ASTRONOMY

• Astronomy is the study of the sun, moon, stars, planets, comets, gas, galaxies, gas, dust and other non-Earthly bodies and phenomena.
• Astronomy is simply "the study of stars, planets and space." – NASA.
• Astronomy is the study of the sky and everything we see there.
• Astronomy is the oldest science in the world, and fascinates all kinds of people-young and old, amateurs and professionals.
• Ancient civilizations believed their gods lived in the skies, and early astronomy was often a mix of detailed observations of the celestial heavens and religion.
• Astronomy allowed for more practical applications, such as predicting the cycle of the seasons for farming, measuring time and as a directional compass.
• By 5000 BCE, ancient peoples had started constructing sun observatories, such as the Neolithic Era 'Goseck circle', to accurately measure the heavens.
• To present the output from this module, I suggest dividing the class into 5 groups and asking them to create a semantic web, concept map, or simulation of their assigned topic.
• The insight that I gained from this module is the understanding of how astronomy can be used in various fields.
• The work should reflect a clear and precise message consistent with the topics presented.
• The work should be visually and aesthetically appealing.
• Among the topics presented, the one that I appreciate the most is the one related to the use of astronomy in various fields.
• The criteria for presenting the output from this module will be based on relevance to the theme, visual impact/appeal, creativity, neatness and clarity.
• The work should depict unique ideas and insights about the topic.
• The work should be well-organized, neat, and clean.
• Astronomy is a discipline that can be helpful to human beings in various ways.
• The Sumerians and Babylonians then kept some of the earliest astronomical records yet found, containing lists of bright stars, names of various constellations, and the movement of the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
• By 3,000 BCE the Egyptians had a fairly accurate calendar with the year divided into 365 days, or 12 'months' of 30 days and an extra five days added on at the end of the year as feast days.
• The Chinese recorded the earliest known solar eclipse in 2137 BC.
• Greeks such as Pythagoras, Thales of Miletus, Plato, and Aristotle helped turn astronomy from mere observation to being a theoretical science concerned with the structure of the universe.
• The sub-disciplines of observational astronomy are generally made by the specifications of the detectors.
• Observational astronomy is the practice of observing celestial objects by using telescopes and other astronomical apparatus.
• Magnetospheres are the subject of study in magnetic fields of planets and moons.
• Radio astronomy studies celestial objects at radio frequencies above 300 μm.
• Small Solar System bodies are the subject of study in the smallest gravitationally bound bodies, including asteroids, comets, and Kuiper belt objects.
• Infrared astronomy studies the infrared radiation (heat energy) emitted from objects in the Universe between 0.7 – 350 μm.
• Planetary surfaces are the subject of study in surface geology of planets and moons.
• Optical astronomy, also known as visible-light astronomy, encompasses a wide variety of observations via telescopes that are sensitive in the range of visible light (optical telescopes).
• X-ray astronomy deals with the study of X-ray observation and detection from astronomical objects between 0.01 – 10 nm.
• Gamma-ray astronomy is the astronomical observation of gamma rays below 0.01 nm.
• Planetary rings are the subject of study in planetary dynamics, stability, and composition.
• Planetary interiors are the subject of study in interior composition of planets and moons.
• Submillimetre astronomy is conducted at submillimetre wavelengths (i.e., terahertz radiation) of the electromagnetic spectrum between 200 μm to 1 mm.
• Ultraviolet astronomy involves the observation of electromagnetic radiation at ultraviolet wavelengths between 10 – 320 nm.
• Spring tides are formed when the sun and the moon are in line with each other and pull the ocean surface in the same direction, leading to higher high tides and lower low tides.
• Aristarchus of Samos in 280 BCE suggested the first heliocentric theory whereby it was the Earth and planets which revolved around a stationary Sun at the center of the Universe, but his theory was not generally accepted and Ptolemy further refined the accepted geocentric model in his 140 A.D masterpiece 'Almagest', which was used by the western world for the next 1500 years.
• Neap tides occur seven days after the spring tide, during the first and the last quarter of the moon, when the gravitational pull of the moon and the resulting oceanic bulge is cancelled out by the gravitational pull of the sun and its resulting oceanic bulge.
• Tides are very helpful for ecosystems such as the mangrove forests and coral reefs to grow and sustain.
• The southeastern Brazilian coast also witnesses mixed tides.
• Tides raise the level of seawater and hence expose a large part of the ocean for erosion.