Astronomy Binoculars, Guides, and Magazines.
We have always been interested in our universe around us. From ancient Greeks creating legends from the constellations to human’s first steps on the moon, outer space has held our collective attention. Our obsession with all-things-cosmos has seeped into popular culture: movies like Star Wars and the Star Trek television series have indulged our need to wonder about the unknown. With all the hoopla surrounding outer space, however, most people don’t know more about it than the major planets in our solar system. This informational site is meant to raise some in the relatively-ignored science of space!
Basically, astronomy is the study of celestial bodies and phenomena that occur outside of Earth’s atmosphere. Astronomers have the privilege of studying stars, planets, comets, nebula and galaxies as their day jobs.
The beginning of astronomy started as observers who studied the sky without the aid of magnifying instruments. The first astronomers had the daunting task of mapping stars’ positions in the sky (a practice that is now known as astrometry). Around this time, geocentric models of the universe were the standard of scientific thought–which means that early people believe the Earth was the center of the universe, and everything revolved out it. It wasn’t until Nicolaus Copernicus developed the idea of a heliocentric universe during the Renaissance. Heliocentric means a sun-centered universe–a notion that has persevered into modern times.
Isaac Newton is probably the most influential name in astronomy. Because of his discoveries and laws, we have an idea of planet mass, orbital behavior and the distance from the sun each of the planets is (by combining Newton’s Law of Gravity (F=GmM/r2) and his Law of Motion (F=ma), we’ve discovered that the mass of Earth is 6.0 x 10^24 kg).
It wasn’t until the 20th century that we found that our galaxy–named the Milky Way–was only one of infinite galaxies in the universe. Due to the invention of high powered-telescopes, we have been able to look outside our galaxy to discover quasars, pulsars, blazers and black holes. NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was created in 1958 to forward our nation’s space program and the general public’s interest in the universe. Besides putting Neil Armstrong on the moon, NASA is responsible for space labs and the Mars explorer, which has given us invaluable information regarding our red neighbor. However, after the Columbia explosion in 2003, government officials have reconsidered the future of the space program.
Astronomy is an excellent hobby for those who want to gain further knowledge of the universe surrounding them–and a telescope is the best tool for a beginning amateur astronomer. There are four kinds of astronomy telescopes: reflecting, refracting, catadioptric (a mixture of reflecting and refracting) and Ritchey-Chrétien. Reflecting is probably the most common type of telescope because they are relatively inexpensive and easy to use.
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