Early civilizations contributed to our knowledge of the cosmos
You wanted to know
How do we know a considerable amount about the observable universe when it takes years to discover and travel to our own planets and throughout our solar system? This is just one of the questions asked by a middle school camper from Mundelein High School's summer STEAM camp.
Thousands of stars glimmer across the night skies, forming the great constellations, galaxies and universes.
Historians, archaeoastronomers and scientists know that, even in ancient times, observers used stars to create calendars, determine planting times and navigate the oceans. Some societies with no written language reflected their knowledge of the universe by constructing monoliths, such as the Neolithic Stonehenge rock circle in England, dating back 5,000 years, which showcases the sun at the summer solstice.
Three thousand years ago, ancient Chinese astronomers recorded and predicted eclipses. Astronomy and astrology were linked in many ancient cultures including India, China and Greece. In the sixth century B.C., Babylonians created tables that recorded planetary positions. Based on these texts, Greeks formulated astute observations and developed calculations measuring the distance between the Earth and the moon.
Civilizations throughout the centuries borrowed technical and scientific understanding from previous cultures and formulated new theories about the cosmos.
David Prosper, at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Night Sky Network in California, said what we know about the observable universe starts with careful inspection.
"Even the Big Bang, the theory that our universe started from a tiny speck, came from an observation that most of the galaxies in the universe seemed to be flying speedily apart from each other. And that observation came only when our telescopes and instruments got advanced enough to pick out other galaxies and the stars inside them," Prosper said.
The space race in the early 1960s marked a new beginning for our interest and capability to learn more about the universe, as scientists dared to launch probes into space, then animals and later astronauts. These intensive efforts fueled advances in engineering, materials, computers and a greater knowledge of our own planet in addition to a greater understanding of the planets in our solar system and galaxies.
According to the website and publication "NASA Spinoff," more than 2,000 products and services developed by the space program have landed back on Earth as improvements for our daily lives, like the Cochlear implant hearing aid, monsoon monitors and flight software.
Today, space programs link experts from around the globe to address innovative approaches to complex questions. The International Space Station, launched in 1998, is a collaborative effort with scientists from the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. The concept that space platforms, the moon or other planets could be used as launchpads to propel reconnaissance probes further into space is now even closer to reality.
Once the resulting data from space probes can be combined with observations from the five extremely large telescopes under construction - four land-based and one space-based - astronomers in the near future will focus on a very clear picture of Earth, surrounding planetary objects and galaxies.
With such a vast expanse to examine, it seems space-related careers will be available, well, forever.
"I think we have only begun to scratch the surface of understanding our universe and solar system," Prosper said.
He also works with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, which promotes astronomy education as the gateway to science literacy. The ASP sponsors Project Astro, a national hands-on astronomy program for educators, amateur groups or families that links volunteer astronomers with educators, targeting students in grades 4 through 9. For more information, visit www.astrosociety.org.
Check it out
Fremont Public Library District in Mundelein suggests these books on the universe.
• "Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei," by Peter Sis
• "The Science of Space" (no author)
• "Older Than the Stars," by Karen C. Fox
• "Universe: Journey into Deep Space," by Mike Goldsmith
• "We're the Center of the Universe!," by Christine Zuchora-Walske
• "The Librarian Who Measured the Earth," by Kathryn Lasky