Astronomy and Cosmology have always been an interesting subjects for me since I was little. The two units before this unit were somewhat new to me but weren’t filled with a colossal amount of information. When we arrived at this unit I thought it would be a review of what I had already knew about space, but really it was much more than just planets and stars. My knowledge and view of the universe has drastically changed after learning about various concepts like the Main Sequence, Cosmic Microwave Blackbody Radiation, and red or blue shifts. From this i’ve learned that what is happening here on Earth is nothing compared to what is happening to what is happening in the far reaches of space. There is so much going on in our universe and it …show more content…
Concepts that were new to me included the Main Sequence for stars, the concept of black holes losing mass, redshifts, and the timeline of the Big Bang. I had a basic understanding of black holes and galaxies but after I learned that there a 2 types of galaxies(spiral and elliptical) and how in the center of a black hole is a singularity where all of the laws of physics break down because everything is so extreme. When learning about the galaxies I found the pictures as well as the descriptions to be very beautiful. Whether it was a spiral galaxy that is colliding with another spiral galaxy or the orange tinted elliptical galaxies, I found it all to be complete eye candy. Even though the images are computer enhanced to make the picture glow, i still find it crazy that there is so much natural beauty that still hasn’t been discovered and can only be seen by telescopes that get a faint image. One question I still have is about the cosmological principle, if there is no center for expansion, but the big bang started at a single point, so doesn’t that mean that the universe has been expanding from that one point this entire time? In conclusion this unit on astronomy and cosmology helped me understand that there is so much more to the universe than I had initially thought. There is so much more that goes on and our knowledge will only increase as technology makes our ability to learn more about the depths of our
Since then, astronomy has become an integral element in my life. I began to watch every solar eclipse and lunar eclipse and use our school’s astronomical telescope to observe planets and stars in different galaxies and nebulas. Observing the universe and its components made me learned the vastness of our universe and generated my sense of awe to nature.
Just under seven years ago, astronomers using the Hubble space telescope presented results they hoped would help answer one of the most contentious issues in astronomy of the 20th century – the question of the distance scale of the universe. But there was some unease when the result was announced. According to the report, other galaxies were close enough that, extrapolating backwards from their current rate of recession and making adjustments for the influence of gravity, they all would have been together (that is, the Big Bang would have occurred) as recently as 8 billion years ago. Unfortunately, there was strong evidence already in place that some stars were at least 12-15
Parmenides of Elea once presented the expression ex nihilo nihil fit, which translates to nothing comes from nothing for one of his many theses. The Cosmological Argument, an argument of the posteriori category, meaning that it requires data based on past experiences, argues for the existence of God with this type of expression at its core. By attempting to prove how the universe must be influenced by an independent being that has godlike qualities, cosmological arguments suggest that it is rational to believe in an omnipotent being and its accountability of creating the universe.
I have never viewed Astronomy in this perspective before, but found it both interesting and challenging to think
The craving of knowledge is something that has shaped the human race to what it is today. As humans, it's a necessity to have something to kindle a person’s flame of curiosity. Since the beginning of time, the world has always gazed up into the sky on a starry night and asked “what there is out there; what made this stunning view?”, “How immense is this vast expansion of space?”. These inquiries could be answered now that humans are capable of space exploration with the mechanization NASA and other space agencies have now, and will possibly take advantage of in upcoming years. The use of the stars has been very beneficial to humans, whether it’s navigation, religion, or something to spark the imaginations of many. The technology that astronauts
Many philosophers have provided their arguments for the existence of God. Their arguments are a priori or a posteriori. A posteriori is based on experience of how the world is. In which the Cosmological view of William L. Rowe comes from. This paper will show how Rowe took the cosmological argument and its principle of sufficient reason and failed to make it an established argument of the existence of God.
In critiquing the article written by William Lane Craig title “The Cosmological Argument” let me first define how some define the cosmological argument. In reading about the cosmological argument it is basically an argument that begins with the existence of the universe and tries to prove God’s existence. Thomas Aquinas said it this way, (1) “everything in the universe is moved by something else. Unless we can go back in time forever, with things being constantly moved by something else, there must be a point where movement started.” (Godwin) Aquinas goes on to say, “there must be a Prime mover that began movement in the Universe, when there was nothing, and this is God.” (Godwin) In the bible, it states, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty,
Chapter seven opens with the assumption of a cosmography concept of the universe from all history civilization. In particular, the perception of ANE society in terms of how they described the picture of the universe as a whole. Today, one can create a better map with the main features of the universe due to science and technology has evolved. At the same time, to have a better understanding of how the earth, the sun, and starts functioned within their area of operation.
When fields of science are being discussed, most people are going to immediately think of fields like biology, chemistry, and physics. It is quite strange that these fields are the most popular. This is because biology, chemistry, and physics can be combined into one single field. That field would be astronomy. While most may think that astronomy is just viewing stars through a telescope, there is an immense amount of more complicated ideas associated with astronomy. What with the fastest speeds, highest masses, major chemical compositions, and even the idea of sustaining life, astronomy has to be one of the most complex fields of science. Without astronomy, many things about the life of humans on earth would be a mystery, not to mention where
Since I was a child, I would marvel at the night sky- separating stars, planets, galaxies, and even the once-in-a-while helicopter from each other. Space had fascinated my soul, which subjects are rarely able to do in one’s life. The love I have for the universe came from a place within that I was never able to identify, that is, until I found a way to capture my need to learn more, through the NASA SEES Summer Internship.
It is not an experience unfamiliar to one of saturated mind to find oneself, stranded at the 2 AM hour, paralyzed by fear for the reality of the insignificance of humanity against an incomprehensibly massive universe. While it perhaps presents itself as scary, the vastness of the universe lends its limitations to more than just our sense of importance, but to our ability to study it as well.
Our solar system is elephantine and we have made discoveries that help us understand how colossal our solar system actually is,but in doing so we have also observed how Our entire universe is growing.
There was a time when man thought that the Earth was a flat disc at the center of the universe which everything revolved around. As time progressed, humanity learned that the Earth was in fact round and that it revolved around the sun along with other planets in our solar system. Man then came to realize that the stars they saw in the night sky had planets revolving around them as well, and that all of these stars were in a collection known as a galaxy. Time passed and we came to realize that our galaxy is just one of billions in the larger universe. As time progresses, we learn more and more about the universe we live in, and yet one question still lingers, a question that is much more personal to
The idea that the universe is expanding was introduced to me as a given, an understood idea that I would come to understand in later years, not unlike many other principles of science as a fact so fundamental it was discovered or derived centuries ago. However, Hubble’s Law, a concept so central to our basic understanding of the universe, made its debut just under a century ago alongside our adoption of what we consider incredibly modern events such as the Industrial Revolution, the advent of motion pictures, our widespread adoption of automobiles and telephones, and Einstein himself developing the theory of general relativity. This makes us contemplate just how exponential our learning curve as a species has been, when we consider that it
“The Hubble, has given us nothing less than an ontological awakening, a forceful reckoning with what is the telescope compels the mind to contemplate space and time on a scale just shy of the infinite.” implied Ross Anderson, an engineer. With this one telescope, created by a normal astronomer, scientists and astronomers are able to see space as never seen before. They are able to make mind boggling observations that contemplate space to an infinite scale. Thousands of discoveries about space have been observed through this lense and without the magnitude of high level instruments compiled into this large instrument most of these observations would never have been discovered. As proposed by Floyd E. Bloom a researcher, on izquotes.com, “As