The nitrogen in the air, the calcium that penetrates deep into our bones, the carbon that makes up our flesh and blood... All of this, which we call "matter," comes from the interior of a star. As romanticism brilliantly describes, it was stardust that made us! Since the beginning of creation, human beings have always regarded the exploration of the universe as their mission. It is these explorations of the universe that make us realize that the universe is beyond our imagination. With each revolutionary breakthrough, human beings are more and more determined to explore the universe and their ability is getting stronger and stronger. Now let's take stock of the big discoveries that have refreshed humanity's understanding of the universe time and again.
Illustration: Ancient Greek texts interpret lunar eclipses
1. Pattern recognition capabilities
As early as the beginning of ancient human civilization, and possibly even before the emergence of civilization, people began to look up at the sky and observe the movement of celestial bodies. Having a simple pattern recognition ability is considered to be the dividing line between sentient organisms and non-sentient organisms. Perhaps, if these ancient civilizations had not been wiped out or naturally extinct, they might have built a better model of the universe than we do today. But all of these civilizations have come to the most important conclusion, which is that stars and planets are moving in predictable trajectories along their own fixed orbits. This is the most basic concept of astronomy.
Illustration: Ancient Egyptian Scroll of the "God of the Stars"
2. The Earth moves around the Sun
In 1543, when Copernicus first proposed a mathematical proof of this "crazy" idea, he was greeted with overwhelming ridicule. In fact, the "heliocentric theory" model of the universe is so shocking that even Copernicus himself did not dare to publish it publicly. However, once people accepted this theory, some of the problems encountered in the research under the old model were solved. Since then, the "heliocentric theory" has been recognized as the first time in human history that it has solemnly acknowledged its place in the universe. We recognize that the sun is a star and not a god, and that we are not at all the center of the universe.
Illustration: Copernicus's heliocentric model
3. Kepler's Law
Johannes Kepler proved that in the solar system, the orbit of the planets around the sun is not a perfect circle, but an elliptical shape. This was a revolutionary discovery in 1609, as it meant that the distance from the planets to the Sun changed every moment. At this point, humanity finally understood why there are changes in seasons and why the planets move as we see. Without these findings, astronomers would have spent more time and effort explaining why the sun's effects on Earth have changed, and why the speeds of other planets are constantly changing.
Illustration: Planets orbit the Sun in an elliptical orbit
4. Jupiter's Moon
In 1610, Galileo observed Jupiter's four moons with a telescope he had designed and built himself. This was the first time that humans had discovered a satellite that did not orbit the Earth, and thus became the strongest evidence for Copernicus's "heliocentric theory" model of the universe. This discovery confirms that Earth is not the only planet with a moon, which is actually very common in this vast universe. If the universe has taught us anything, it should be humble and not always self-righteous!
Illustration: The moon of Jupiter discovered by Galileo
5. Herschel's star chart
Astronomer William Herschel and his sister Caroline systematically mapped the stars, a project that took nearly fifty years and marked the positions of thousands of stars and nebulae. This star map, published in 1834, reveals the shape and size of the Milky Way, from which it can be seen that the Milky Way is not spherical, it is shaped like a saucer. Moreover, on the star chart our sun is far from the center of the Milky Way, which makes us feel even more deeply that we are so insignificant. So human beings finally began to accept the fact that in the boundless sea of stars, we are just little people who are secretly settling in a remote corner. Herschel also discovered Uranus and suggested naming it "George". It would have been a much better name than "Unanos". Seriously, after more than 150 years, people have finally changed their ridiculous self-righteousness.
Illustration: The Milky Way in the Herschel Star Chart
6. The theory of relativity
Before Einstein and his theory of relativity came out, astronomical studies adhered to Newton's three laws of motion. Einstein proposed that motion is relative, that gravity can change the state of motion of light, and that the world has since become unrecognizable. Relativity holds that objects with mass can distort space-time, and objects with sufficient mass can even change the direction of light travel. This shocked the entire scientific community, because until then, it was believed that the movement of light was constant. The advent of relativity perfectly solved the problem that had previously been completely incomprehensible under the constraints of Newton's laws, and completely changed the study of astronomy.
Illustration: Einstein proposed that objects can bend space-time
7. The theory of the expansion of the universe
When Edwin Hubble announced to the world that the universe was expanding, it was no exaggeration to say that it was a groundbreaking discovery. After tracking the movements of other galaxies (which he himself first discovered), Hubble concluded that these galaxies were moving away from us at a continuous acceleration. He also pointed out that the nebulaes we see in the night sky are basically galaxies as well. This provides further evidence for the Big Bang theory, while also subverting our old perception of the universe. Beyond that, what other great achievements could make a giant space telescope bear the name of a certain person?
Illustration: The latest news about the universe... The swelling continues
8. Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB)
The universe is filled with uniform background radiation, a phenomenon that was inadvertently discovered in 1964 by two Bell Telephone employees while studying satellite communications. Given that light emitted by objects a light-year away takes a year to reach our location, the cosmic microwave background radiation is like a snapshot of the cosmic picture at a bygone moment. This discovery is profound, because the uniform background radiation confirms the claim that everything in the universe originated from a single event. Cosmic microwave background radiation restores an expanding universe, thus providing strong support for the "Big Bang" theory.
Illustration: Cosmic microwave background radiation
9. Extrasolar planets
Extrasolar planets, also known as exoplanets, are planets that exist outside of our solar system. It's not just the fact of exoplanets that come to surprise, but more importantly how they're observed, and it's these observations of exoplanets that open a new chapter in astronomical research. Since 1988, nearly 3,000 exoplanets have been observed. According to rough estimates, one in every five heliopolytic stars has an Earth-sized planet that orbits the star at a distance suitable for life. Suppose there are 200 billion stars in the Milky Way, that is, there are about 11 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way alone. So many scientists believe that we will eventually find extraterrestrial life on a planet that is there waiting for us to come into contact with it, and it is only a matter of time. Moreover, with the development of interstellar travel, many habitable planets are expected to become the residences of future humans.
Illustration: Exoplanet Kepler-42
After countless centuries and so many breakthroughs, astronomy remains the least developed of many branches of science. But if human beings want to better understand themselves, they must fully understand our position among the stars in the universe and must rely on astronomical research. Let us summarize the whole text with a famous quote by Edwin Hubble: "Born in the heavens and the earth, do its best to feel the vastness of the heavens and the earth, and do its best to explore the mysteries of the heavens and the earth, which is called science." ”
Remember, there must be something wonderful waiting for us to discover in the unknown universe!
BY: Harsh Gupta
FY: Renee
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