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Unit 7: Astrophysics Page 16
Objectives
Lesson 2: Astronomy
Whew! After doing particle physics, never looked through a telescope.
this stuff is going to be easy… Amateur astronomers usually have
(well, at least until you get to the smaller telescopes, and they don’t
special relativity section for your get paid to do astronomy – they
high school student.) just do it for the love of it. Many
amateur astronomers have
Astronomers study celestial discovered new objects based on
objects (stars, planets, moon, their raw knowledge of the sky.
asteroids, comets, galaxies, etc) Professional observational
that exist outside our planet’s astronomers mostly use expensive
atmosphere. Its the one field that scientific instruments to look
combines most science, through their massive telescopes.
engineering and technology areas They spend a lot of time taking
in one fell swoop. Astronomy is data and crunching numbers.
also one of the oldest sciences on Professional theoretical
the planet. astronomers think up new ideas for
getting the data to make sense.
Early astronomers tracked the
(Albert Einstein was theoretical –
movement of the stars so
he hated to do experiments.)
accurately that in most cases,
we’ve only made minor
adjustments to their data.
Although Galileo wasn’t the first Here are the highlights for
person to look through a telescope, this unit for younger
he was the first to point it at the grades:
stars. Originally, astronomy was
used as celestial navigation and 1. Our solar system includes rocky
involved with the making of terrestrial planets (Mercury,
calendars, but nowadays is mostly Venus, Earth, and Mars), gas
classified in the field called giants (Jupiter and Saturn), ice
astrophysics. giants (Uranus and Neptune),
and assorted chunks of ice and
There are different types of
astronomers, some of which have
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