How far did we go?
Good Question. From whence have we humans begun our journey in astronomy, and where are we now?
How far did we go?
Hello Readers!
Astronomy is a fundamental subject explored by humans from millenia.
Let us trace our history in mapping the cosmos.
One of the oldest artefacts discovered was the Antiykthera Mechanism, an ancient Greek analog computer used to capture the movements of the sun and the moon. It was built to predict natural phenomena like eclipses and astronomical positions.
Structures like Stonehenge and Nabta Playa were thought to have been built to trace the motion of the sun, effectively as a large sundial.
Ancient cultures like the Babylonians and Chinese recorded instances of comets, eclipses, while the Mayans and Indians created calenders for future observations.
One of the first breakthroughs was the Ptolemaic Geocentric Model, a universal model that placed the Earth at the centre of the universe, with the sun, moon and other celestial bodies like the constellations revolving around it. This was given by Ptolemy, a Hellenistic (Greek) astronomer in the 2nd Century CE. This model dominated the European continent for 1500 years, and formed the central basis for the status of the human in the Roman Catholic Church centuries later.
The Ptolematic Model was disproved in the Orient in the 5th Century CE by Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhatta, who instead envisoned a Heliocentric model, where the planets orbited the Sun instead of the Earth. He further gave accurate prophecies for astronomical phenomena like the Earth's sideral rotation, or the fact that the moon reflected sunlight falling onto it, and did not produce its own light.
However, the Occident still was in the dark about the nature of the Solar System at this stage.
In 1543, Polish Nicolaus Copernicus published his version of the Heliocentric Theory. At that time, the Catholic Church was in upheavel due to the Protestant Reformation, a unified movement that sought to reform the Church's central ideas. The creation of the Printing Press facililated the Reformation on a scale unprecedented before.
As a result of questioning by all sorts of people throughout Europe, and the Church's dimishing authority over religion, the papacy founded the Roman Inquisition to punish those who opposed their ideals, branding them as heretics.
Copernicus was charged for heresy as his theory opposed the widely-accepted Geocentric Model. An Italian cleric named Geonardo Bruno, who gave the first idea of exoplanets; planets orbiting other stars which may foster life, was also targeted. Bruno was jailed in the later years of his life, and was ultimately burnt at stake in 1600 by the Roman Inquisition.
These did not deter other scientists in their pursuit of knowledge of astronomy. Issac Newton, Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei are credited for providing concrete proof for many astronomical phenomena in the Heliocentric Model including gravity and the laws of motion. Galileo used his telescope to chart the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.
Islamic empires like the Ottomans funded astronomical explorations, created astrolobes and tracked the motion of many comets.
As modern history began to take shape, astronomy was intertwined with the advancing developments in physics and chemistry. Victor Hess' discovery of cosmic rays and Henri Becquerel's proof on radioactivity opened a new door of revelations in the cosmos. The outer planets Uranus and Neptune, which were not visble for stargazers due to their sheer distance from Earth, were finally discovered using telescopic mechanisms. Messier, a French astronomer started maintaing a catalogue of cosmological objects, starting with M1 or Messier 1, the denomination of the Crab Nebula.
In the 20th Century CE, Einstein's Theory of Relativity revamped gravity entirely, explaining many happenings, and prophecising more. I have explained the basic idea of this theory in the post General Theory of Relativity, so make sure to check it out after this post.
The Cold War also saw the simultaneous development of space missions in the Eastern and Western Bloc.
In 1957, Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 created history by being the first artificial body to enter outer space. The Soviets doubled down with Sputnik 2 carrying the first living creature, a dog named Laika and the 1961 spaceflight of Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. American missions Apollo 10 to 17 cemented their expeditions to the moon with Apollo 11 seeing the first human on the moon, Neil Armstrong planting the flag. Once again, you may look up the expedition in the post Apollo 11 Mission.
Further achievements kept shaking the settled idea of the cosmos. Edwin Hubble theorised and showed the existence of galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, the ancient afterglow of the Big Bang further mapped the regions of the universe. The Hubble Space Telescope, an erstwhile space telescope sent pictures of distant objects and galaxies.
As the 21st Century CE draws open, space agencies have been established in many contemporary nations. Missions are being created, rockets built and probes launched. The frontiers of space are slowly being expanded. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have given us humans the ability to look further back in time with more powerful and stunning precision. Yet again, you may refer to the post James Webb Space Telescope for additional information.
This is a phenomenal post listing some of the major discoveries in cosmology. Of course, it is purely impossible to cover every single topic, even with the current sources. The list also will have to be updated every now and then, and the more details about the past is being uncovered. On a scholarly note, astronomical data is also used for determining the age of an artefact or an event, as used to determination for ancient Indic events.
The study of astronomy is a passion for few, but it affects every single human in their lives. The rotation of the Earth, its revolution around the sun, the influence of asteriods and comets on human affairs only constitute the tip of the gigantic iceberg. With an ever increasing turnout to this field, and the range of our expeditions increasing, the future does looks bright!
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Thank you for reading!
Aditya VN Kadiyala
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