Big questions in astronomy
Posted by Mr. Buracas on 2008-05-06
The field of astronomy is full of big questions. How old is the universe? What came before the big bang? How do we know that there’s a watery planet around a star that’s 20 light years away?
Well, astronomy’s full of questions like that. We’ll begin by looking at – and answering – some basic questions in astronomy.
- Where are we?
- How old is the universe? How do we know?
- How can we calculate the distances to stars?
- How can we tell what stars are made of?
- How do we know that galaxies are moving away from each other?
- What are black holes, and why do they exist at the center of every galaxy?
- How do we know that men walked on the moon and that it was not a hoax?
- How do we know the Earth is a sphere, and not flat?
- How do we know that the Heliocentric model is the correct one to describe our solar system?
Your job is to find the answers to these questions, and to explain them to me.
You will do this by email. You will research the answers, and then (in your own words, please) explain to me why and how. It might seem like an easy assignment, but I assure you that I will have questions of my own, which I will pose back at you through email.
This will probably take a few email exchanges between you and I, so be sure to check you email. When you have answered the question to my satisfaction, you will get one last reply from me with the keywords “YOU GOT IT!) in the subject line.
Until you get that last email from me, then your job is not done.
My email addy is, as usual, mister.buracas @ gmail.com. Please include your last name in the subject line, or it might not get an answer.
Carry on!
