Space, the Final Frontier, is a haven – wild, beautiful, and highly evocative – bursting with color, life, light, and sound. It imbues one with improved physical well-being, inner peace, relaxation, and nature’s connection.
The most exciting thing about studying the Universe is also the most frustrating. No matter how expert. There has always been a level of frustration in wanting to know more. But if it's any consolation, some of the most advanced minds in science and from history always felt that way about space.
The love for astronomy, for many, has the first experience with celestial bodies begins with the first full moon in the sky. It is truly a magnificent view, even to the naked eye. If the night is clear, the incredible detail of the lunar surface can be seen in the backyard.
It is those feelings that drive the love of astronomy and a desire to learn more and more about it.
Studying the Universe
Even the greats such as Copernicus and Einstein looked up into space and felt like they were just a spec in the presence of such infinity.
Of course, space is not infinite, and it has to be finite, which means somehow there must be an end to it. But if there is, this tiny planet has yet to figure out where it is. The only thing that has brought "the end of the universe" is a limited ability to see deeper into space.
The Final Frontier of Space
Conquering the final frontier of space means more than just seeing more stars and planets and building a giant telescope. Some mind-blowing concepts about how space works are left to conquer.
The big bang and the expanding Universe were enough to spin minds. However, the coming of Einstein and the theory of relativity put the entire idea on its ear.
All of a sudden, space is not just three dimensions, but the dimension of time that is exportable and adjustable, and maybe even traveling through time seems impossible.
The frontier of space is as much a journey of the mind as it is of distance. When Steven Hawking revealed the mysteries of black holes, time and space could suddenly collapse and be twisted and changed in those intergalactic pressure cookers. If not for the wonders of radio astronomy, these ideas would remain just ideas, but slowly science is catching up with the theory.
But the brilliance of mathematicians and genius minds like Hawking and Einstein continue to stretch the concepts of space. The string theory could revolutionize everything known about space, time, and how the Universe relates to itself. It's the final frontier. The Starship Enterprise would not stop exploring, so neither can science.
Space, the Final Frontier, is a haven - wild, beautiful, and highly evocative -bursting with color, life, light, and sound. It imbues one with improved
physical well-being, inner peace, relaxation, and nature's connection.
It's one of the best elixirs one can find to be part of unrestrained nature and all her glory. For centuries humans have tried to look into the farthest corners of reachable space: the Moon, Solar System, and beyond. Time has passed, and technology has gone far, but there is still more to learn.
The planets of the solar system have taken on personalities and mythical appeal in literature and the arts.
It is easy to find artists who render their vision of the planets that make up the society of planets near the sun. The names of the planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, are all from a cultural past being gods from Greek and Roman mythology. But the solar system is not just made up of these planets.
A solar system is a bustling place indeed.
A planet, by scientific definition, is any object in orbit around a sun that has formed into some round object is the planet as long as it has cleared away any other orbiting items around it. Clearing away doesn't mean it has destroyed all space debris, etc. For example, the planet has not "cleared away" the moon, but it has captured it into its orbit, so it is classified as a planet.
Many objects are floating around in the solar system other than the known planets. It's an interesting piece of trivia that 165 moons are orbiting around those nine planets and the worlds. Some of those moons are so advanced that some scientists suspected they might have supported life at some point.
In addition to the regular planets and moons, there are dwarf planets, asteroid belts, and routine visits by comets that create a lot of traffic in the cosmic corner of the Universe. The two known dwarf planets on the outer rim of the solar system are Eries and Ceres.
As fascinating as these many celestial bodies in space, the solar system's origin must be broken down into simple terms to understand the words. The early history of the solar system and the Universe was one of the great bodies of gas and clouds of matter. Eventually, cooling and heating, exploding and spinning off stars and other massive space giants that became more stars, galaxies, and solar systems.
From this erratic activity, the sun separated from the gasses and carried the material that became a solar system. The sun's gravity captured sufficient matter that it began to form, cool, explode, and separate. It happened as the planets went through the same process, eventually establishing stable orbits and small objects falling into orbit around them.
It's incredible to step back and see the beauty of the organization of the solar system today.
The more detail learned about the solar system's history, and the more enjoyment will be found in the explorations of the planets with a telescope. That discovery is part of the fun of astronomy.
