Our everyday lives are affected by this reality more than we often realize. Unlike our ancestors, we have the technology to guide us and help us uncover the biggest questions of the universe and our existence alike.
Humans have been wondering about stars and planets for thousands of years and used the knowledge to make sense of the world around them.
For example, understanding the way sun travels across the sky was the foundation for timekeeping. More than 30 thousand years ago there were no clocks, but people knew how to measure time. They were using sundials and noticed that in different times of the year, the length of day is different. Progressively, observing patterns inspired the creation of calendars. Understanding seasons and natural cycles was a matter of survival.
By observing the Sirius stars, Egyptians were effectively able to know when exactly to plant their crops or when to retreat because the flooding of the Nile would take place. Similarly, the Maya observed the equinox and solstices to develop an advanced and detailed calendar. Read More: New evidence for Holographic Universe backs up ancient esoteric teachings. Every human being is connected to the cosmic space.
This manifests through our biorhythms, the ways we function during different times of the day. The Moon has an important role in this: its stages affect us more than we think. Moon phases are important when cutting trees for wood and for fishers to know the tides. Just think about… All of us are intrinsically connected to the rhythm of the earth, the moon, the sun, and the entire universe. Therefore, astronomy has a strong connection to the world around us.
Due to its inherent interdisciplinarity, it also spans across various fields, such as biology, chemistry, geology, physics, as well as data analysis and computer science. It helped develop advanced technology, including our whole global communications system. Whether it is the GPS, the Internet, weather reports or the TV, none of this could function without astronomical knowledge.
Have you ever heard about the Overview Effect? It relates to the experience of seeing the Earth from space. Suddenly, national boundaries become irrelevant and the conflicts that divide us seem insignificant. From this perspective, we are all united. We only have one planet — our only home — that we need to learn about and protect.
The consciousness aspect of this is inspiring: There is beauty in understanding. Every night, using the science of astronomy, the entire universe can be revealed above us. Although at some point we've all had that "blanket of stars" moment, it is an illusion. The visible planets and the bright stars you can see with your eyes are mostly very close to us — in cosmic terms — but the night sky has incredible, almost unfathomable depth.
Not only can our own galaxy, the Milky Way , be navigated and known but other galaxies can be probed using telescopes, on Earth and in space, and in various wavelengths of light from all kinds of cosmic objects. What does astronomy mean?
The planets in our own solar system, our own star the sun, and the bright stars can all be seen with the naked eye. However, astronomy can go much deeper, taking advantage of telescopes and other scientific instruments to study other stars and their planets in our galaxy, as well as distant galaxies beyond our own.
It can gather clues about the nature of the physical, chemical and biological universe itself. Looking through the fluid-filled, constantly moving eye of a living person is not that different from trying to observe astronomical objects through the turbulent atmosphere, and the same fundamental approach seems to work for both.
Adaptive optics used in astronomy can be used for retinal imaging in living patients to study diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa in their early stages. Boston Micromachines Corporation There are many things that people encounter on an everyday basis that were derived from astronomical technologies. Perhaps the most commonly used astronomy-derived invention is the wireless local area network WLAN.
This same method was applied to radio signals in general, specifically to those dedicated to strengthening computer networks, which is now an integral part of all WLAN implementations Hamaker et al. Other technologies important to everyday life that were originally developed for astronomy are listed below National Research Council, :.
In airports, a gas chromatograph — for separating and analysing compounds — designed for a Mars mission is used to survey baggage for drugs and explosives. The police use hand-held Chemical Oxygen Demand COD photometers — instruments developed by astronomers for measuring light intensity — to check that car windows are transparent, as determined by the law.
A gamma-ray spectrometer originally used to analyse lunar soil is now used as a non-invasive way to probe structural weakening of historical buildings or to look behind fragile mosaics, such as in St. More subtle than these contributions to technology is the contribution that astronomy has made to our view of time. The first calendars were based on the movement of the Moon and even the way that we define a second is due to astronomy.
The atomic clock, developed in , was calibrated using astronomical Ephemeris Time — a former standard astronomical timescale adopted by the IAU in This led to the internationally agreed-upon re-definition of the second Markowitz et al.
These are all very tangible examples of the effect astronomy has had on our everyday lives, but astronomy also plays an important role in our culture. There are many books and magazines about astronomy for non-astronomers. Many non-astronomers also engaged with astronomy during the International Year of Astronomy IYA , the largest education and public outreach event in science. The IYA reached upwards of eight hundred million people, through thousands of activities, in more than countries IAU, 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 researchers travel around the globe to work in international facilities. Astronomy is particularly well suited to international collaboration due to the need to have telescopes in different places around the world, in order to see the whole sky.
At least as far back as — when astronomers from around the world pooled their telescope images and made the first map of the whole sky — there have been international collaborations in astronomy and in , the International Astronomical Union became the first international scientific union.
In addition to the need to see the sky from different vantage points on Earth, building astronomical observatories on the ground and in space is extremely expensive. Therefore most of the current and planned observatories are owned by several nations. All of these collaborations have thus far been peaceful and successful. Some of the most notable being:. 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. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. Aitken, R. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Leaflet 59, December , Clark, H. Finley, D.
Gruman, J. Hamaker, J. Kiger, P. Markowitz, W. Paris, N. Shasharina, S. Herman, Berlin:Springer , StarChild, StarChild: Dr. Truman, H. Technology transfer From astronomy to industry Some of the most useful examples of technology transfer between astronomy and industry include advances in imaging and communications.
Some other examples of technology transfer between astronomy and industry are listed below National Research Council, : The company General Motors uses the astronomy programming language Interactive Data Language IDL to analyse data from car crashes.
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