CPS 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Atmospheric Sciences, Planetary Science, Astronomy
Astronomy
Humans have long gazed toward the heavens, searching to put meaning and order
to the universe around them. Although the movement of constellations — patterns
imprinted on the night sky — were the easiest to track, other celestial events such
as eclipses and the motion of planets were also charted and predicted.
Definition of astronomy: Astronomy is the study of the sun, moon, stars, planets,
comets, gas, galaxies, gas, dust and other non-Earthly bodies and phenomena. In
curriculum for K-4 students, NASA defines astronomy as simple "the study of stars,
planets and space." Astronomy and astrology were historically associated,
but astrology is not a science and is no longer recognized as having anything to do
with astronomy. Below we discuss the history of astronomy and related fields of
study, including cosmology. Historically, astronomy has focused on observations of
heavenly bodies. It is a close cousin to astrophysics. Succinctly put, astrophysics
involves the study of the physics of astronomy and concentrates on the behavior,
properties and motion of objects out there. However, modern astronomy includes
many elements of the motions and characteristics of these bodies, and the two
terms are often used interchangeably today.
Modern astronomers tend to fall into two fields: the theoretical and the
observational.
Observational astronomers focus on direct study of stars, planets, galaxies, and so
forth.
Theoretical astronomers model and analyze how systems may have evolved.
Unlike most other fields of science, astronomers are unable to observe a system
entirely from birth to death; the lifetime of worlds, stars, and galaxies span millions
to billions of years. Instead, astronomers must rely on snapshots of bodies in
various stages of evolution to determine how they formed, evolved and died. Thus,
theoretical and observational astronomy tend to blend together, as theoretical
scientists use the information actually collected to create simulations, while the
observations serve to confirm the models — or to indicate the need for tweaking
them.
Astronomy is broken down into a number of subfields, allowing scientists to
specialize in particular objects and phenomena.
Red spots on Jupiter, photographed on Feb. 27, 2006.
Credit: Christopher Go via NASA
Planetary astronomers (also called planetary scientists) focus on the growth,
evolution, and death of planets. While most study the worlds inside the solar
system, some use the growing body of evidence about planets around other stars
to hypothesize what they might be like. According to the University College
London, planetary science "is a cross-discipline field including aspects of
astronomy, atmospheric science, geology, space physics, biology and chemistry."
Stellar astronomers turn their eyes to the stars, including the black holes, nebulae,
white dwarfs and supernova that survive stellar deaths. The University of
California, Los Angeles, says, "The focus of stellar astronomy is on the physical
and chemical processes that occur in the universe."
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