. Things that looked like they were moving in the heavens, like comets, were not problematic in this model because they could be explained as occurring in the terrestrial realm.

This model of the heavens came with an underlying explanation. The celestial spheres were governed by a set of movers responsible for the motion of the wandering stars. Each of these wandering stars was thought to have an "unmoved mover" the entity that makes it move through the heavens. For many of the Greeks this mover could be understood as the god corresponding to any given entity in the heavens.

Ptolemy's Circles on Circles

Claudius Ptolemy (90-168) created a wealth of astronomical knowledge from his home in Alexandria, Egypt. Benefiting from hundreds of years of observation from the time of Hipparchus and Eudoxus, as well as a set of astronomical data collected by the Babylonians, Ptolemy developed a system for predicting the motion of the stars that was published in his primary astronomical work, . Ptolemy's success at synthesizing and refining ideas and improvements in astronomy helped make his Almagest so popular that earlier works fell out of circulation. Translated into Arabic and Latin the Almagest became the primary astronomy text for the next thousand years.

Ptolomaic Data

The Almagest is filled with tables. In this sense the book is a tool one can use to predict the locations of the stars Compared to earlier astronomy the book is much more focused on serving as a useful tool than as presenting a system for describing the nature of the heavens. Trying to accurately predict the place of the stars over time resulted in creating a much more complicated model.

The Ptolemaic Model

By the time of Ptolemy Greek astronomers had proposed adding circles on the circular orbits of the wandering stars (the planets, the moon and the sun) to explain their motion. These circles on circles are called epicycles. In the Greek tradition, the heavens were a place of perfect circular motion, so the way to account for perfection was with the addition of circles. This resulted in disorienting illustrations.

To escape the complicated nature of this extensive number of circles, Ptolomy added a series of new concepts. To accurately describe planetary motion, he needed to use eccentric circles. With the eccentric circle the center of the planets orbit would not be Earth but would instead be some other point. Ptolemy then needed to put the epicycles on another set of circles called deferents. So the planets moved on circles that moved on circular orbits. Ptolomy also needed to introduce equants, a tool that enabled the planets to move at different speeds as they moved around these circles. The resulting model was complex, but it had extensive predictive power.

Ptolemy and Aristotle's Cosmic Legacy

Ptolemy came to represent a mathematical tradition, one focused on developing mathematical models with predictive power. Aristotle came to be known for putting forward the physical model of the heavens. Ptolemy was also interested in deploying his model of the heavens to describe its physical reality. However, his most important work was the mathematical models and data he used for predicting the motion of heavenly bodies. For a long time his name was synonymous with the model of the heavens.

One of the strongest pieces of evidence of the shape of the Earth came through interpretation of a lunar eclipse. During an eclipse we see the shadow of the Earth on the moon. This looks like the image at the top. If the Earth were triangular, one would expect the shadow of the Earth to look like a triangle. Diagrams of solar eclipse, from Universal Geography, 1711. Geography and Maps Division

One of the other key pieces of evidence for a round Earth was the fact that at a distance one can see the top of a ship before seeing the rest of it. One can find this concept illustrated in a wide array of astronomical texts throughout history. M. Blundeuile his exercises. 1613. 1613. The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake, Rare Book and Special Collections Division

This illustration from a translation of Aristarchus work shows how he approached measuring the size of the Earth based the size of the Earth's shadow on the moon during a Lunar eclipse Geometric figure of Earth, Sun, and Moon calculated by Aristarchus to approximate real scale of the solar system Illus. in: De magnitudinibus, et distantiis solis, et lunae 1572, p. 30.

An illustration of an interpretation of the heavenly spheres. The round Earth is surrounded by spheres of water, air, and fire and from there the spheres of the moon, each of the planets, and the fixed stars. M. Blundeuile his exercises. 1613. The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake, Rare Book and Special Collections

Ancient Greek ideas about the heavens became known as the Ptolemaic model, which had Earth at the center of the universe. In this image you can see each of the planets represented as the personifications of the gods they are named after. Each deity is seen riding a chariot through the heavens. Harmonia Macrocosmica, 1708. Geography and Maps Division.

Illustration of the orbit of Mercury from Di Sphera Mundi originally published by Johannes de Sacrobosco. 1230. In this model, Mercury moved on its epicycle, illustrated as the three small circles. Di Sphera Mundi (Sphere of the World). 1482. Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

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Ancient Greek Astronomy and Cosmology | Modeling the Cosmos | Articles and Essays | Finding Our Place in the Cosmos: From Galileo to Sagan and Beyond | Digital Collections | Library of Congress

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As the stars move across the sky each night people of the world have looked up and wondered about their place in the universe. Throughout history civilizations have developed unique systems for ordering and understanding the heavens. Babylonian and Egyptian astronomers developed systems that became the basis for Greek astronomy, while societies in the Americas, China and India developed their own.

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There has been a few important developments in astronomy but Astronomers will celebrate a remarkable  the planet Neptune was discovered. "Readers should note a caveat, however. That year is a Neptunian one. The great icy world was first pinpointed 164.79 years ago – on 23 September 1846. And as Neptune takes 164.79 Earthly years to circle the sun, it is only now completing its first full orbit since its detection by humans." Hence those anniversary celebrations.
https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2011/jul/10/neptune-orbit-anniversary-astronomy

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Neptune’s first orbit: a turning point in astronomy | Astronomy | The Guardian

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As Neptune nears a historic orbit around the Sun, Robin McKie recalls the dramatic story of how the icy world was discovered

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When studying the history of astronomy, we can further our knowledge on where we came from. We get to expend our knowledge of something far away yet so close. It can help us see where were going and how physics work in conditions that are impossible to recreate on earth. "Astronomy and related fields are at the forefront of science and technology; answering fundamental questions and driving innovation. It is for this reason that the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) strategic plan for 2010–2020 has three main areas of focus: technology and skills; science and research; and culture and society".  https://www.iau.org/public/themes/astronomy_in_everyday_life/
This quote explains how astronomy drives advancements and innovations within technology and learning.

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By Marissa Rosenberg, Pedro Russo (EU-UNAWE, Leiden Observatory/Leiden University, The Netherlands), Georgia Bladon, Lars Lindberg Christensen (ESO, Germany)

Also see Rosenberg, M., Russo, P., Bladon, G. & Christensen, L.L., Astronomy in Everyday Life CAPjournal 14, 2013
Introduction
Technology transfer
From astronomy to industry
From astronomy to the aerospace sector
From astronomy to the energy sector

Astronomy and medicine
Astronomy in everyday life
Astronomy and international collaboration
Summary
References

Introduction

Throughout History humans have looked to the sky to navigate the vast oceans, to decide when to plant their crops and to answer questions of where we came from and how we got here. It is a discipline that opens our eyes, gives context to our place in the Universe and that can reshape how we see the world. When Copernicus claimed that Earth was not the centre of the Universe, it triggered a revolution. A revolution through which religion, science, and society had to adapt to this new world view.

Astronomy has always had a significant impact on our world view. Early cultures identified celestial objects with the gods and took their movements across the sky as prophecies of what was to come. We would now call this astrology, far removed from the hard facts and expensive instruments of today's astronomy, but there are still hints of this history in modern astronomy. Take, for example, the names of the constellations: Andromeda, the chained maiden of Greek mythology, or Perseus, the demi-god who saved her.

Now, as our understanding of the world progresses, we find ourselves and our view of the world even more entwined with the stars. The discovery that the basic elements that we find in stars, and the gas and dust around them, are the same elements that make up our bodies has further deepened the connection between us and the cosmos. This connection touches our lives, and the awe it inspires is perhaps the reason that the beautiful images astronomy provides us with are so popular in today's culture.

There are still many unanswered questions in astronomy. Current research is struggling to understand questions like: "How old are we?", "What is the fate of the Universe?" and possibly the most interesting: "How unique is the Universe, and could a slightly different Universe ever have supported life?" But astronomy is also breaking new records every day, establishing the furthest distances, most massive objects, highest temperatures and most violent explosions.

Pursuing these questions is a fundamental part of being human, yet in today's world it has become increasingly important to be able to justify the pursuit of the answers. The difficulties in describing the importance of astronomy, and fundamental research in general, are well summarized by the following quote:

"Preserving knowledge is easy. Transferring knowledge is also easy. But making new knowledge is neither easy nor profitable in the short term. Fundamental research proves profitable in the long run, and, as importantly, it is a force that enriches the culture of any society with reason and basic truth."
- Ahmed Zewali, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1999).

Although we live in a world faced with the many immediate problems of hunger, poverty, energy and global warming, we argue that astronomy has long term benefits that are equally as important to a civilized society. Several studies (see below) have told us that investing in science education, research and technology provides a great return - not only economically, but culturally and indirectly for the population in general - and has helped countries to face and overcome crises. The scientific and technological development of a country or region is closely linked to its human development index - a statistic that is a measure of life expectancy, education and income (Truman, 1949).

There are other works that have contributed to answering the question "Why is astronomy important?" Dr. Robert Aitken, director of Lick Observatory, shows us that even in 1933 there was a need to justify our science, in his paper entitled The Use of Astronomy (Aitken, 1933). His last sentence summarizes his sentiment: "To give man ever more knowledge of the universe and to help him 'to learn humility and to know exaltation', that is the mission of astronomy." More recently, C. Renée James wrote an article outlining the recent technological advances that we can thank astronomy for, such as GPS, medical imaging, and wireless internet (Renée James, 2012). In defence of radio astronomy, Dave Finley in Finley (2013) states, "In sum, astronomy has been a cornerstone of technological progress throughout history, has much to contribute in the future, and offers all humans a fundamental sense of our place in an unimaginably vast and exciting universe."

Astronomy and related fields are at the forefront of science and technology; answering fundamental questions and driving innovation. It is for this reason that the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) strategic plan for 2010-2020 has three main areas of focus: technology and skills; science and research; and culture and society.

Although "blue-skies research" like astronomy rarely contributes directly with tangible outcomes on a short time scale, the pursuit of this research requires cutting-edge technology and methods that can on a longer time scale, through their broader application make a difference.

A wealth of examples - many of which are outlined below - show how the study of astronomy contributes to technology, economy and society by constantly pushing for instruments, processes and software that are beyond our current capabilities.

The fruits of scientific and technological development in astronomy, especially in areas such as optics and electronics, have become essential to our day-to-day life, with applications such as personal computers, communication satellites, mobile phones, Global Positioning Systems, solar panels and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners.

Although the study of astronomy has provided a wealth of tangible, monetary and technological gains, perhaps the most important aspect of astronomy is not one of economical measure. Astronomy has and continues to revolutionize our thinking on a worldwide scale. In the past, astronomy has been used to measure time, mark the seasons, and navigate the vast oceans. As one of the oldest sciences astronomy is part of every culture's history and roots. It inspires us with beautiful images and promises answers to the big questions. It acts as a window into the immense size and complexity of space, putting Earth into perspective and promoting global citizenship and pride in our home planet.

Several reports in the US (National Research Council, 2010) and Europe (Bode et al., 2008) indicate that the major contributions of astronomy are not just the technological and medical applications ( technology transfer, see below), but a unique perspective that extends our horizons and helps us discover the grandeur of the Universe and our place within it. On a more pressing level, astronomy helps us study how to prolong the survival of our species. For example, it is critical to study the Sun's influence on Earth's climate and how it will affect weather, water levels etc. Only the study of the Sun and other stars can help us to understand these processes in their entirety. In addition, mapping the movement of all the objects in our Solar System, allows us to predict the potential threats to our planet from space. Such events could cause major changes to our world, as was clearly demonstrated by the meteorite impact in Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013.

On a personal level, teaching astronomy to our youth is also of great value. It has been proven that pupils who engage in astronomy-related educational activities at a primary or secondary school are more likely to pursue careers in science and technology, and to keep up to date with scientific discoveries (National Research Council, 1991). This does not just benefit the field of astronomy, but reaches across other scientific disciplines.

Astronomy is one of the few scientific fields that interacts directly with society. Not only transcending borders, but actively promoting collaborations around the world. In the following paper, we outline the tangible aspects of what astronomy has contributed to various fields.

Technology transfer

From astronomy to industry

Some of the most useful examples of technology transfer between astronomy and industry include advances in imaging and communications. For example, a film called Kodak Technical Pan is used extensively by medical and industrial spectroscopists, industrial photographers, and artists, and was originally created so that solar astronomers could record the changes in the surface structure of the Sun. In addition, the development of Technical Pan - again driven by the requirements of astronomers - was used for several decades (until it was discontinued) to detect diseased crops and forests, in dentistry and medical diagnosis, and for probing layers of paintings to reveal forgeries (National Research Council, 1991).

In 2009 Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of another device that would be widely used in industry. The sensors for image capture developed for astronomical images, known as Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs), were first used in astronomy in 1976. Within a very few years they had replaced film not only on telescopes, but also in many people's personal cameras, webcams and mobile phones. The improvement and popularity of CCDs is attributed to NASA's decision to use super-sensitive CCD technology on the Hubble Space Telescope (Kiger & English, 2011).

In the realm of communication, radio astronomy has provided a wealth of useful tools, devices, and data-processing methods. Many successful communications companies were originally founded by radio astronomers. The computer language FORTH was originally created to be used by the Kitt Peak 36-foot telescope and went on to provide the basis for a highly profitable company ( Forth Inc.). It is now being used by FedEx worldwide for its tracking services.

Some other examples of technology transfer between astronomy and industry are listed below (National Research Council, 2010):

The company General Motors uses the astronomy programming language Interactive Data Language (IDL) to analyse data from car crashes.

The first patents for techniques to detect gravitational radiation - produced when massive bodies accelerate - have been acquired by a company to help them determine the gravitational stability of underground oil reservoirs.

The telecommunications company AT&T uses Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF) - a collection of software written at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory - to analyse computer systems and solid-state physics graphics.

Larry Altschuler, an astronomer, was responsible for the development of tomography - the process of imaging in sections using a penetrating wave - via his work on reconstructing the Solar Corona from its projections. (Schuler, M. D. 1979)

From astronomy to the aerospace sector

The aerospace sector shares most of its technology with astronomy - specifically in telescope and instrument hardware, imaging, and image-processing techniques.

Since the development of space-based telescopes, information acquisition for defence has shifted from using ground-based to aerial and space-based, techniques. Defence satellites are essentially telescopes pointed towards Earth and require identical technology and hardware to those used in their astronomical counterparts. In addition, processing satellite images uses the same software and processes as astronomical images.

Some specific examples of astronomical developments used in defence are given below (National Research Council, 2010):

Observations of stars and models of stellar atmospheres are used to differentiate between rocket plumes and cosmic objects. The same method is now being studied for use in early warning systems.

Observations of stellar distributions on the sky - which are used to point and calibrate telescopes - are also used in aerospace engineering.

Astronomers developed a solar-blind photon counter - a device which can measure the particles of light from a source, during the day, without being overwhelmed by the particles coming from the Sun. This is now used to detect ultraviolet (UV) photons coming from the exhaust of a missile, allowing for a virtually false-alarm-free UV missile warning system. The same technology can also be used to detect toxic gases.

Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites rely on astronomical objects, such as quasars and distant galaxies, to determine accurate positions.

From astronomy to the energy sector

Astronomical methods can be used to find new fossil fuels as well as to evaluate the possibility of new renewable energy sources (National Research Council, 2010):

Two oil companies, Texaco and BP, use IDL to analyse core samples around oil fields as well as for general petroleum research.

An Australian company, called Ingenero, has created solar radiation collectors to harness the power of the Sun for energy on Earth. They have created collectors up to 16 metres in diameter, which is only possible with the use of a graphite composite material developed for an orbiting telescope array.

Technology designed to image X-rays in X-ray telescopes - which have to be designed differently from visible-light telescopes - is now used to monitor plasma fusion. If fusion - where two light atomic nuclei fuse to form a heavier nucleus - became possible to control, it could be the answer to safe, clean, energy.

Astronomy and medicine

Astronomers struggle constantly to see objects that are ever dimmer and further away. Medicine struggles with similar issues: to see things that are obscured within the human body. Both disciplines require high-resolution, accurate and detailed images. Perhaps the most notable example of knowledge transfer between these two studies is the technique of aperture synthesis, developed by the radio astronomer and Nobel Laureate, Martin Ryle (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 1974). This technology is used in computerised tomography (also known as CT or CAT scanners), magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs), positron emission tomography (PET) and many other medical imaging tools.

Along with these imaging techniques, astronomy has developed many programming languages that make image processing much easier, specifically IDL and IRAF. These languages are widely used for medical applications (Shasharina, 2005).

Another important example of how astronomical research has contributed to the medical world is in the development of clean working areas. The manufacture of space-based telescopes requires an extremely clean environment to prevent dust or particles that might obscure or obstruct the mirrors or instruments on the telescopes (such as in NASA's STEREO mission; Gruman, 2011). The cleanroom protocols, air filters, and bunny suits that were developed to achieve this are now also used in hospitals and pharmaceutical labs (Clark, 2012).

Some more direct applications of astronomical tools in medicine are listed below:

A collaboration between a drug company and the Cambridge Automatic Plate Measuring Facility allows blood samples from leukaemia patients to be analysed faster and thus ensures more accurate changes in medication (National Research Council, 1991).

Radio astronomers developed a method that is now used as a non-invasive way to detect tumours. By combining this with other traditional methods, there is a true-positive detection rate of 96% in breast cancer patients (Barret et al., 1978).

Small thermal sensors initially developed to control telescope instrument temperatures are now used to control heating in neonatology units - units for the care of newborn babies (National Research Council, 1991).

A low-energy X-ray scanner developed by NASA is currently used for outpatient surgery, sports injuries, and in third-world clinics. It has also been used by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to study whether certain pills had been contaminated (National Research Council, 1991).

Software for processing satellite pictures taken from space is now helping medical researchers to establish a simple method to implement wide-scale screening for Alzheimer's disease (ESA, 2013).

Looking through the fluid-filled, constantly moving eye of a living person is not that different from trying to observe astronomical objects through the turbulent atmosphere, and the same fundamental approach seems to work for both. Adaptive optics used in astronomy can be used for retinal imaging in living patients to study diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa in their early stages. (Boston Micromachines Corporation 2010)

Astronomy in everyday life

There are many things that people encounter on an everyday basis that were derived from astronomical technologies. Perhaps the most commonly used astronomy-derived invention is the wireless local area network (WLAN). In 1977 John O'Sullivan developed a method to sharpen images from a radio telescope. This same method was applied to radio signals in general, specifically to those dedicated to strengthening computer networks, which is now an integral part of all WLAN implementations (Hamaker et al., 1977).

Other technologies important to everyday life that were originally developed for astronomy are listed below (National Research Council, 2010):

X-ray observatory technology is also used in current X-ray luggage belts in airports.

In airports, a gas chromatograph - for separating and analysing compounds - designed for a Mars mission is used to survey baggage for drugs and explosives.

The police use hand-held Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) photometers - instruments developed by astronomers for measuring light intensity - to check that car windows are transparent, as determined by the law.

A gamma-ray spectrometer originally used to analyse lunar soil is now used as a non-invasive way to probe structural weakening of historical buildings or to look behind fragile mosaics, such as in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.

More subtle than these contributions to technology is the contribution that astronomy has made to our view of time. The first calendars were based on the movement of the Moon and even the way that we define a second is due to astronomy. The atomic clock, developed in 1955, was calibrated using astronomical Ephemeris Time - a former standard astronomical timescale adopted by the IAU in 1952. This led to the internationally agreed-upon re-definition of the second (Markowitz et al., 1958).

These are all very tangible examples of the effect astronomy has had on our everyday lives, but astronomy also plays an important role in our culture. There are many books and magazines about astronomy for non-astronomers. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking is a bestseller and has sold over ten million copies (Paris, 2007) and Carl Sagan's television series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, has been watched in over 60 countries by more than 500 million people (NASA, 2009).

Many non-astronomers also engaged with astronomy during the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), the largest education and public outreach event in science. The IYA2009 reached upwards of eight hundred million people, through thousands of activities, in more than 148 countries (IAU, 2010).

Astronomy and international collaboration

Scientific and technological achievements give a large competitive edge to any nation. Nations pride themselves on having the most efficient new technologies and race to achieve new scientific discoveries. But perhaps more important is the way that science can bring nations together, encouraging collaboration and creating a constant flow as researchers travel around the globe to work in international facilities.

Astronomy is particularly well suited to international collaboration due to the need to have telescopes in different places around the world, in order to see the whole sky. At least as far back as 1887 - when astronomers from around the world pooled their telescope images and made the first map of the whole sky - there have been international collaborations in astronomy and in 1920, the International Astronomical Union became the first international scientific union.

In addition to the need to see the sky from different vantage points on Earth, building astronomical observatories on the ground and in space is extremely expensive. Therefore most of the current and planned observatories are owned by several nations. All of these collaborations have thus far been peaceful and successful. Some of the most notable being:

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile, is the largest astronomical project in existence.

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) which includes 14 European countries and Brazil, and is located in Chile.

Collaborations on major observatories such as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope between USA and Europe.

Summary
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
In the above text we have outlined both the tangible and intangible reasons that astronomy is an important part of society. Although we have focused mainly on the technology and knowledge transfer, perhaps the most important contribution is still the fact that astronomy makes us aware of how we fit into the vast Universe. The American astronomer Carl Sagan showed us one of astronomy's simplest and most inspirational contributions to society in his book, The Pale Blue Dot:

References

Aitken, R.G. 1933, The Use of Astronomy. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Leaflet 59, December 1933, 33-36

Bode, Cruz & Molster 2008, The ASTRONET Infrastructure Roadmap: A Strategic Plan for European Astronomy, http://www.eso.org/public/archives/books/pdfsm/book_0045.pdf, August 2013

Boston Micromachines Corporation, https://www.photonicsonline.com/doc/adaptive-optics-101-0001, 2010

Clark, H. 2012, Modern-day cleanroom invented by Sandia physicist still used 50 years later, https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/cleanroom_50th, June 2013

ESA 2013, Identifying Alzheimer's using space software, http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Technology/TTP2/Identifying_Alzheimer's_using_space_software, July 2013

Finley, D., Value of Radio Astronomy, http://www.nrao.edu/index.php/learn/radioastronomy/radioastronomyvalue, Retrieved November 2013

Gruman, J. B. 2011, Image Artifacts-Telescope and Camera Defects, http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/artifacts/artifacts_camera.shtml, August 2013

Hamaker, J. P., O'Sullivan, J. D. & Noordam J. D. 1977, Image sharpness, Fourier optics, and redundant-spacing interferometry, J. Opt. Soc. Am., 67(8), 1122-1123

International Astronomical Union 2010, International Year of Astronomy 2009 Reached Hundreds of Millions of People: Final Report Released, http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iya1006, August 2013

International Astronomical Union 2012, IAU Astronomy for Development Strategic Plan 2010-2012. https://www.iau.org/static/education/strategicplan_2010-2020.pdf, June 2013

Kiger, P. & English, M. 2011, Top 10 NASA Inventions, http://www.howstuffworks.com/innovation/inventions/top-5-nasa-inventions.htm, June 2013

Markowitz, W. et al. 1958, Frequency of cesium in terms of ephemeris time, Physical Review Letters 1, 105-107

National Research Council 1991, Working Papers: Astronomy and Astrophysics Panel Reports, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press

National Research Council 2010, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press

Paris, N. 2007, Hawking to experience zero gravity, The Daily Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1549770/Hawking-to-experience-zero-gravity.html, August 2013

Renée James, C. 2012, What has astronomy done for you lately?, www.astronomy.com, May 2012,30-35

Shasharina, S. G. et al. 2005, GRIDL: high-performance and distributed interactive data language, High Performance Distributed Computing, HPDC-14. Proceedings. 14th IEEE International Symposium, 291-292

Schuler, M. D. 1979, in Image Reconstruction from Projections, (ed. G. T. Herman, Berlin:Springer), 105

StarChild, StarChild: Dr. Carl Sagan, NASA, http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/sagan.html October 2009

Truman, H. 1949, Inaugural Presidential Speech, http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/50yr_archive/inagural20jan1949.htm, June 2013

Wikipedia contributors 2013, Technical Pan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_Pan, April 2013.

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By Marissa Rosenberg, Pedro Russo (EU-UNAWE, Leiden Observatory/Leiden University, The Netherlands), Georgia Bladon, Lars Lindberg Christensen (ESO, Germany) Also see Rosenberg, M., Russo, P., Bladon, G.

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The Hubble Space Telescope was a revolutionary telescope that was launched into low earth orbit in 1990. It is the only space telescope that was designed to be maintained by astronauts and is responsible for so much new information about our universe that we didn't know before. It takes pictures of space that we could come close to replicating with a telescope here on Earth and has given us so much information. It was discovered that most Galaxies have a supermassive black hole at the center. It helped map the mysterious dark matter that is all over our universe. "discovered that most galaxies contain supermassive black holes, and mapped the presence of the mysterious dark matter that makes up most of the universe’s mass and structure." Space telescopes can help us see so much more than we can on Earth, with new space telescopes like the James Webb, I wonder what else we can discover? https://www.nasa.gov/content/discoveries-hubbles-galaxies

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Ever since the first humans were on earth, by default we tend to want to dive into the unknown of the universe and what is out there. Astronomy has led us where we are today and how we have advanced as a species. Astronomy runs of off curiosity and human nature of wanting to unpeel the unknown. "In both cases, astronomers had to be adventurers to even think about taking a step further in expanding the known universe. At the same time, scientific knowledge was not constrained by expected outcomes. On many occasions, the explanation lay simply in the “unknown.” Thus, it was uncertainty that created an opening for the development of new knowledge." Astronomy's history is important to obtain because you realize everyone who studies it has the same question. What is out there? What is the Unknown?https://historyofknowledge.net/2021/10/14/history-of-astronomy-and-the-unknown/ https://historyofknowledge.net/2021/10/14/history-of-astronomy-and-the-unknown/https://historyofknowledge.net/2021/10/14/history-of-astronomy-and-the-unknown/

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Humanity has long wished to know the universe. This desire has been present in nearly every civilization, culture, or community of human beings. Knowing the universe has always been extremely challenging, notwithstanding diverse approaches to the task-scientific reasoning, ancestral respect, the identification and worship of divinities, to name but a few. Nevertheless, there is a common gesture when we connect to the universe. No matter in what time or place, humans look up to the stars and wonder. We exhibit a common attitude as well, overwhelmed by how much we do not know about our own universe.

In some way, this sense of being overwhelmed must have been present in ancient cultures, too. In our own era, whenever we can enjoy the darkness of the night, this gesture and this attitude have not changed that much. Despite all modern astronomy's advanced technology, there is still the looking up and the wondering about all the celestial phenomena we do not know.

If there is continuity in relating to the stars, though, there are some other things that have changed, in particular with regard to how we produce astronomical knowledge and, even more broadly, scientific knowledge. Those changes are not simply technological. There are two episodes in the history of astronomy that I find particularly interesting to illustrate this point.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the astronomer William Wallace Campbell, working at the Lick Observatory in California, wanted to solve what he termed the "sidereal problem." At first, I thought this had to be a very well-known problem in astronomy. Even if more than a century later it held little interest for astronomers, they would certainly know what Campbell meant with this concept. But they did not. To find out what was at issue, I had to search through Campbell's own publications and records.

The sidereal problem was somehow complicated. In one of his notes, he pointed to uncertainty about the position of the beholder: "It is well known that the observed positions and motions of celestial objects are influenced not only by the motions of the objects themselves, but also by motions of the observer." Moreover, Campbell insisted that there were three motions: rotation, which they could explain and measure very well; revolution, which still had a margin of error, but which he trusted would soon be resolved; and the motion of the solar system through space. The sidereal problem combined the movements of the solar system, of our planet, and of the humans trying to understand them.

To cope with this task, Campbell embarked on an ambitious project. He constructed a spectrograph, raised funds, convinced scientists and authorities, and designed a mission to go to the Southern Hemisphere and build an observatory there. By doing so, he could compare observations and measurements-specifically, radial velocities-from both hemispheres. He and his team at the Lick Observatory acknowledged how little they knew about Southern stars. As Heber Curtis, one of the astronomers, would later say, the Southern skies contained "many virgin fields which offer rich returns to the exploring astronomer." The team hoped to see what no astronomer had seen before.

The plan moved forward. They chose Chile as their destination; however, at the last moment, Campbell could not travel and lead the mission. Appointed director of the Lick Observatory, he severely injured himself testing one of the mirrors right before the trip. Frustrated, he stayed in California and sent his assistant, William Wright, as the mission's acting lead astronomer.

To deal with the uncertainties of trying to answer a complicated astronomical question, Campbell had put together several human, financial, and technological efforts. After this preparation, the adventure began. Wright and the rest of the team sailed from San Francisco to Valparaiso in 1903. They shipped all the equipment they needed: mirrors, spectrograph, plates, and even a dome. The astronomers spent more than two months at sea, constantly checking their instruments, before they arrived in an unfamiliar South American country. Once there, they had to get to the capital city, find a suitable location, and build their observatory, all while dealing with a foreign society.

The point of this fascinating adventure was to study an unknown portion of the universe. They had a scientific plan, to measure the radial velocities of brighter stars, but they did not have a preconceived notion of what they would find. In fact, the mission, initially planned for two or three years, lasted twenty-six. The astronomers worked intensely during that period, but the sidereal problem was not even mentioned in their findings. As important as that had been in Campbell's motivation and justification for going south, once the team was there, the sidereal problem seemed to have vanished. Their work centered on studying all the stars they could not see from California, and they discovered interesting information about binary stars.

In 1909, Curtis led an expedition to the Atacama Desert. He was impressed by the purity of the skies there, but the isolation was too severe at the time to think of building a station in that location. Nevertheless, he recorded his entire trip in what became known as the Curtis Report.

Although the group faced several financial issues during the mission's stay in Chile, the value of their work was never called into question. The argument that there was too much to apprehend was enough for an astronomical mission and, more surprising, for their patrons too.

Several decades later, in the 1960s, with completely different technology available, postwar astronomers in Europe and the United States were interested in reaching Southern skies. Again, the reason was simple. They had a fair amount of information about the celestial Northern Hemisphere, but very little about Southern celestial phenomena. By this point, they never referred to the sidereal problem. They had two other focal points instead. From the South it was possible to observe the Magellanic Clouds and the center of the Milky Way.

Again, enormous efforts to go South began. Astronomers in Western Europe put together a collaborative project, which later culminated in the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Their plan was to establish a research station in South Africa. After all, as they noted at the time, "The study of the southern celestial hemisphere is much less advanced than that of the northern hemisphere. Most of the big instruments are located in the northern terrestrial hemisphere, particularly those at Mount Palomar."

At the same time, and despite having the most powerful telescopes at the time (at Mount Palomar), the Americans made progress with their own plan to establish an observatory in the South. For them, Latin America was the most reasonable region to look for a place. After a series of negotiations, they decided on Chile and sent the German astronomer Jürgen Stock to do site testing.

Once again, the astronomical assignment involved wandering around mountains, carrying delicate equipment, making sure they had mules to assist them and sufficient fodder for those animals, learning about mountain weather, and many other things. Creating an opportunity to learn more about the stars entailed embarking on an adventure that went beyond purely scientific challenges.

After Stock's site testing, the American institution in charge of the mission, AURA or the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, decided to build a massive observatory in the semi-arid region of Coquimbo, Chile. AURA's president was Donald Shane, by then director of the Lick Observatory. How much he knew about the Curtis Report remains somewhat of a mystery, but the Lick connection is certainly an exciting coincidence.

In the middle of that process, the Europeans changed their plans and left South Africa. Although Stock was on the American project, not theirs, they knew his site testing results were outstanding and decided to go to Chile. All this was not merely scientific, but intersected global and local politics.

It is interesting to note that in this first stage, neither the Americans nor the Europeans showed a concrete plan of what specifically they would do once they had their observatories running. They must have had a scientific plan, but official founding documents show interest in the unknown. That was the starting point of astronomy's take-off in Chile, an activity that keeps growing on a local, national, and global scale.

Beyond the fascinating crossroads of science and politics, it is interesting to think about the dimension of producing scientific knowledge in these histories of astronomy. In recent decades, it has become clear that astronomy has had many "spillovers" in a variety of areas. Computing, data science, engineering, and even tourism are a few examples of how societies can embrace progress throughout astronomical development. However, in these initial stages of astronomy in Chile, these outcomes or were not known or addressed.

Astronomy in the early and mid twentieth century shows us how humans embraced astronomical tasks mainly because of their need to increase their knowledge of the unknown. Our protagonists' efforts intersected in time and space-time because the endeavor at the turn of the century was linked to the technological plan of the 1960s, and space because this story brought together different nations of the world to metaphorically leave the planet and aim for more knowledge of the universe.

In both cases, astronomers had to be adventurers to even think about taking a step further in expanding the known universe. At the same time, scientific knowledge was not constrained by expected outcomes. On many occasions, the explanation lay simply in the "unknown." Thus, it was uncertainty that created an opening for the development of new knowledge.

Contemporary Western societies tend to avoid uncertainty. The models for producing science embrace the unknown but at the same time reject it, even displace it for what could produce more results: speed, practicality, dependability. These episodes from the history of astronomy remind us of the relevance of adventure and the colossal potential of the unknown. Astronomy works at night, when we cannot be certain of what we see on earth. The darkness is precisely what enables us to look up and see starlight, many times unknown starlight.

Barbara Kirsi Silva is a professor of history at Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Santiago, Chile. She is author of Astronomy at the Turn of the Twentieth Century in Chile and the United States: Chasing Southern Stars(Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).

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What the History of Astronomy Can Teach Us about the Unknown

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Humanity has long wished to know the universe. This desire has been present in nearly every civilization, culture, or community of human beings. Knowing the universe has always been extremely challenging, notwithstanding diverse approaches to the task-scientific reasoning, ancestral respect, the identification and worship of divinities, to name but a few.

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How Astronomy Helps and Advances Humankind 🌙

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How Astronomy Helps and Advances Humankind 🌙

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Astronomy isn't just a field of science, it's all around us. Astronomy has greatly advanced technology with telescopes, satellites, and even the camera on your smartphone right now. The iPhone camera is a charge-coupled device (CCD). These devices were originally created for Astronomy, and are used in most webcams and cell phones. Another way Astronomy helps humans is the study itself. It's important we know about the history of our planet and try to figure out what's to come. Astronomy has long-term benefits that are important to a civilized society. Studies have shown that investing in science education, research and technology provides a great return culturally, economically, and indirectly for humans in general. The scientific and technological development of a region is closely linked to its human development index, a statistic that is a measure of life expectancy, education, and income.
"Preserving knowledge is easy. Transferring knowledge is also easy. But making new knowledge is neither easy nor profitable in the short term. Fundamental research proves profitable in the long run, and, as importantly, it is a force that enriches the culture of any society with reason and basic truth.”
- Ahmed Zewali, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1999).
One question I have is: how will Astronomy advance technology in the future? Do we have any predictions?

Sources:
https://www.iau.org/public/themes/astronomy_in_everyday_life/
https://www.universetoday.com/106302/how-astronomy-benefits-society-and-humankind/

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Astronomy has played a vital role in advancing the human species by expanding our knowledge and understanding of the universe. Through the use of telescopes, satellites, and other technologies, astronomers have been able to uncover new information about the cosmos and our place within it. This has led to numerous scientific and technological advancements that have improved our lives in a variety of ways. For example, astronomical research has advanced our understanding of climate change, allowing us to better predict and mitigate its effects. It has also improved navigation systems, enabling us to map our world and explore new frontiers. Additionally, astronomy has inspired generations of people to pursue careers in science and engineering, leading to the development of new technologies that benefit society. From increasing our knowledge of the universe to advancing our technological capabilities, astronomy continues to play a critical role in advancing the human species. "The pursuit of astronomy inspires us to reach for the stars and pushes the boundaries of what is possible, leading to numerous scientific and technological advancements that benefit humanity."

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth#:~:text=Computers%2C%20satellites%20and%20the%20smartphones,the%20legacy%20of%20astronomy%2C%20and

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Knowing the history of astronomy is important for several reasons. Firstly, it provides a context for our current understanding of the universe and how we got to where we are now. It shows the progress made over time and the contributions of various individuals and cultures to our current understanding of the cosmos. Secondly, it can inspire us to continue pushing the boundaries of what is possible and to pursue discoveries in astronomy. Thirdly, studying the history of astronomy can also help us understand the cultural, political, and economic factors that shaped the way astronomy was studied and practiced in the past. Finally, knowing the history of astronomy can give us a greater appreciation for the scale and complexity of the universe and our place within it. By understanding our history and heritage in astronomy, we can better understand the world around us and our place in it. "Knowledge of the past is the key to the future, and in no field is this more true than in astronomy." - George Ellery Hale.

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"Spiral galaxies have winding spiral arms that make them look a little like massive pinwheels. These disks of stars, gas, and dust have bright bulges in their centers made up primarily of older and dimmer stars."

Their whirled arms are typically full of gas and dust, which helps give rise to the bright, younger stars visible throughout their length. Spiral galaxies are actively forming stars and make up a large amount of all the galaxies in our nearby universe.

For over three decades, the Hubble Space Telescope has helped scientists gain a greater understanding of how galaxies form and evolve. The telescope has observed some of the farthest galaxies ever seen, thanks to its iconic deep field imagery.

link: https://www.nasa.gov/content/discoveries-hubbles-galaxies

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NASA.gov brings you the latest images, videos and news from America's space agency. Get the latest updates on NASA missions, watch NASA TV live, and learn about our quest to reveal the unknown and benefit all humankind.

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they service, Global Positioning System energy efficient solar panels digital camera sensors airport security scanners, portable X-ray machines  and Magnetic Resonance imaging MRIscanners are just a few of technological advances that are the legacy of astronomy
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth#:~:text=Computers%2C%20satellites%20and%20the%20smartphones,the%20legacy%20of%20astronomy%2C%20and

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How can astronomy improve life on earth? | Center for Astrophysics

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Much of astronomy is concerned with understanding distant phenomena, seeing the invisible, and studying the most extreme events in the Universe. But how does this pursuit help our daily lives here on Earth?

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well it helps Galileo Galilei to see objects orbiting another planet. helped show the people his arguments agents the planets orbiting the sun instead of the earth, it helps people understand what will happen in the future with others plus lets us know what will happen or is used to measure time, mark the seasons even navigate the vast oceans.

https://www.123helpme.com/essay/The-Importance-The-History-Of-Astronomy-Is-712732

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_astronomy

-Jetzabel lazaro

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we see astronomy as a scientific field that transcends borders and promotes collaboration between global teams in unified pursuit of knowledge. Computers, satellites and the smartphones they service, Global Positioning System (GPS), energy-efficient solar panels, digital camera sensors, airport security scanners, portable X-ray machines, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners are just a few of technological advances that are the legacy of astronomy. Astronomy also helped develop calendars and, thus, helped merchants time their activities. Religion and politics played a role too, since the knowledge of astronomy helped priests become quite powerful in many civilizations. Astrology was part of the development of astronomy as well.

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth#:~:text=Computers%2C%20satellites%20and%20the%20smartphones,the%20legacy%20of%20astronomy%2C%20and

https://www.loc.gov/collections/finding-our-place-in-the-cosmos-with-carl-sagan/articles-and-essays/modeling-the-cosmos/ancient-greek-astronomy-and-cosmology

-Jetzabel Lazaro

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How can astronomy improve life on earth? | Center for Astrophysics

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Much of astronomy is concerned with understanding distant phenomena, seeing the invisible, and studying the most extreme events in the Universe. But how does this pursuit help our daily lives here on Earth?

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The importance of leading the past is to have a grater understanding and have more appreciation of the present

“Humanity has long wished to know the universe. This desire has been present in nearly every civilization, culture, or community of human beings. Knowing the universe has always been extremely challenging, notwithstanding diverse approaches to the task—scientific reasoning, ancestral respect, the identification and worship of divinities, to name but a few. “

https://historyofknowledge.net/2021/10/14/history-of-astronomy-and-the-unknown/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Humanity has long wished to know the universe. This desire has been present in nearly every civilization, culture, or community of human beings. Knowing the universe has always been extremely challenging, notwithstanding diverse approaches to the task-scientific reasoning, ancestral respect, the identification and worship of divinities, to name but a few. Nevertheless, there is a common gesture when we connect to the universe. No matter in what time or place, humans look up to the stars and wonder. We exhibit a common attitude as well, overwhelmed by how much we do not know about our own universe.

In some way, this sense of being overwhelmed must have been present in ancient cultures, too. In our own era, whenever we can enjoy the darkness of the night, this gesture and this attitude have not changed that much. Despite all modern astronomy's advanced technology, there is still the looking up and the wondering about all the celestial phenomena we do not know.

If there is continuity in relating to the stars, though, there are some other things that have changed, in particular with regard to how we produce astronomical knowledge and, even more broadly, scientific knowledge. Those changes are not simply technological. There are two episodes in the history of astronomy that I find particularly interesting to illustrate this point.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the astronomer William Wallace Campbell, working at the Lick Observatory in California, wanted to solve what he termed the "sidereal problem." At first, I thought this had to be a very well-known problem in astronomy. Even if more than a century later it held little interest for astronomers, they would certainly know what Campbell meant with this concept. But they did not. To find out what was at issue, I had to search through Campbell's own publications and records.

The sidereal problem was somehow complicated. In one of his notes, he pointed to uncertainty about the position of the beholder: "It is well known that the observed positions and motions of celestial objects are influenced not only by the motions of the objects themselves, but also by motions of the observer." Moreover, Campbell insisted that there were three motions: rotation, which they could explain and measure very well; revolution, which still had a margin of error, but which he trusted would soon be resolved; and the motion of the solar system through space. The sidereal problem combined the movements of the solar system, of our planet, and of the humans trying to understand them.

To cope with this task, Campbell embarked on an ambitious project. He constructed a spectrograph, raised funds, convinced scientists and authorities, and designed a mission to go to the Southern Hemisphere and build an observatory there. By doing so, he could compare observations and measurements-specifically, radial velocities-from both hemispheres. He and his team at the Lick Observatory acknowledged how little they knew about Southern stars. As Heber Curtis, one of the astronomers, would later say, the Southern skies contained "many virgin fields which offer rich returns to the exploring astronomer." The team hoped to see what no astronomer had seen before.

The plan moved forward. They chose Chile as their destination; however, at the last moment, Campbell could not travel and lead the mission. Appointed director of the Lick Observatory, he severely injured himself testing one of the mirrors right before the trip. Frustrated, he stayed in California and sent his assistant, William Wright, as the mission's acting lead astronomer.

To deal with the uncertainties of trying to answer a complicated astronomical question, Campbell had put together several human, financial, and technological efforts. After this preparation, the adventure began. Wright and the rest of the team sailed from San Francisco to Valparaiso in 1903. They shipped all the equipment they needed: mirrors, spectrograph, plates, and even a dome. The astronomers spent more than two months at sea, constantly checking their instruments, before they arrived in an unfamiliar South American country. Once there, they had to get to the capital city, find a suitable location, and build their observatory, all while dealing with a foreign society.

The point of this fascinating adventure was to study an unknown portion of the universe. They had a scientific plan, to measure the radial velocities of brighter stars, but they did not have a preconceived notion of what they would find. In fact, the mission, initially planned for two or three years, lasted twenty-six. The astronomers worked intensely during that period, but the sidereal problem was not even mentioned in their findings. As important as that had been in Campbell's motivation and justification for going south, once the team was there, the sidereal problem seemed to have vanished. Their work centered on studying all the stars they could not see from California, and they discovered interesting information about binary stars.

In 1909, Curtis led an expedition to the Atacama Desert. He was impressed by the purity of the skies there, but the isolation was too severe at the time to think of building a station in that location. Nevertheless, he recorded his entire trip in what became known as the Curtis Report.

Although the group faced several financial issues during the mission's stay in Chile, the value of their work was never called into question. The argument that there was too much to apprehend was enough for an astronomical mission and, more surprising, for their patrons too.

Several decades later, in the 1960s, with completely different technology available, postwar astronomers in Europe and the United States were interested in reaching Southern skies. Again, the reason was simple. They had a fair amount of information about the celestial Northern Hemisphere, but very little about Southern celestial phenomena. By this point, they never referred to the sidereal problem. They had two other focal points instead. From the South it was possible to observe the Magellanic Clouds and the center of the Milky Way.

Again, enormous efforts to go South began. Astronomers in Western Europe put together a collaborative project, which later culminated in the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Their plan was to establish a research station in South Africa. After all, as they noted at the time, "The study of the southern celestial hemisphere is much less advanced than that of the northern hemisphere. Most of the big instruments are located in the northern terrestrial hemisphere, particularly those at Mount Palomar."

At the same time, and despite having the most powerful telescopes at the time (at Mount Palomar), the Americans made progress with their own plan to establish an observatory in the South. For them, Latin America was the most reasonable region to look for a place. After a series of negotiations, they decided on Chile and sent the German astronomer Jürgen Stock to do site testing.

Once again, the astronomical assignment involved wandering around mountains, carrying delicate equipment, making sure they had mules to assist them and sufficient fodder for those animals, learning about mountain weather, and many other things. Creating an opportunity to learn more about the stars entailed embarking on an adventure that went beyond purely scientific challenges.

After Stock's site testing, the American institution in charge of the mission, AURA or the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, decided to build a massive observatory in the semi-arid region of Coquimbo, Chile. AURA's president was Donald Shane, by then director of the Lick Observatory. How much he knew about the Curtis Report remains somewhat of a mystery, but the Lick connection is certainly an exciting coincidence.

In the middle of that process, the Europeans changed their plans and left South Africa. Although Stock was on the American project, not theirs, they knew his site testing results were outstanding and decided to go to Chile. All this was not merely scientific, but intersected global and local politics.

It is interesting to note that in this first stage, neither the Americans nor the Europeans showed a concrete plan of what specifically they would do once they had their observatories running. They must have had a scientific plan, but official founding documents show interest in the unknown. That was the starting point of astronomy's take-off in Chile, an activity that keeps growing on a local, national, and global scale.

Beyond the fascinating crossroads of science and politics, it is interesting to think about the dimension of producing scientific knowledge in these histories of astronomy. In recent decades, it has become clear that astronomy has had many "spillovers" in a variety of areas. Computing, data science, engineering, and even tourism are a few examples of how societies can embrace progress throughout astronomical development. However, in these initial stages of astronomy in Chile, these outcomes or were not known or addressed.

Astronomy in the early and mid twentieth century shows us how humans embraced astronomical tasks mainly because of their need to increase their knowledge of the unknown. Our protagonists' efforts intersected in time and space-time because the endeavor at the turn of the century was linked to the technological plan of the 1960s, and space because this story brought together different nations of the world to metaphorically leave the planet and aim for more knowledge of the universe.

In both cases, astronomers had to be adventurers to even think about taking a step further in expanding the known universe. At the same time, scientific knowledge was not constrained by expected outcomes. On many occasions, the explanation lay simply in the "unknown." Thus, it was uncertainty that created an opening for the development of new knowledge.

Contemporary Western societies tend to avoid uncertainty. The models for producing science embrace the unknown but at the same time reject it, even displace it for what could produce more results: speed, practicality, dependability. These episodes from the history of astronomy remind us of the relevance of adventure and the colossal potential of the unknown. Astronomy works at night, when we cannot be certain of what we see on earth. The darkness is precisely what enables us to look up and see starlight, many times unknown starlight.

Barbara Kirsi Silva is a professor of history at Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Santiago, Chile. She is author of Astronomy at the Turn of the Twentieth Century in Chile and the United States: Chasing Southern Stars(Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).

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What the History of Astronomy Can Teach Us about the Unknown

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Humanity has long wished to know the universe. This desire has been present in nearly every civilization, culture, or community of human beings. Knowing the universe has always been extremely challenging, notwithstanding diverse approaches to the task-scientific reasoning, ancestral respect, the identification and worship of divinities, to name but a few.

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The reason astronomy is so important is because it has been used to measure time and mark the seasons. apparently navigate the ocean.Wikipedia contributors. (2023, February 12). History of astronomy. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_astronomy

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The reason astronomy is so important is because it has been used to measure time and mark the seasons. apparently navigate the ocean.Wikipedia contributors. (2023, February 12). History of astronomy. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_astronomy

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It used to be common belief that the Earth was the center of our solar system. This idea was the status quo until another theory was proposed by Nicolaus Capernicus, Capernicus proposed the idea that the earth was just like any other planet which orbited the Sun. This theory recieved heavy backlash to the point that "those who did give credence to the idea faced charges of heresy" even an Italian Scientist named Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for preaching the same ideas of Capernicus. It took over a century for this theory to truly catch on. This belief was solidified after Galileo observed the moons orbiting Jupiter as well as the phases of Venus. After this I cant help but wonder how many times the status quo and other religious beliefs had ceased or stood against scientific progress.

TJ Hoshaw

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"In 1785 astronomer William Herschel mapped out the shape of the Milky Way star system using measurements he called "star-gages."" This was the first time that someone attempted to map out our known galaxy, where they used their own method to attempt knowing the distance an position of all the stars. Leading to more people making models of the galaxy and solar systems.
https://arxiv.org/abs/1112.3635#:~:text=In%201785%20astronomer%20William%20Herschel,which%20the%20method%20is%20based.

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Humans have long gazed to the stars and the Human drive to explore and discover is a key factor in Humanities interest into the field. Studies in the field of Astronomy have always been a benefit to us as it continues to evolve and grow, Studies into space travel are what allowed us to place satellites in orbit and what allow us to have a functioning GPS. Humanity always made its most productive strides in eras where a goal was already set out such as in the space race which drove so many firsts in the field of space travel. Astronomy has a way of helping other sciences as it grows on its own, or as Harvard describes it "Astronomy is continually innovating and progressing. Seemingly by accident, scientific and technological developments in astronomy have worked their way into our daily lives." Astronomy as a field produces so many meaningful benefits to aid in the development of technology and its accompanying sciences.

CFA Harvard

TJ Hoshaw

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How can astronomy improve life on earth? | Center for Astrophysics

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Much of astronomy is concerned with understanding distant phenomena, seeing the invisible, and studying the most extreme events in the Universe. But how does this pursuit help our daily lives here on Earth?

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"Computers, satellites and the smartphones they service, Global Positioning System (GPS), energy-efficient solar panels, digital camera sensors, airport security scanners, portable X-ray machines, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners are just a few of technological advances that are the legacy of astronomy, and that benefit us all on Earth." What this quote essentially says, is without the want and work towards understanding space, the technology we use in medicine, and our daily lives out wouldn't have been invented the same way. We use this tech to not only explore the outer reaches, but the more we learn and understand about the space around us, the more we can understand and help ourselves.
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/how-can-astronomy-improve-life-earth#:~:text=Computers%2C%20satellites%20and%20the%20smartphones,the%20legacy%20of%20astronomy%2C%20and

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It gave us new technology such as computers, cellphones, communication satellites, and solar panels. New ways to get energy, as well as medical things. Found a way to detect tumors, x-ray, gamma ray spectrometer. Police us COD that was made from astronomers. Able to make calendars and tell time.
International Astronomical Union | IAU. (n.d.). https://www.iau.org/public/themes/astronomy_in_everyday_life/#medicine

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astronomy is important because it helps humans understand the universe , our solar system and more importantly our own planet. according to the national astronomy union throughout history astronomy has been used by humans to navigate the oceans tell the seasons and even helped create the calendars we still use today! "In the past, astronomy has been used to measure time, mark the seasons, and navigate the vast oceans. As one of the oldest sciences astronomy is part of every culture’s history and roots. It inspires us with beautiful images and promises answers to the big questions."

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By Marissa Rosenberg, Pedro Russo (EU-UNAWE, Leiden Observatory/Leiden University, The Netherlands), Georgia Bladon, Lars Lindberg Christensen (ESO, Germany)

Also see Rosenberg, M., Russo, P., Bladon, G. & Christensen, L.L., Astronomy in Everyday Life CAPjournal 14, 2013
Introduction
Technology transfer
From astronomy to industry
From astronomy to the aerospace sector
From astronomy to the energy sector

Astronomy and medicine
Astronomy in everyday life
Astronomy and international collaboration
Summary
References

Introduction

Throughout History humans have looked to the sky to navigate the vast oceans, to decide when to plant their crops and to answer questions of where we came from and how we got here. It is a discipline that opens our eyes, gives context to our place in the Universe and that can reshape how we see the world. When Copernicus claimed that Earth was not the centre of the Universe, it triggered a revolution. A revolution through which religion, science, and society had to adapt to this new world view.

Astronomy has always had a significant impact on our world view. Early cultures identified celestial objects with the gods and took their movements across the sky as prophecies of what was to come. We would now call this astrology, far removed from the hard facts and expensive instruments of today's astronomy, but there are still hints of this history in modern astronomy. Take, for example, the names of the constellations: Andromeda, the chained maiden of Greek mythology, or Perseus, the demi-god who saved her.

Now, as our understanding of the world progresses, we find ourselves and our view of the world even more entwined with the stars. The discovery that the basic elements that we find in stars, and the gas and dust around them, are the same elements that make up our bodies has further deepened the connection between us and the cosmos. This connection touches our lives, and the awe it inspires is perhaps the reason that the beautiful images astronomy provides us with are so popular in today's culture.

There are still many unanswered questions in astronomy. Current research is struggling to understand questions like: "How old are we?", "What is the fate of the Universe?" and possibly the most interesting: "How unique is the Universe, and could a slightly different Universe ever have supported life?" But astronomy is also breaking new records every day, establishing the furthest distances, most massive objects, highest temperatures and most violent explosions.

Pursuing these questions is a fundamental part of being human, yet in today's world it has become increasingly important to be able to justify the pursuit of the answers. The difficulties in describing the importance of astronomy, and fundamental research in general, are well summarized by the following quote:

"Preserving knowledge is easy. Transferring knowledge is also easy. But making new knowledge is neither easy nor profitable in the short term. Fundamental research proves profitable in the long run, and, as importantly, it is a force that enriches the culture of any society with reason and basic truth."
- Ahmed Zewali, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1999).

Although we live in a world faced with the many immediate problems of hunger, poverty, energy and global warming, we argue that astronomy has long term benefits that are equally as important to a civilized society. Several studies (see below) have told us that investing in science education, research and technology provides a great return - not only economically, but culturally and indirectly for the population in general - and has helped countries to face and overcome crises. The scientific and technological development of a country or region is closely linked to its human development index - a statistic that is a measure of life expectancy, education and income (Truman, 1949).

There are other works that have contributed to answering the question "Why is astronomy important?" Dr. Robert Aitken, director of Lick Observatory, shows us that even in 1933 there was a need to justify our science, in his paper entitled The Use of Astronomy (Aitken, 1933). His last sentence summarizes his sentiment: "To give man ever more knowledge of the universe and to help him 'to learn humility and to know exaltation', that is the mission of astronomy." More recently, C. Renée James wrote an article outlining the recent technological advances that we can thank astronomy for, such as GPS, medical imaging, and wireless internet (Renée James, 2012). In defence of radio astronomy, Dave Finley in Finley (2013) states, "In sum, astronomy has been a cornerstone of technological progress throughout history, has much to contribute in the future, and offers all humans a fundamental sense of our place in an unimaginably vast and exciting universe."

Astronomy and related fields are at the forefront of science and technology; answering fundamental questions and driving innovation. It is for this reason that the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) strategic plan for 2010-2020 has three main areas of focus: technology and skills; science and research; and culture and society.

Although "blue-skies research" like astronomy rarely contributes directly with tangible outcomes on a short time scale, the pursuit of this research requires cutting-edge technology and methods that can on a longer time scale, through their broader application make a difference.

A wealth of examples - many of which are outlined below - show how the study of astronomy contributes to technology, economy and society by constantly pushing for instruments, processes and software that are beyond our current capabilities.

The fruits of scientific and technological development in astronomy, especially in areas such as optics and electronics, have become essential to our day-to-day life, with applications such as personal computers, communication satellites, mobile phones, Global Positioning Systems, solar panels and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners.

Although the study of astronomy has provided a wealth of tangible, monetary and technological gains, perhaps the most important aspect of astronomy is not one of economical measure. Astronomy has and continues to revolutionize our thinking on a worldwide scale. In the past, astronomy has been used to measure time, mark the seasons, and navigate the vast oceans. As one of the oldest sciences astronomy is part of every culture's history and roots. It inspires us with beautiful images and promises answers to the big questions. It acts as a window into the immense size and complexity of space, putting Earth into perspective and promoting global citizenship and pride in our home planet.

Several reports in the US (National Research Council, 2010) and Europe (Bode et al., 2008) indicate that the major contributions of astronomy are not just the technological and medical applications ( technology transfer, see below), but a unique perspective that extends our horizons and helps us discover the grandeur of the Universe and our place within it. On a more pressing level, astronomy helps us study how to prolong the survival of our species. For example, it is critical to study the Sun's influence on Earth's climate and how it will affect weather, water levels etc. Only the study of the Sun and other stars can help us to understand these processes in their entirety. In addition, mapping the movement of all the objects in our Solar System, allows us to predict the potential threats to our planet from space. Such events could cause major changes to our world, as was clearly demonstrated by the meteorite impact in Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013.

On a personal level, teaching astronomy to our youth is also of great value. It has been proven that pupils who engage in astronomy-related educational activities at a primary or secondary school are more likely to pursue careers in science and technology, and to keep up to date with scientific discoveries (National Research Council, 1991). This does not just benefit the field of astronomy, but reaches across other scientific disciplines.

Astronomy is one of the few scientific fields that interacts directly with society. Not only transcending borders, but actively promoting collaborations around the world. In the following paper, we outline the tangible aspects of what astronomy has contributed to various fields.

Technology transfer

From astronomy to industry

Some of the most useful examples of technology transfer between astronomy and industry include advances in imaging and communications. For example, a film called Kodak Technical Pan is used extensively by medical and industrial spectroscopists, industrial photographers, and artists, and was originally created so that solar astronomers could record the changes in the surface structure of the Sun. In addition, the development of Technical Pan - again driven by the requirements of astronomers - was used for several decades (until it was discontinued) to detect diseased crops and forests, in dentistry and medical diagnosis, and for probing layers of paintings to reveal forgeries (National Research Council, 1991).

In 2009 Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of another device that would be widely used in industry. The sensors for image capture developed for astronomical images, known as Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs), were first used in astronomy in 1976. Within a very few years they had replaced film not only on telescopes, but also in many people's personal cameras, webcams and mobile phones. The improvement and popularity of CCDs is attributed to NASA's decision to use super-sensitive CCD technology on the Hubble Space Telescope (Kiger & English, 2011).

In the realm of communication, radio astronomy has provided a wealth of useful tools, devices, and data-processing methods. Many successful communications companies were originally founded by radio astronomers. The computer language FORTH was originally created to be used by the Kitt Peak 36-foot telescope and went on to provide the basis for a highly profitable company ( Forth Inc.). It is now being used by FedEx worldwide for its tracking services.

Some other examples of technology transfer between astronomy and industry are listed below (National Research Council, 2010):

The company General Motors uses the astronomy programming language Interactive Data Language (IDL) to analyse data from car crashes.

The first patents for techniques to detect gravitational radiation - produced when massive bodies accelerate - have been acquired by a company to help them determine the gravitational stability of underground oil reservoirs.

The telecommunications company AT&T uses Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF) - a collection of software written at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory - to analyse computer systems and solid-state physics graphics.

Larry Altschuler, an astronomer, was responsible for the development of tomography - the process of imaging in sections using a penetrating wave - via his work on reconstructing the Solar Corona from its projections. (Schuler, M. D. 1979)

From astronomy to the aerospace sector

The aerospace sector shares most of its technology with astronomy - specifically in telescope and instrument hardware, imaging, and image-processing techniques.

Since the development of space-based telescopes, information acquisition for defence has shifted from using ground-based to aerial and space-based, techniques. Defence satellites are essentially telescopes pointed towards Earth and require identical technology and hardware to those used in their astronomical counterparts. In addition, processing satellite images uses the same software and processes as astronomical images.

Some specific examples of astronomical developments used in defence are given below (National Research Council, 2010):

Observations of stars and models of stellar atmospheres are used to differentiate between rocket plumes and cosmic objects. The same method is now being studied for use in early warning systems.

Observations of stellar distributions on the sky - which are used to point and calibrate telescopes - are also used in aerospace engineering.

Astronomers developed a solar-blind photon counter - a device which can measure the particles of light from a source, during the day, without being overwhelmed by the particles coming from the Sun. This is now used to detect ultraviolet (UV) photons coming from the exhaust of a missile, allowing for a virtually false-alarm-free UV missile warning system. The same technology can also be used to detect toxic gases.

Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites rely on astronomical objects, such as quasars and distant galaxies, to determine accurate positions.

From astronomy to the energy sector

Astronomical methods can be used to find new fossil fuels as well as to evaluate the possibility of new renewable energy sources (National Research Council, 2010):

Two oil companies, Texaco and BP, use IDL to analyse core samples around oil fields as well as for general petroleum research.

An Australian company, called Ingenero, has created solar radiation collectors to harness the power of the Sun for energy on Earth. They have created collectors up to 16 metres in diameter, which is only possible with the use of a graphite composite material developed for an orbiting telescope array.

Technology designed to image X-rays in X-ray telescopes - which have to be designed differently from visible-light telescopes - is now used to monitor plasma fusion. If fusion - where two light atomic nuclei fuse to form a heavier nucleus - became possible to control, it could be the answer to safe, clean, energy.

Astronomy and medicine

Astronomers struggle constantly to see objects that are ever dimmer and further away. Medicine struggles with similar issues: to see things that are obscured within the human body. Both disciplines require high-resolution, accurate and detailed images. Perhaps the most notable example of knowledge transfer between these two studies is the technique of aperture synthesis, developed by the radio astronomer and Nobel Laureate, Martin Ryle (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 1974). This technology is used in computerised tomography (also known as CT or CAT scanners), magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs), positron emission tomography (PET) and many other medical imaging tools.

Along with these imaging techniques, astronomy has developed many programming languages that make image processing much easier, specifically IDL and IRAF. These languages are widely used for medical applications (Shasharina, 2005).

Another important example of how astronomical research has contributed to the medical world is in the development of clean working areas. The manufacture of space-based telescopes requires an extremely clean environment to prevent dust or particles that might obscure or obstruct the mirrors or instruments on the telescopes (such as in NASA's STEREO mission; Gruman, 2011). The cleanroom protocols, air filters, and bunny suits that were developed to achieve this are now also used in hospitals and pharmaceutical labs (Clark, 2012).

Some more direct applications of astronomical tools in medicine are listed below:

A collaboration between a drug company and the Cambridge Automatic Plate Measuring Facility allows blood samples from leukaemia patients to be analysed faster and thus ensures more accurate changes in medication (National Research Council, 1991).

Radio astronomers developed a method that is now used as a non-invasive way to detect tumours. By combining this with other traditional methods, there is a true-positive detection rate of 96% in breast cancer patients (Barret et al., 1978).

Small thermal sensors initially developed to control telescope instrument temperatures are now used to control heating in neonatology units - units for the care of newborn babies (National Research Council, 1991).

A low-energy X-ray scanner developed by NASA is currently used for outpatient surgery, sports injuries, and in third-world clinics. It has also been used by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to study whether certain pills had been contaminated (National Research Council, 1991).

Software for processing satellite pictures taken from space is now helping medical researchers to establish a simple method to implement wide-scale screening for Alzheimer's disease (ESA, 2013).

Looking through the fluid-filled, constantly moving eye of a living person is not that different from trying to observe astronomical objects through the turbulent atmosphere, and the same fundamental approach seems to work for both. Adaptive optics used in astronomy can be used for retinal imaging in living patients to study diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa in their early stages. (Boston Micromachines Corporation 2010)

Astronomy in everyday life

There are many things that people encounter on an everyday basis that were derived from astronomical technologies. Perhaps the most commonly used astronomy-derived invention is the wireless local area network (WLAN). In 1977 John O'Sullivan developed a method to sharpen images from a radio telescope. This same method was applied to radio signals in general, specifically to those dedicated to strengthening computer networks, which is now an integral part of all WLAN implementations (Hamaker et al., 1977).

Other technologies important to everyday life that were originally developed for astronomy are listed below (National Research Council, 2010):

X-ray observatory technology is also used in current X-ray luggage belts in airports.

In airports, a gas chromatograph - for separating and analysing compounds - designed for a Mars mission is used to survey baggage for drugs and explosives.

The police use hand-held Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) photometers - instruments developed by astronomers for measuring light intensity - to check that car windows are transparent, as determined by the law.

A gamma-ray spectrometer originally used to analyse lunar soil is now used as a non-invasive way to probe structural weakening of historical buildings or to look behind fragile mosaics, such as in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.

More subtle than these contributions to technology is the contribution that astronomy has made to our view of time. The first calendars were based on the movement of the Moon and even the way that we define a second is due to astronomy. The atomic clock, developed in 1955, was calibrated using astronomical Ephemeris Time - a former standard astronomical timescale adopted by the IAU in 1952. This led to the internationally agreed-upon re-definition of the second (Markowitz et al., 1958).

These are all very tangible examples of the effect astronomy has had on our everyday lives, but astronomy also plays an important role in our culture. There are many books and magazines about astronomy for non-astronomers. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking is a bestseller and has sold over ten million copies (Paris, 2007) and Carl Sagan's television series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, has been watched in over 60 countries by more than 500 million people (NASA, 2009).

Many non-astronomers also engaged with astronomy during the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), the largest education and public outreach event in science. The IYA2009 reached upwards of eight hundred million people, through thousands of activities, in more than 148 countries (IAU, 2010).

Astronomy and international collaboration

Scientific and technological achievements give a large competitive edge to any nation. Nations pride themselves on having the most efficient new technologies and race to achieve new scientific discoveries. But perhaps more important is the way that science can bring nations together, encouraging collaboration and creating a constant flow as researchers travel around the globe to work in international facilities.

Astronomy is particularly well suited to international collaboration due to the need to have telescopes in different places around the world, in order to see the whole sky. At least as far back as 1887 - when astronomers from around the world pooled their telescope images and made the first map of the whole sky - there have been international collaborations in astronomy and in 1920, the International Astronomical Union became the first international scientific union.

In addition to the need to see the sky from different vantage points on Earth, building astronomical observatories on the ground and in space is extremely expensive. Therefore most of the current and planned observatories are owned by several nations. All of these collaborations have thus far been peaceful and successful. Some of the most notable being:

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile, is the largest astronomical project in existence.

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) which includes 14 European countries and Brazil, and is located in Chile.

Collaborations on major observatories such as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope between USA and Europe.

Summary
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
In the above text we have outlined both the tangible and intangible reasons that astronomy is an important part of society. Although we have focused mainly on the technology and knowledge transfer, perhaps the most important contribution is still the fact that astronomy makes us aware of how we fit into the vast Universe. The American astronomer Carl Sagan showed us one of astronomy's simplest and most inspirational contributions to society in his book, The Pale Blue Dot:

References

Aitken, R.G. 1933, The Use of Astronomy. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Leaflet 59, December 1933, 33-36

Bode, Cruz & Molster 2008, The ASTRONET Infrastructure Roadmap: A Strategic Plan for European Astronomy, http://www.eso.org/public/archives/books/pdfsm/book_0045.pdf, August 2013

Boston Micromachines Corporation, https://www.photonicsonline.com/doc/adaptive-optics-101-0001, 2010

Clark, H. 2012, Modern-day cleanroom invented by Sandia physicist still used 50 years later, https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/cleanroom_50th, June 2013

ESA 2013, Identifying Alzheimer's using space software, http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Technology/TTP2/Identifying_Alzheimer's_using_space_software, July 2013

Finley, D., Value of Radio Astronomy, http://www.nrao.edu/index.php/learn/radioastronomy/radioastronomyvalue, Retrieved November 2013

Gruman, J. B. 2011, Image Artifacts-Telescope and Camera Defects, http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/artifacts/artifacts_camera.shtml, August 2013

Hamaker, J. P., O'Sullivan, J. D. & Noordam J. D. 1977, Image sharpness, Fourier optics, and redundant-spacing interferometry, J. Opt. Soc. Am., 67(8), 1122-1123

International Astronomical Union 2010, International Year of Astronomy 2009 Reached Hundreds of Millions of People: Final Report Released, http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iya1006, August 2013

International Astronomical Union 2012, IAU Astronomy for Development Strategic Plan 2010-2012. https://www.iau.org/static/education/strategicplan_2010-2020.pdf, June 2013

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By Marissa Rosenberg, Pedro Russo (EU-UNAWE, Leiden Observatory/Leiden University, The Netherlands), Georgia Bladon, Lars Lindberg Christensen (ESO, Germany) Also see Rosenberg, M., Russo, P., Bladon, G.

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Before there were high tech inventions such as telescopes and satellites, there were other ways that people studied the wonder of the night sky. In Ancient Greece, a mathematician used the angle between the moon and the earth to determine the distance between the earth and the sun. It was not an accurate measurement but later scientists were able to learn from that mistake.

I wonder how astronomy has affected the designs of Greek architecture.

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Archaeological records show that astronomy is one of the first natural sciences developed by early civilisations all over the globe. Ancient astronomers could perform only limited investigations of the sky, using rudimentary aids to the human eye. Even so, humankind had already begun the measurement of the positions of celestial bodies, making astrometry - the science of charting the sky - one of the oldest branches of astronomy.

Curiosity alone did not inspire the earliest astronomers: astronomy and astrometry were practical sciences too. Monitoring the motions of stars and planets in the sky was the best tool to track time, which was fundamental for agriculture, religious rituals and navigation.

The first documented records of systematic astronomical observations date back to the Assyro-Babylonians around 1000 BCE. From this cradle of civilisation in Mesopotamia - in the southern part of present-day Iraq - astronomers had built up knowledge of the celestial bodies and recorded their periodic motions. But they had no idea how far away the stars and the planets were.

Ancient Greece

It was much later, in the third century BCE, that Greek astronomers first attempted to use astrometry to estimate cosmic scales. Among other sciences, astronomy flourished at Alexandria, a Greek colony off the northern coast of Egypt, with a renowned library and museum. The dominant view of the cosmos among scientists was geocentric, with the Earth being at the centre of the Universe and everything else revolving around it, but there were some who were edging closer to the truth.

Aristarchus of Samos was one of the few supporters of the heliocentric system, identifying that the Earth travelled around the Sun rather than the other way around. A proficient mathematician, he tried to assess the relative distance of the Sun and the Moon from Earth, by measuring the angle between them when the Moon appears exactly as one quarter. With the help of trigonometry, he determined that the Sun is 18 to 20 times more distant from Earth than the Moon. He had the right idea, but the measurement was not very precise; current data show that the Sun is about 400 times more distant than the Moon.

The first stellar catalogue

In the second century BCE, the famed Greek astronomer Hipparchus of Nicaea compiled the first stellar catalogue. A record of his work was handed down by Ptolemy, an astronomer writing three hundred years later at Alexandria - by then part of the Roman Empire.

To measure angles in the sky, Hipparchus employed the ancient Babylonian practice, still in use today, of dividing a circle into 360 degrees, and each degree into 60 arc minutes. Hipparchus's catalogue, one of the earliest successful attempts to chart the heavens, lists the positions of 850 stars across the sky with a precision of about one degree (about twice the angular size of the full Moon). He was able to attain this precision exclusively with naked-eye observations and the few instruments available at the time - gnomons, astrolabes, and armillary spheres. Hipparchus also created the magnitude system for describing the brightness of stars, which is still in use today, and studied the relative distance of the Sun and the Moon from Earth.

Progress during the Dark Ages

Whilst Europe languished in the Dark Ages, astronomy flourished in Asia and in the Islamic world. Extensive observations were performed in the Chinese and Indian empires, including the compilation of stellar catalogues. In the Islamic world, observations of the sky were accompanied by the study and translation of texts from ancient Greek scientists. Islamic scholars built exquisite astronomical instruments to measure angles in the sky. They improved on the quadrant, a measuring device shaped as a quarter of a circle that was originally proposed by Ptolemy, and invented the sextant, a similar instrument in the shape of one sixth of a circle.

A catalogue of 994 stars was created by Ulugh Beg of the Timurid dynasty in the fifteenth century. Ruling over Central Asia the astronomer and mathematician constructed an enormous sextant with a radius of 36 metres in Samarkand, located in present-day Uzbekistan. Ulugh Beg's catalogue has a precision of slightly better than one degree, comparable to that of Hipparchus's compilation from several centuries before. Ulugh Beg and the many other astronomers that were active in the Islamic world kept the practice of astronomy and astrometry alive, smoothly ushering them into the modern era.

European Renaissance

The flow of discoveries and inventions from other cultures and territories catalysed the revival of science in Renaissance Europe. In astronomy, the rediscovery of Ptolemy's original texts would eventually lead Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus to revolutionise the view of the cosmos, with the shocking revelation that Earth is not the centre of the Universe.

Copernicus published his theory of a heliocentric system in 1543, identifying the Sun as the centre of the Universe, with the Earth and the other planets bound to move around it. Although the heliocentric view described planetary motions in a simpler and more orderly fashion than Ptolemy's geocentric system, it would take at least a century before this controversial model became accepted both within and beyond the scientific community.

Even one of astronomy's great minds, Tycho Brahe, rejected heliocentrism. However, from his base in Denmark, Brahe made great strides in observational astronomy. On the island of Hven, which is located in present-day Sweden, Brahe built Uraniborg, the greatest astronomical observatory before the invention of the telescope. With the aid of large quadrants and sextants, he compiled a catalogue with the positions of about 1000 stars. Completed in 1598 and published in 1627, Brahe's catalogue has a precision of about one arc minute - a huge leap forward, and the first major improvement on stellar catalogues that stretched back seventeen centuries.

In search of stellar parallax

The heliocentric system revived the debate about stellar parallaxes. The parallax is an apparent movement of a foreground object with respect to its background owing to a change in the observer's position. Also known as triangulation, this method is used to assess distances to faraway objects on Earth. Astronomers had tried to apply it to determine the distance to the stars, but no baseline on Earth was big enough to detect stellar parallax because of the immense distances involved.

After Copernicus suggested that Earth revolves around the Sun, astronomers realised that it was possible to exploit the much larger baseline offered by Earth's orbit to measure stellar parallaxes. So Brahe pushed towards the observational limits of his time, in search of stellar parallax. Unfortunately, he could not detect it. Incorrectly assuming that stars cannot be so distant that their parallax would not be within the reach of his measurements, Brahe rejected Copernicus's model and proposed his own hybrid system, which incorporated both geocentric and heliocentric features.

There was no way for Brahe to know, at the end of the sixteenth century, that stars are indeed so far away that his measurements would not be sufficient to detect parallax even for the closest stars to the Sun. At a distance of just over four light-years, our nearest neighbouring stars have a parallax smaller than one arc second. The invention of the telescope and two centuries of diligent astronomy would be required before the first distance to a star could be measured. It was early in the nineteenth century, before we began to comprehend the true immensity of the cosmos.

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ESA Science & Technology - A history of astrometry - Part I Mapping the sky from ancient to pre-modern times

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People began measuring the positions of the stars thousands of years ago and the story of the measurement of stars is a story of some of the most talented and dedicated scientists who have ever lived.

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The Mars pathfinder was the first mars rover which traveled to Mars to collect photos of the planet. It was an important turning point because the rover was able to take photos on another planet helping astronomers learn about the planet and discover if it would be safe for humans to travel to. The rover was able to measure the radius of Mars, the daily temperatures, and even dust devils were discovered. "It was designed as a technology demonstration of a new way to deliver an instrumented lander and the first-ever robotic rover to the surface of the red planet. Pathfinder not only accomplished this goal but also returned an unprecedented amount of data and outlived its primary design life."

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Mars Pathfinder was launched December 4, 1996 and landed on Mars' Ares Vallis on July 4, 1997. It was designed as a technology demonstration of a new way to deliver an instrumented lander and the first-ever robotic rover to the surface of the red planet. Pathfinder not only accomplished this goal but also returned an unprecedented amount of data and outlived its primary design life.

Both the lander and the 23-pound (10.6 kilogram) rover carried instruments for scientific observations and to provide engineering data on the new technologies being demonstrated. Included were scientific instruments to analyze the Martian atmosphere, climate, geology and the composition of its rocks and soil. Mars Pathfinder used an innovative method of directly entering the Martian atmosphere, assisted by a parachute to slow its descent through the thin Martian atmosphere and a giant system of airbags to cushion the impact.
Pathfinder's Airbag Landing

From landing until the final data transmission on September 27, 1997, Mars Pathfinder returned 2.3 billion bits of information, including more than 16,500 images from the lander and 550 images from the rover, as well as more than 15 chemical analyses of rocks and soil and extensive data on winds and other weather factors. Findings from the investigations carried out by scientific instruments on both the lander and the rover suggest that Mars was at one time in its past warm and wet.
Rover Sojourner

This 1997 image from NASA's Mars Pathfinder shows a close up of Sojourner as it placed its Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) upon the surface of the rock 'Yogi.'

The lander, formally named the Carl Sagan Memorial Station following its successful touchdown, and the rover, named Sojourner after American civil rights crusader Sojourner Truth, both outlived their design lives - the lander by nearly three times, and the rover by 12 times.
Mars Pathfinder Science Instruments

Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer: Determined the elemental composition of rocks and soils.

Three Cameras: provided images of the surrounding terrain for geological studies, and documented the performance and operating environment for Pathfinder mission technologies.

Atmospheric Structure Instrument/Meteorology Package: Measured the Martian atmosphere during Pathfinder's descent to the surface, and provided meteorological measurements at the lander.

Top Mars Pathfinder Science Findings

Rounded pebbles and cobbles at the landing site, and other observations, suggested conglomerates that formed in running water during a warmer past in which liquid water was stable.

Radio tracking of Mars Pathfinder provided a precise measure of the lander's location and Mars' pole of rotation. The measurements suggested that the radius of the planet's central metallic core is greater than 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) but less than roughly 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers).

Airborne dust is magnetic, and its characteristics suggest the magnetic mineral is maghemite, a very magnetic form of iron oxide, which may have been freeze-dried on the particles as a stain or cement. An active water cycle in the past may have leached out the iron from materials in the crust.

Dust devils were seen and frequently measured by temperature, wind and pressure sensors. Observations suggested that these gusts are a mechanism for mixing dust into the atmosphere.

Early morning water ice clouds were seen in the lower atmosphere.

Abrupt temperature fluctuations were recorded in the morning, suggesting that the atmosphere is warmed by the planet's surface, with heat convected upward in small eddies.

NASA's Mars Pathfinder & Sojourner Rover (360 View): Explore the landing site of NASA's Pathfinder mission to Mars with your mouse or mobile device. This 360-degree panorama includes the lander's companion rover, Sojourner, and top science targets. NOTE: Not all browsers support viewing 360 videos/images. View & download at http://go.nasa.gov/1TcjxuN.

More
Mission Website Mission Fact Sheet Press Kit

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Mars Pathfinder | Missions - NASA's Mars Exploration Program

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Mars Pathfinder was launched December 4, 1996 and landed on Mars' Ares Vallis on July 4, 1997. It was designed as a technology demonstration of a new way to deliver an instrumented lander and the first-ever robotic rover to the surface of the red planet.

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The Webb telescope's view of the Carina Nebula reveals previously invisible areas of star birth. (https://sciencereporter.niscpr.res.in/home/article/792)

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James Webb's space telescope shows the majestic cloak of gas and dust to baby stars that give birth to new stars.

How did the year 2022 become the most pivotal year? This was the year of focus on the universe. "The year was jam-packed with new missions, intriguing science, and stunning images beamed back from the cosmos. From the first batch of photos from the world’s most powerful space telescope to the long-awaited debut launch of NASA’s next-generation moon rocket to a first-of-its-kind test to redirect an asteroid, this year was full of important milestones" from https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/year-space-2022-pivotal-exploration-discovery-rcna62414

states that this year brought the commercial space industry to an all-new level of exploration for space fans. New images captured by the newest James Webb space telescope illustrate full-color versions of spectroscopic data that are now shared with astronomers to unravel cosmic features for future scientific studies. 2022 was a pivotal year for space exploration, with the first images of a black hole, robotic explorations on Mars, monitoring the Earth from above, and the first all-civilian crew to launch to the orbiting new space station. Other pivotal moments included a successful asteroid redirection test, future testing to return astronauts to the lunar surface, and developing new technology utilizing power resources from the sun. Finally, a question that I like to address is could we, one day, land humans on Mars?

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Most pivotal year for Astronomy -Jaci Platt (previous post Anonymous)

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Most pivotal year for Astronomy -Jaci Platt (previous post Anonymous)

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James Webb's space telescope shows the majestic cloak of gas and dust to baby stars that give birth to new stars.

How did the year 2022 become the most pivotal year? This was the year centered on the universe. "The year was jam-packed with new missions, intriguing science, and stunning images beamed back from the cosmos. From the first batch of photos from the world’s most powerful space telescope to the long-awaited debut launch of NASA’s next-generation moon rocket to a first-of-its-kind test to redirect an asteroid, this year was full of important milestones" from https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/year-space-2022-pivotal-exploration-discovery-rcna62414

states that this year brought the commercial space industry to an all-new level of exploration for space devotees. New images captured by the newest James Webb space telescope illustrate full-color versions of dispersive data that are now shared with astronomers to unravel cosmic features for future scientific studies. 2022 was a pivotal year for space exploration, with the first images of a black hole, robotic explorations on Mars, monitoring the Earth from outer space, and the first all-civilian crew to launch to the orbiting new space station. Other pivotal moments included a successful test of redirecting an asteroid, future testing to return astronauts to the lunar surface, and developing new technology utilizing power resources from the sun. Finally, a question that I like to address is could we, one day, land humans on Mars?

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How does astronomy and oceanography relate?

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How does astronomy and oceanography relate?

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We only see that the ocean is widely separated from Earth and space, but in reality, they are similar. In fact, "over billions of years, countless comets and asteroids have collided with Earth, enriching our planet with water. Chemical markers in the water of our oceans suggest that most of the water came from asteroids. Recent observations hint that ice, and possibly even liquid water, exists in the interiors of asteroids and comets." (from https://www.nasa.gov/specials/ocean-worlds/) states that asteroids and comets hold an abundance of water, simply put 'the origin of our oceans is in stars'. As you know water is a very good thermal conductor of heat. Thus, our ocean gets warm from the sun, such that our oceans store and absorb this heat to spread warmer currents throughout the planet. Furthermore, our plants and animals that live in or by the ocean depend on the temperature of the water in the ocean. Therefore, if the ocean temperatures are too warm our plants and animals can get ill, or even death can occur. Due to gravitational forces the moon and Earth work together to create tides, low and high tides occur at different times of the day. My question is how are king tides created, just the same?