Space observation Early days First telescope - started the【L11】________ Galileo’s telescope

So we’re talking about astronomy today — the scientific study of outer space — and I’m going to start by saying a bit about telescopes and then move on to look at some key features of amateur astronomy.
Now, one of the most powerful telescopes in the world today is the Hubble Space Telescope, named after Edwin Hubble. And, er, it’s become rather symbolic in many ways... and that’s quite appropriate really because, you know, in the early days, it was instruments — and particularly telescopes that kicked off what was known as the scientific revolution. We tend to think of science in terms of great minds conjuring up big ideas — we think of books — but in the field of science, instruments have always been more important.
And of course, it was the Italian astronomer Galileo who started us star-gazing. He didn’t come up with the world’s first telescope, but he was the first scientist to add a lens to his Telescope that magnified things in the sky enough to be able to study them. Until this time, scientists had been looking at objects on the Earth, but suddenly the skies held a much greater fascination for people. He said it best when he declared that his telescopes ’revealed the invisible’.
That was in the first part of the 17th century. Photography took longer to come about, so only artists were able to capture the celestial images seen in those days. We had to wait a further nearly 200 years, until 1839, for John William Draper, a chemistry professor, to produce the first recorded Moon photograph, which looks like this — black and white, of course. Since that time, humans have built bigger, better, more powerful telescopes, and what can be seen through these in the present day is, well, truly amazing. Millions of pictures have appeared in magazines, books, on TV and on the Internet.
Most professional astronomers don’t care if the end result is beautiful, what they really want is research data — that’s their main objective — but when the device capturing a distant star or galaxy is the Hubble Space Telescope or a large telescope housed in a mountaintop observatory, the result usually appears spectacular as well. Now, amateur astronomers often have a different objective. Many want nothing more than to capture a scene that will dazzle viewers. They aim to photograph things never seen before, urn, like this beautiful solar eclipse that was captured in Greece... or this incredible image of the Moon with a plane crossing it. But needless to say, they’ve also made a great contribution to furthering astronomical research, and they do get their photographs and findings published in astronomy journals.
So let’s have a look at what the amateurs can contribute. All astronomers are trying to find out, or understand, the origins of the solar system... how stars formed in the first place, and how the universe itself evolved in such a way. Amateur astronomers have a great deal of specialised knowledge that is highly valued in this regard. For example, they’re very familiar with the sky and they know right away when something new appears or when the brightness of an object alters — increases or decreases. They know how to tell the difference between, say, planets and comets or stars, or even artificial satellites — many ordinary people wouldn’t have any of these skills. And another vital skill is that they know how to make accurate measurements. Knowing the distance of one object from another or from Earth, for example, is essential information if you want to make a valuable contribution to astrophysics.
So that’s what they know. When you look at what they can do to help the professionals well, in general, there are two main types of observation that are important. Firstly, they are always watching space; they keep a constant eye on the skies for any new discovery, such as an exploding star that has reached the end of its life and lets off a tremendous amount of energy, or a comet — a very small object made of dust and ice orbiting the Sun.
Secondly, they constantly observe the evolution of stars, planets and other celestial features. And the information they gather is essential to our understanding of these objects. It tells us, for example, how stars live and die, and how they interact with neighbouring stars.
In both types of observation, professionals can see advantages in the enormous patience and passion that amateurs have for their hobby. This doesn’t just mean spending a whole night looking at the stars. We’re talking about observations that involve spending years of evenings on the roof or in the back garden. It’s not possible for professional astronomers to undertake these long-term studies or to spend huge amounts of time observing a single object. But amateurs can — and they do — and that’s why they are so important to the field of astronomy.