He built his first telescope when he was only 20, using mirrors, lenses, and parts of an old Buick car. He used instructions from a 1925 issue of Popular Astronomy. Through the telescope he made observations of Jupiter and Mars. He sent his drawn renditions of Jupiter and Mars to the Lowell Observatory, hoping to get feedback from professional astronomers. Instead, they offered him a job.
Leedskalnin say to have to have been self-taught to physics and was amazed by the pyramids, which pieces were moved by an irregular way. Leedskalnin was amazed by astronomy and loved stars, so he built a massive 30-ton telescope, which rockets 25 feet into the air, focused on the North Star. Then, after all his likings and life he built
I researched about William Herschel, who was a conductor, organist, composer and music teacher. William Herschel knew the stars well and was always curious as to what was beyond the Earth. He had built himself a homemade telescope and enjoyed viewing the stars from it. As he was observing the stars one night he noticed an object that he could not clarify what it was. Other astronomers had seen this object, but never really observed how different it was.
He explains that people would look at this sky all the time, and that's how the realized something interesting happened, such as the star. He said that Jupiter passed Venus, and when the biggest star and brightest star passed over each other, it was the brightest star in the universe. When this happened and people looked at the sky, this became The Star of
He thought it was a comet at first. Realizing he had problems with his calculations in regards of size and distance, his well-connected friends advised him to correspond with the appropriate astronomical society in England early on, which ended up being a blessing and a curse. He thought an established astronomer with a telescope at an observatory would be better equipped to
Her indomitable spirit and relentless pursuit of knowledge propelled her to become an iconic figure in astronomy, while also shedding light on the underappreciated contributions of women scientists of her time. Maria Mitchell's journey in astronomy began while she worked as a librarian at the Nantucket Atheneum. It was during her nights that she devoted herself to studying the celestial heavens using a modest two-inch Dollond telescope. With her exceptional observational skills, she skillfully focused her telescope on a star positioned five degrees above the North Star, meticulously recording its coordinates. The following night, Mitchell's suspicion was confirmed as she witnessed the star's movement, marking her discovery of a comet.
By tracking the position of the Moon in the sky over time, he was able to estimate its size, a proposition that was debated in the scientific community for centuries after his death. Nonetheless, Aristarchus was correct about both of his propositions, his contributions to astronomy are considered important to this day and have been used as the foundation for astronomy. The fine styles used by Aristarchus to study the positions and movements of the stars give substantiation for the heliocentric model. One of the tools he used was a gnomon, a perpendicular rod that casted a shadow, which he used to measure the angles between the Sun, Earth, and Moon during a lunar eclipse. He also made compliances with solar and lunar eclipses which allowed him to estimate the relative sizes of the Sun and Moon [2].
His motivation was for people to use his telescope and his work was looking for double stars, and in proving that it worked Herschel found what looked to be a slow moving comet that was later called Uranus on March 13, 1781. He wrote “’Looking at a star in the quartile between Aurigas right foot and the left foot of Castor I discover’d a Comet. It was at the distance of almost 2/3 of my field of view from a small telescope star which followed it and seemed to have the same declination.”’ He then looked again 4 days later and to himself that confirmed it was a
Telescopium is a minor constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere, one of twelve created in the 18th century by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille and one of several depicting scientific instruments. Its name is a Latinized form of the Greek word for telescope. Telescopium was later much reduced in size by Francis Baily and Benjamin Gould. The brightest star in the constellation is Alpha Telescopii, a blue-white subgiant with an apparent magnitude of 3.5, followed by the orange giant star Zeta Telescopii at magnitude 4.1. Eta and PZ Telescopii are two young star systems with debris disks and brown dwarf companions.
I chose “Astronomy: Discovery of Uranus by William Herschel in 1781” as the topic for my research. I found that William Herschel was many things, including a musician, composer, teacher, and astronomer. William also built his own telescopes to look into the night sky. During one of his searches, he found something odd; it wasn’t a nebulous star or comet, but something different. It turned out to be a planet which he named “Georgium Sidus” or Georges star in honor of George III.
One day, as he was observing Saturn, he spotted Uranus, which he believed to be a comet at the time. No one else believed him until the planet got enough for them to barely spot it on their lower quality telescopes. This made Herschel famous and
Uranus was originally thought to be a comet because of Herschel’s discovery. The true beauty of a scientific community shines through what happened next in history. Due to the research carried out by William Herschel other astronomers investigated this “comet” and many suggested it to be other things. A Russian astronomer named Anders Johann Lexell actually was the one who calculated an orbit for this comet which gave reason to many other astronomers to believe that this comet was in fact a planet which of course we know now holds true. Herschel became famous because of this discover and I think the greatest thing to come of his discovery is that he “was able to continue with his unique program of astronomical observation.
For centuries, astronomers in nearly every culture had broadly recognized Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, as they were visible to the naked eye. As telescopes were developed, the study of astrology expanded and the desire to observe and discover was intensified. Amidst this new wave of development and excitement, William Herschel, was born in Germany. After moving to England and initiating a career as an organist, his love of books stimulated a significant interest in the heavens and magnificent wonders therein.
Nicolaus Copernicus established the concept of a heliocentric system that validates that the sun, rather than the earth, is at the center of our solar system. Later on, he is now known as the “Father of Modern Astronomy”. Early Life On February 19, 1473 in Torun, Poland, Barbara Watzenrode and Nicolaus Copernicus Sr. had their fourth child, Nicolaus Copernicus (Armitage,
The planet Uranus was discovered on March 13th, 1781 by German born British-astronomer William Herschel. Herschel found the new planet by using a telescope that he made himself. When he discovered the planet, he didn’t really know what he was looking at. He thought he might have discovered a nebular star or even a new comet. Later on he presented his findings to the Royal Society, where Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne revealed that it actually had a planet like orbit, and did not seem to possess a tail like a comet would.