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Galileo and his Telescope
Galileo built the first complete astronomical telescope after hearing of a simiar instrument in Holland. This came after woring at the University of Padua in Italy for nearly 20 years. He observed moons of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons), Saturn's rings, the phases of Venus, and the many stars in the Milky Way. -
Gravity named by Newton
Isaac Newton described gravity in 1665. At the age of 23, young Isaac Newton realized that gravitational force accounts for falling objects on earth. That concept could then be tied to why the moon orbits, why other planets in orbit suns, and the laws that govern the universe. -
Big Bang First Proposed
The Big Bang was first proposed by a physicist who also happened to be a priest. It was not taken seriously because the theory sounded too much like a “religious view” because it went against the previously believed static and unchanging universe, and for it to come out of nothing was too radical for the time. Also see http://catholicexchange.com/2010/06/30/128213/ -
Theory of Relativity
Albert Einstein published Theory of Relativity recognizes the speed of light as the ultimate speed in the universe and also spacetime. It replaced Newton's gravitational model which also lead to the concepts of black holes at the center of galaxies and an expanding Universe. http://www.strangemusic.com/BBTL.htm -
A "Fireball" Explosion
In 1927, Georges Lemaitre predicted that “all the matter in the universe was concentrated at one point.” Gamow furthur suggested that the universe started through "fireball" reaction. He also predicted that the radiation left over through the billions of years would have a temerature of 3 Kelvin. When that background radiation was detected in 1965, the radiation was in fact 3 K. -
An Expanding Universe
Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is forever expanding while working in Southern California in a 100 in. telescope at Mt. Wilson. He concluded that galaxies accelerate the farther it moves away from us. This is known as the "Doppler shift." He put into perspective how large the universe is. http://www.strangemusic.com/BBTL.htm -
Steady State Theory
The Steady State theory was created by Fred Hoyle, Thomas Gold, Hermann Bondi as an alternative to the Big Bang theory. It states that "new matter is continuously created as the universe expands" and that it has always existed. This model lost credibility with the discovery of background radiation in 1965. -
Sir Fred Hoyle Coined Term "Big Bang"
Sir Fred Hoyle sarcastically coined the term "Big Bang" on BBC radio while criticizing the theory of the events 12,000 million years ago. Instead, he believed in the Steady State Theory. -
Quasars
Allan Sandage and Thomas Matthews named Quasi Stellar Radio Sources, or Quasars, after discovering “intense radio energy sources.” Later in 1964, Maarten Schmidt discovered that quasars are found at the edge of the visible universe. Due to this, it has been shown that black holes are “found at the centers of young galaxies where matter is heated to high temperatures and glows brightly as it rushes into the vortex.” http://www.strangemusic.com/BBTL.htm -
Background Radiation Discovered
Scientists Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson discovered Microwave Background Radiation at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey. This radiation has been shown to be the “afterglow” of the Big Bang and the creation of the universe. The pattern comes from the hot gas expanding as the universe expanded. Both received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery. http://www.strangemusic.com/BBTL.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_background_radiation -
Pulsars
Jocelyn Bell and Anthony Hewish discovered intense pulsating sources of radio energy. Pulsars became the first examples of neutron stars. Neutron stars are extremely dense objects that form during the explosion of large stars, or supernovae. An example is the crab pulsar from a supernova recorded by cultures around the world in 1054, including the Native Americans.http://www.strangemusic.com/BBTL.htm Check out this link for a more detailed explanation: http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2006/mspulsar/ -
A Supernova Occurs
Due to the incredible distance, it took 170,000 years for the light from Supernova 1987A to reach earth after it’s explosion. It was first discovered by Ian Shelton in Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Neutrinos, subatomic particles, from the explosion were detected by sensors. This was one of the first chances to truly observe the death of large star as a massive explosion seen in the sky. http://www.strangemusic.com/BBTL.htm -
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The Big Bang is Confirmed
The COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) satellite has been used to “take a detailed spectrum of the microwave background radiation” in the universe. This radiation further confirmed the Big Bang theory. Later in 1992, COBE helped detect “minute variations in the background radiation: the earliest known evidence of structure in the universe.” http://www.strangemusic.com/BBTL.htm -
Launch of the Hubble Space Telescope
Named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble, the telescope, was launched from Discovery. It included a 94 inch mirror which was soon discovered to a major flaw that would need to be repaired. -
Hubble Space Telescope is Repaired
Antlantis was sent up into space to repair the Hubble Space telescope mirrors. Due to the repair, Hubble is able to take resolution images of galaxies from deep space. Since being repaired, Hubble has been in use for nearly 20 years. Hubble's observations have lead to accurately determining the rate of the expansion of the universe.
