Astronomy 2021A/B Chapter 1: chapter1-readingnotes.docx
Document Summary
Key points: although large, multicellular life seems unlikely, some reason to think simpler life might yet exist on other planets, while we"ve long known tha the universe is full of stars, we"ve only recently gained concrete evidence telling us its also full of planets (far more places to search, advances inunderstanding and technology make it possible to study the question of life. When you consider the dominance that the earth centred or geocentric view of the universe held for thousands of years, it is clear that astronomy plays a key role in framing context of the search: we now know that the earth is but one tiny world orbiting one rather ordinary star in a vast cosmos, we have learned that the physical laws that operate in the rest of the universe are the same as those that operate on earth.