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The Planet Mercury
Space Travel
Since the beginning of time, people have looked to the heavens with wonder. In the book of Genesis in the Bible, the people decided to build a tower that would reach heaven. According to the scriptures, God saw that people could do anything they wanted to do if they worked together, so He caused people to speak different languages and scattered them around the earth -- He later destroyed the tower as well. The attempt to build the Tower of Babel happened after the great flood, but before Abraham's covenant with God. Yes, humans have always been fascinated by the sky…the heavens….and the desire to reach out and touch it.
Back in the 1960s, President John Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon before any other nation could accomplish the feat. On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 was launched from the Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. aboard; the destination was the moon. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. He uttered the historic words, "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Space travel became a reality.
Since that historic day in 1969, we have sent unmanned space craft to Mars and Saturn. They have sent back some truly amazing photographs. We are learning more and more about our solar system and the other plants that circle our sun.
America's space program is still at work and the possibility of space travel is a very real possibility. There are many problems that must be overcome before a manned space craft can be launched and sent to other planets, but I do believe that someday it will happen -- maybe not in my lifetime, but someday.
See Also:
The Antikythera Mechanism
The Planet Jupiter
The Planet Mars
Earthlings have always been fascinated by the planet, Mars. The "little green men from Mars" invading Earth has been the stuff of science fiction for decades. On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles did a dramatization of H. G. Wells's "War of the Worlds" on the Mercury Theatre on the Air radio show. During the four commercial breaks of the program, there were disclaimers aired telling the audience that the content was fictional. Still, panic erupted in towns across America.
There was a new 40-inch telescope being built by the University of Chicago in 1895. An astronomy professor, Samual Leland Phelps, wrote a book about the project called "World Making." In the book, the professor wrote, "It will be possible to see cities on Mars, to detect navies in [its] harbors, and the smoke of great manufacturing cities and towns...Is Mars inhabited? There can be little doubt of it...conditions are all favorable for life, and life, too, of a high order. Is it possible to know this of a certainty? Certainly." Well…not exactly, professor!
From observations of Mars from stationary observatories on earth, astronomers concluded that:
1. The reddish color of Mars is caused by red rocks and dust.
2. The polar ice caps increase and decrease according to seasons.
3. There are what were thought to be canals on the surface. (That has since been disproved)
4. There are areas of Mars that change color. (It was believed that this was vegetation, but that has been disproved, as well.)
5. Mars has an atmosphere.
Space probes, beginning with Mariner 4, 6, 7, and 9 from 1965 through 1971, and the Viking 1 and 2 probes in 1976, disproved many of the previously held beliefs about Mars. We are learning more about Mars all the time, and one important fact is that there aren't any little green (or any other color) men living on Mars. |
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History of Astronomy (IAU Commission 41)
Deep sky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ancient Astronomical Calendars
Our Solar System
Our solar system consists of our sun, eight planets, the 166 known moons that orbit these eight planets, 3 dwarf planets and the four known moons that orbit them. Our solar system also includes billions of other small bodies such as asteroids, Kuiper belt objects, comets, meteoroids, and interplanetary dust.
In short, our solar system is made up of our sun and all the celestial objects that are gravitationally bound to it.
The general outline of our solar system is (from the center outward):
1. The sun
2. Four terrestrial inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars)
3. An asteroid belt (made up of rocky objects)
4. Four outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus)
5. The Kuiper belt (made up of icy objects)
6. Scattered disc (poorly understood region)
7. Heliopause (where the sun's solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium)
8. And finally, a hypothetical Oort Cloud (there is a lot of ongoing debate about the Oort Cloud).
Yes, there was another planet called Pluto, but it is no longer considered a planet. Back in August 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague decided that Pluto did not meet the requirements to be designated a planet, and it is now classified as one of many dwarf planets.
In the dim and dusty past, it was believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and that everything else revolved around it, including the sun. That theory changed as knowledge was gained. The telescope was invented, and men could see farther and farther.
The formation of our solar system remains a basis of contention between some religious leaders and some scientists. There are some of each who believe that God created the universe in six days, just the way creation is described in the book of Genesis in the Bible. There are others who subscribe to the "Big Bang" theory. The debate has been raging for decades and shows no signs of abating. But however our solar system came into being, it is magnificent!
Related Topics: The Hubble Space Telescope,
Galileo Galilei, The Moon Shot
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