The most important astronomical discovery to date

Nitrogen in the air, calcium in bones, carbon in flesh and blood ... all the important substances we know are born inside stars. If we want to make a romantic and accurate evaluation of this, it is that we are all made of stardust! From the moment when time begins to flow, understanding the universe is the eternal goal of mankind, and often in exploration, we find that the universe is bigger than we once imagined. After every major discovery, the study of the sky has increased our determination and strength, and each discovery is more revolutionary than the previous one. Now, let's see how some important discoveries have made us know more about the universe over time.

Ancient Greek manuscripts explain the solar eclipse.

handwriting recognition

From the ancient civilization, even before that, human beings began to look up at the sky and observe! The simple ability of pattern recognition is considered as the difference between perception and non-perception. Perhaps if these civilizations had not declined or disappeared, they might have established a better understanding of the universe than we do today. But the most important conclusion they all agree on is that stars and planets have fixed paths and predictable orbits. This is the basic concept of astronomy.

Nat, the goddess of the sky

The hand scroll of the Egyptian constellation God

The earth moves around the sun.

In A.D. 1543, when Copernicus became the first person to describe the mathematical principle behind this "crazy" idea, he was a joke of the whole universe. In fact, "Heliocentrism" was so revolutionary that Copernicus dared not publish it. However, when this statement was accepted, it eliminated many problems in ancient astronomical research and was regarded as the first major understanding of our position in the universe. We realize that the sun is a star, not a god, and we are not the center of the universe.

heliocentric theory

Heliocentrism of Copernicus

kepler's law

Johannes kepler proved that the orbits of planets around the earth are elliptical, not circular. In 1609, this is revolutionary because it represents that the distance between the planet and the sun changes with time. Finally, the world understands the reasons behind the seasons and planetary movements. Without these discoveries, it would be much more difficult for astronomers to try to explain why the influence of the sun on the earth would "change" and why the speed of planets would change with time.

Planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits.

Galileo discovered four moons of Jupiter in 16 10 with his own telescope. They were the first satellites found not orbiting the earth, which made them the most important evidence of Columbus Heliocentrism. This is the concrete evidence that our earth is not as special as we thought, that is, there are satellites on other planets besides the earth. The universe, if any, has taught us humility.

Jupiter family

Jupiter satellite discovered by Galileo

Astronomer William Herschel and his sister Caroline systematically mapped the stars at night, marking thousands of stars and nebulae in the past 50 years. This map published in 1834 shows that the Milky Way is disc-shaped rather than spear-shaped. After we know that the sun is not in the center at all, it makes us feel even more irrelevant. We are finally beginning to accept that we are just a group of happy little people living in a corner of the universe. He also discovered Uranus, which he intends to call "the Star of George", which sounds much better than Uranus. God, man, it's been 150 years ..... Stop telling this joke.

Uranus

Herschel mapped the galaxy.

Theory of relativity

Before Einstein opened it with relativity, the world of astronomy strictly followed Newton's three laws. Everything changed when Einstein thought that motion was relative and light would be affected by gravity. Weight may bend time and space, and enough weight can even bend light, which shocked the scientific community because light is considered to be absolutely constant. This theory has revolutionized astronomy and solved many unsolvable problems under the framework of Newton's theory.

Theory of relativity

Einstein thought that weight can bend time and space.

The universe is expanding.

When Edwin Hubble told the world that the universe was expanding, at least he made a big news. After tracking the movements of other galaxies (he was also the first person to discover this fact), he came to the conclusion that galaxies are moving away from us and accelerating. He also concluded that most nebulae visible at night are actually galaxies. This provides more evidence for the big bang theory and changes our concept of the universe.

Cosmic microwave background radiation

The ubiquitous and uniformly defined radiation in the universe was almost discovered by accident when two employees of Bell Telephone Company were busy with satellite communication in 1964. When the light from an object a light-year away takes a year to reach us, CMB plays a role in the universe like a screenshot. Because the unity of cosmic radiation seems to confirm that the universe originated from an event that made everything flourish, this discovery has brought far-reaching influence. This fact supports the expansion theory of the universe and the big bang theory.

The early days of the universe

Microwave background radiation in the universe

Extrasolar planet

Extrasolar planets, also called exoplanets, are extrasolar planets. The existence of alien planets is not so surprising, but the way to discover them has changed astronomy. 1988 found nearly 3000 alien planets. Roughly speaking, one of the five stars about the size of the sun is located in their livable zone. Assuming that there are 2 trillion stars in the Milky Way, it means that there are at least 1 1 100 million livable planets like the earth. Most scientists believe that it is only a matter of time before we find a planet full of life in outer space, waiting to be contacted. Similarly, after the improvement of interstellar technology, many migrating planets can also give birth to human life.

Kepler -42 in the artist's mind

The alien planet Kepler 42

Astronomy may be the slowest branch of science. Even if there are so many amazing discoveries a century later, it will be futile. But to better understand ourselves, we must understand our position in the stars. Edwin Hubble famously said

Humans use the five senses to explore the universe around them, which is called scientific exploration. "

Don't forget that somewhere, there are incredible things waiting to be discovered!

Author: sciabc

FY: comb the sea.

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