A Beginners' Guide to Astronomy

Tap to Read ➤ Gaynor Borade

Astronomy is an age-old science and involves the study of celestial objects. Their placements and certain derived or calculated movements, are part of a scientific study to understand the phenomena beyond the atmosphere that is home to us.

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. The detailed study of stars, planets, galaxies, and comets aids in understanding cosmic background radiation beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. These revelations significantly impact understanding evolution, meteorology, and physics laws. Observing celestial movements deepens understanding of the universe's development.

In fact, astronomy is one of the oldest sciences applied! Earlier, astronomers were very methodical in approach of their observations of the night sky. This observation-based science was only able to develop into the modern science it is today, after the invention of the telescope.

Astronomy encompasses celestial navigation, astrometry, observational astronomy, and astrology. Recent research equates professional astronomy with astrophysics.

Professional astronomy comprises theoretical and observational branches. The observational branch emphasizes data collection and analysis.

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. Theoretical branch develops models for celestial phenomena, while observational branch analyzes data. Both work together to explain and confirm results.

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. Astronomy is an exciting field for beginners, with amateurs contributing significantly to discoveries. It's one of the few sciences where amateurs actively participate!

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. Recorded data aids in discovering celestial phenomena. Astronomy and astrology share commonalities in observing celestial objects but differ in their use of ephemerides.

In quondam times, this area of study included observations to predict motions of objects visible to the naked eye, determine the seasons, and understand the length of the year.

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. Recorded data aids in discovering celestial phenomena. Astronomy and astrology share commonalities in observing celestial objects but differ in their use of ephemerides.

With the intent of exploring the nature of the universe, early astronomy comprised mapping the positions of the celestial objects. This was the humble beginning of the science of astrometry. This mapping formed the earliest observations of inter-planetary motion and the philosophical nature of the Sun, Moon and the Earth.

Before, Earth was seen as the center of the universe in the 'geocentric model.' This changed with astronomical discoveries like lunar eclipses and measurements of the Moon's size and distance.

All this was even before the telescope was invented. The subject includes the acknowledgement of the work of scientists like Galileo, Copernicus, and Kepler. Their detailed sketches and observations of the celestial bodies have been defended, expanded upon, and corrected over the years.

It also includes the understanding of the discoveries and paralleled improvements in the size and quality of the telescopes. The study involves the understanding of the extensive star catalogs nebulosity and clusters, the discoveries of planets, distances between stars, and development of more accurate predictions about the motions of the celestial bodies.

Amateurs must also study, observe, and understand, the calculations of the masses of the celestial bodies, estimated from their perturbations, and the significant advances in astronomy due to the introduction of instruments like the spectroscope.

The initial study includes the calculations of the varying temperatures and sizes of celestial bodies, the study of the existence of the Milky Way as a separate group of stars, and the discovery of the many exotic objects like blazers, quasars, etc.