Astronomical history
The origin of astronomy can be traced back to the embryonic era of human culture. In ancient times, in order to indicate the direction and determine the time and season, people observed the sun, the moon and the stars, determined their positions, found out their changing laws, and compiled calendars accordingly. From this perspective, astronomy is one of the oldest natural science disciplines.
In ancient times, people determined the time and direction by observing the sun, moon and stars with naked eyes, made calendars and guided agricultural production, which was the earliest beginning of astrometry. The content of early astronomy is essentially astrometry. Since Heliocentrism was proposed by Copernicus in the middle of16th century, the development of astronomy has entered a new stage. Previously, natural sciences, including astronomy, were severely bound by religious theology. Copernicus's theory liberated astronomy from the bondage of religion, and in the next century and a half, it developed from classical astrometry, which mainly described the position and motion of celestial bodies, to celestial mechanics, which sought the mechanical mechanism that caused this motion.
18 and 19 century, classical celestial mechanics reached its peak. At the same time, due to the wide application of sub-optics, geodesy and photography, astronomy began to develop in the direction of in-depth study of the physical structure and process of celestial bodies, and astrophysics was born.
Modern physics and technology developed rapidly in the 20th century, and found a wide range of applications in astronomical observation and research, making astrophysics the mainstream discipline in astronomy, and at the same time promoting the new development of classical astromechanics and astrometry. People's understanding of the universe and various celestial bodies and astronomical phenomena in the universe has reached an unprecedented depth and breadth.
Astronomy is essentially an observational science. All discoveries and research achievements in astronomy are inseparable from astronomical observation tools-telescopes and their back-end receiving equipment. Before the17th century, people had made many astronomical observation instruments, such as China's armillary sphere and simple instruments, but the observation work could only rely on the naked eye. 1608, the Dutchman Liporsay invented the telescope. 1609, Galileo made the first astronomical telescope and made many important discoveries. Since then, astronomy has entered the era of using telescopes. Since then, people have continuously improved the performance of telescopes in order to observe darker celestial bodies and obtain higher resolution. 1932, Jansky, an American, observed radio waves from celestial bodies with his rotating antenna array, which initiated radio astronomy. The first parabolic reflector radio telescope was born in 1937. After that, with the continuous expansion and improvement of the performance of radio telescope in terms of aperture, receiving wavelength and sensitivity, radio astronomical observation technology has made important contributions to the development of astronomy. In the last 50 years of the 20th century, with the development of detectors and space technology and the deepening of research work, astronomical observation has further expanded from visible light and radio bands to electromagnetic wave bands including infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray and γ-ray, forming multi-band astronomy, which provides a powerful observation means for exploring the physical essence and astronomical phenomena of various celestial bodies, and astronomy has developed to a brand-new stage. As for the receiving equipment at the back end of the telescope,1In the mid-9th century, photography, spectroscopy and photometry were widely used in astronomical observation, which greatly promoted the exploration of the movement, structure, chemical composition and physical state of celestial bodies. It can be said that astrophysics has gradually developed into the mainstream discipline of astronomy after these technologies have been applied.
Humans have long wanted to swim in space. 1903, mankind opened up the first moon park on earth. You can board a winged car in the shape of a cigar for 50 cents, then the car body shakes violently, and finally board a moon model.
In the same year, the Wright brothers crashed in the air for 59 seconds, and a self-taught Russian named Konstantin Ziolkowski published an article entitled "Exploring Space with Reaction Instruments". In his article, he calculated that the missile must fly at a speed of10.8 million miles per hour to overcome the gravity of the earth. He also suggested building a liquid-driven multistage rocket.
In the 1950s, there was an accepted basic view that which country successfully established the permanent space station first would control the whole earth sooner or later. Wernher wernher von braun described intercontinental missiles, submarine missiles, space mirrors and possible trips to the moon to Americans. He once envisaged the establishment of a space station with frequent manned and capable of launching nuclear missiles. He said: "If we consider that the space station flies over all inhabited areas on the earth, then people can realize that this nuclear war technology will give satellite manufacturers an absolute advantage in the war.
196 1 year, Gagarin became the first man to go into space. Russians use him to show that it is not angels or God flying around in the sky. John F. Kennedy's campaign slogan in the United States is "New Frontier". He explained: "We are once again living in an era full of discovery. Space is our inestimable new frontier. " For Kennedy, the Soviet Union's first entry into space was "the most painful failure that the United States has experienced for many years". The only way out is attack and defense. 1958, the United States established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and launched the first satellite "Explorer" in the same year. 1962, john glenn became the first American to enter Earth orbit.
Many scientists are skeptical about the dangerous manned space flight, and they prefer to explore the solar system by plane.
At that time, Americans achieved a breakthrough: three astronauts flew around the moon in the Apollo spacecraft. In this context, the first docking of two manned spacecraft scheduled for June 1969+ 10 is of special significance. In 1980s, the third generation space station "Peace" of the Soviet Union reached the peak of its space activities, which made Americans feel jealous. The "Peace", known as the "Artificial Tiangong", was launched on1February 20th, 986. It is the only manned space orbital station that can run in near-earth space for a long time. The cabins corresponding to quantum 1, quantum 2, crystal, spectrum and nature form a huge space orbit complex with a weight of 140 tons and a working volume of 400 cubic meters. There are 106 Russian and foreign astronauts who have been inspected in this "small space factory", with as many as 22,000 scientific research projects and 600 key projects.
The most attractive experiment carried out on the "Peace" is to prolong people's stay in space. Prolonging people's stay in space is the most crucial step for people to fly out of the cradle earth and March into Mars and other celestial bodies. To solve this problem, we need to overcome weightlessness, cosmic radiation and psychological obstacles caused by people in space. Russian astronauts have made great progress in this respect, among which astronaut poliakov created a record of 438 days of continuous flight of "Peace", which cannot but be regarded as an important achievement in the history of space flight in the 20th century. A large number of life science experiments such as cultivating quail, salamander and planting wheat were carried out on the orbital station.
If the Mir space station is regarded as the third generation space station, the International Space Station belongs to the fourth generation space station. The International Space Station (ISS) project costs more than 60 billion US dollars, and it is the largest manned spaceflight project of mankind to date. From the initial conception to the final implementation, it is not only the product of the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, but also the result of the current cooperation between the United States and Russia, which reflects a historical process from the side.
The implementation of the International Space Station program is divided into three stages. The first phase from 1994 has been completed. During this period, the United States and Russia mainly carried out a series of joint manned space activities. The American space shuttle docked with the Russian "Peace" orbital station eight times and flew together, which exercised the ability of American astronauts to live and work in the space station. The second stage started from June1998+065438+1October: Russia put the main cabin of the space station, the functional cargo cabin, into orbit with a proton -K rocket. It also undertakes some military experiments, so the cabin is only allowed to be used by American astronauts. The launch and docking of the experimental module will mark the end of the second phase, when the space station has begun to take shape and can accommodate three astronauts for a long time; The third stage is to send the living module of the United States, the experimental module made by the European Space Agency and Japan, and the mobile service system of Canada into space. When these modules are docked with the space station, it marks the final completion of the assembly of the International Space Station. At this time, the number of astronauts on the space station can be increased to seven. Supplementary answer: The United States, Russia and other countries 15 jointly build the International Space Station, which indicates that an era of joint exploration and peaceful development of space by all countries is coming. However, the achievements of manned space activities for decades are far from satisfying their desire for space. "The road is long and Xiu Yuan is awkward, and I will search up and down." Humans have always had the desire to conquer space and the determination to use space resources peacefully. 1998165438+10 In October, Glenn, the 77-year-old American astronaut who entered Earth orbit, once again set foot on a trip to space with his unswerving ambition, as if to tell mankind that conquering space at such a speed is not a dream.