Astronomy is a small community, so you can expect to travel internationally quite often to present your results and collaborate with others in your specific subfield..
Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy .
The earliest sophisticated astronomy arose in ancient Babylonia, in central Mesopotamia, and there are three reasons why it happened there rather than, say, in ancient Greece..
Astronomy has and continues to revolutionize our thinking on a worldwide scale.
In the past, astronomy has been used to measure time, mark the seasons, and navigate the vast oceans.
As one of the oldest sciences astronomy is part of every culture's history and roots..
The worldwide com- munity of professional astronomers is only about 10,000; most are located in the US (with about 1,000 in the UK and 250 in Australia).
Under the heading of “astronomy” there are many fields (and sub-fields) of research..
The IAU is a truly international body, with a total membership of 12775 (of which 1224 are Junior members).
The number of Active Individual and Junior Members in the IAU Directory is: 12403 from 92 different countries across all continents (for the latest data go here)..
The first documented records of systematic astronomical observations date back to the Assyro-Babylonians around 1000 BCE.
From this cradle of civilisation in Mesopotamia – in the southern part of present-day Iraq – astronomers had built up knowledge of the celestial bodies and recorded their periodic motions..
Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy .
The fruits of scientific and technological development in astronomy, especially in areas such as optics and electronics, have become essential to our day-to-day life, with applications such as personal computers, communication satellites, mobile phones, Global Positioning Systems, solar panels and Magnetic Resonance .
Astronomy helps us approach the big questions
It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the formation and development of the universe.” One of the most important aspects of astronomy is its ability to help us understand our place in the universe..
Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy .
The first documented records of systematic astronomical observations date back to the Assyro-Babylonians around 1000 BCE.
From this cradle of civilisation in Mesopotamia – in the southern part of present-day Iraq – astronomers had built up knowledge of the celestial bodies and recorded their periodic motions..
Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy .
The fruits of scientific and technological development in astronomy, especially in areas such as optics and electronics, have become essential to our day-to-day life, with applications such as personal computers, communication satellites, mobile phones, Global Positioning Systems, solar panels and Magnetic Resonance .
Throughout history civilizations have developed unique systems for ordering and understanding the heavens.
Babylonian and Egyptian astronomers developed systems that became the basis for Greek astronomy, while societies in the Americas, China and India developed their own..
Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy .
The Ancient Greeks developed astronomy, which they treated as a branch of mathematics, to a highly sophisticated level.
The first geometrical, three-dimensional models to explain the apparent motion of the planets were developed in the 4th century BC by Eudoxus of Cnidus and Callippus of Cyzicus..
The first documented records of systematic astronomical observations date back to the Assyro-Babylonians around 1000 BCE.
From this cradle of civilisation in Mesopotamia – in the southern part of present-day Iraq – astronomers had built up knowledge of the celestial bodies and recorded their periodic motions..
If you're interested in famous astronomers, you've likely heard of Copernicus, Galileo, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, and Albert Einstein.
These men were brilliant and giants in their field..
Possibly the world's best-known astronomer, Galileo constructed a simple refracting telescope in 1610 and became the first person to use a spy-glass for astronomy.
The sheer number of stars, the rough surface of the Moon and sunspots astonished him..
Astronomy has and continues to revolutionize our thinking on a worldwide scale.
In the past, astronomy has been used to measure time, mark the seasons, and navigate the vast oceans.
As one of the oldest sciences astronomy is part of every culture's history and roots..
Scientific and technological achievements give a large competitive edge to any nation. Nations pride themselves on having the most efficient new technologies and race to achieve new scientific discoveries. But perhaps more important is the way that science can bring nations together, encouraging collaboration and creating a constant flow as researc.
Astronomers struggle constantly to see objects that are ever dimmer and further away. Medicine struggles with similar issues: to see things that are obscured within the human body. Both disciplines require high-resolution, accurate and detailed images. Perhaps the most notable example of knowledge transfer between these two studies is the technique.
Early cultures identified celestial objects with the gods and took their movements across the sky as prophecies of what was to come. We would now call this astrology
Far removed from the hard facts and expensive instruments of today’s astronomy
But there are still hints of this history in modern astronomy.
Throughout History humans have looked to the sky to navigate the vast oceans, to decide when to plant their crops and to answer questions of where we came from and how we got here. It is a discipline that opens our eyes, gives context to our place in the Universe and that can reshape how we see the world. When Copernicus claimed that Earth was not .
In the above text we have outlined both the tangible and intangible reasons that astronomy is an important part of society. Although we have focused mainly on the technology and knowledge transfer, perhaps the most important contribution is still the fact that astronomy makes us aware of how we fit into the vast Universe. The American astronomer Ca.
Astronomy
Science that encompasses the study of all extraterrestrial objects and phenomena. Since the late 19th century
astronomy has expanded to include
Astrophysics
the application of physical and chemical knowledge to an understanding of the nature of celestial objects.
