Date: August 9, 2010

Title: Fascination Astronomy

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Podcaster: Thomas Hofstätter

Organization: The Hidden Space Project

Description: Heaven fascinates millions of people around the world. Since the beginning of mankind, humans have been looking up into the skies and asked themselves basic questions such as “Who are we?” and “Where do we come from?”. In this podcast, I will try to give an overview on the “Fascination Astronomy” from the past to the future.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions to the podcast, feel free to write me an email to hidden-space (at) gmx (dot) at or visit me at my website at www.hidden-space.at.tf!

Bio: Born in 1993 near Vienna, Austria, Europe. Upper High School with focus on Computer Science. Interested in extreme small and extreme big, devious and uninvestigated things. My main aim is to bring astronomy to public and to establish secular interest in astronomy, physics and mathematics.

Today’s sponsor: This episode of ‘365 Days of Astronomy’ is sponsored by the NASA Lunar Science Institute at lunarscience.nasa.gov/, proud co-Founders of International Observe the Moon Night, around the globe on September 18th. More information at bit.ly/nomn

Transcript: Welcome to this episode of 365 Days of Astronomy. My name is Thomas Hofstätter and I am the hoster of :: The Hidden Space Project :: at www.hidden-space.at.tf.

In this episode, I’m going to discuss the fascination of astronomy from the past to today. I hope, you will enjoy it!

Astronomy was used since the origin of human beings. People of Stone Age used it as well as the Babylonians, Greeks and Romans, but for different uses. In primitive cultures, the state of the moon was used to find out the right time for hunting or preparing e.g. for the winter. Moreover, the sky was used for cultural and religious purposes. The sun and moon were thought to be divinities, sometimes friendly, sometimes hazardous.

More developed cultures such as the bevore-mentioned Babylonians, Greeks and Romans as well as the Maya and Chinese tried to set up calendars and a kind of time. They even were able to tell the time with very little imprecision. The Chinese sawyers even ordered several men to watch the sky the whole night and then tell them what they have seen. On July 4, 1054, by this method, one of the earliest supernova was found. It is now known as the Crab Nebula or M1.

Nevertheless, astronomy was primarily used for cultural and religious purposes because behind the celestial objects there have been thought divinities, whom behaviour they wanted to know. Most astronomers used their data to set up horoscopes. This behaviour was also common in the European Middle Ages.

With Nikolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler, this changed. But it should be mentioned that they all set up horoscopes, too. But they improved the understanding on the solar system in huge steps.

Nowadays, astronomy and spaceflight are necessary parts of our daily life. Without satellites, life would not be imaginable. The technology used today saves high quality jobs and helps to make our life easier. But it is not only the every day’s technology that makes people looking up into the skies. There is a kind of pull that makes us raising our eyes towards heaven.

Different than in the past, only very few people are afraid of the firmament today. Solar and lunar eclipses, comets and the planets they can see with the unaided eyes, fascinate people around the world. They watch the news of rocket and space shuttles launches and marvel about professional images of galaxies and nebulas.

Hobby astronomers are fascinated by a broader band of aspects. One likes to go out with their scope and watch planets, the moon or the sun, the other like to read and swap information about astronomy’s history. The Internet makes most things easier. With a few clicks, you can exchange observing tips or read everything about e.g. Astronomy in the US, Europe or every other part of the world.

The other group is fascinated by the unexplored vastness of the universe. How had it formed? Are there other civilizations? And if yes, are they intelligent? Can they communicate? Maybe, one day we will be able to understand what had formed and will devise the universe we live in. It would be the dream of every SETI fascinated to receive messages from other civilizations. If we go on, looking into the skies, we will get this!

That’s it for today. I hope, you enjoyed it. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, write me an email to hidden-space (at) gmx (dot) at or visit me at my website at www.hidden-space.at.tf and observe basic questions of astronomy’s past and future as well as hidden and devious facts.

Thanks for listening and clear-skies!

End of podcast:

365 Days of Astronomy
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