computer astronomy

[alecras2345]

Hi guys i have joined an online telescope site and there are various lessons, called quests,  that you have to complete in order to get gravity points.     I tried a beginner quest about nebula and i din't understand the terminology.   I was told my a member of the site that i need to understand science to understand astronomy.    I suffered head injury wen i was young so i it difficult to learn things.  It's kind of put me off astronomy, so i can't know about what's up there without understanding science?     Here is a little of the definition of Emission nebulae from the site i joined, Emission nebulae are clouds of ionized gases that emit their own light.   What??   I give up!

 

Ash

[Victor Boesen]

Hi Ash, I don't think you need to understand science to understand astronomy, however, I do think astronomy allows for people to learn and understand if they're interested. If you enjoy stargazing or doing astrophotography I stand by the saying of learning by doing, which is also why I find the hobby so rewarding. I'd recommend you to do the same and don't ever think you need to learn the science behind a phenomena before you're "allowed" to experience it. Heck, I think it should be the other way around. Observe/image something, get curious and read up on the topic.

With regards to the online telescope quests, I understand it's frustrating, but I think they offer the quests to motivate/teach users about astronomy. Is there not a way to use the site without having a certain number of points?

Victor

[apaulo]

if we needed a phd etc to enjoy astronomy very few of us would be at it. a pair of eyes, some sort of optical device and a sense of wonder can be plenty to enjoy the sky. scientists agree on very little, we still dont know where we came from, we know just as little about where we are going and the vast majority dont really care. lol. enjoy the wonder. clear skies.

[iapa]

I also don't understand why you are expected to understand the science, particularly given the cost of these online telescope sites.

Some one once said, "tell me, I forget, show me, I remember, let me do, I understand". It is much better to do.

I think that the more "astronomy" you do, the easier the science behind becomes.

You could not need to be a Stephen Hawking to do any sort of astronomy.

The most "science" you probably need right now is how the earth revolves around it's axis - the earth rotates on it's North-South axis, under the stars which is why the stars appear to rotate ( they don't, we do). This will help you understand what the telescopes are doing.

BTW re Ionised gases

These are different types of gas "stimulated" by high intensity radiation, such as that we get from the sun, and causes them to emit light in various colours, much the same as the Aurora (and Australis) Borealis.

Hope this helps a little

 

 

[alecras2345]

I don't even understand Brian cox's book Wanders of the solar system, here's a little from the book.   Nuclear fusion is the process by which all the chemical elements in the Universe, other than hydrogen, were produced. There are just three fundamental building blocks of matter required to make up everything we can see – from the most distant stars to the smallest piece of dust in our Solar System. Two kinds, the Up and Down quarks, make up the protons and neutrons in the atomic nuclei, and a third, the electrons, orbit around the nuclei to make atoms. These particles make up literally everything, including the book you are reading, the hand holding the book and the eyes reading the print. We live in a universe that is simple at heart!

I thought i was clever.

[iapa]

5 minutes ago, alecras2345 said:

Nuclear fusion is the process by which all the chemical elements in the Universe, other than hydrogen, were produced. 

Under high pressure and temperature one atom of Hydrogen forms Helium, which under greater temperature/pressure for Lithium and this progresses to produce other elements.

At some point we get to where different elements combine to make others <shrug> beyond me.

 

16 minutes ago, alecras2345 said:

Two kinds, the Up and Down quarks, make up the protons and neutrons in the atomic nuclei, and a third, the electrons, orbit around the nuclei to make atoms. These particles make up literally everything, including the book you are reading, the hand holding the book and the eyes reading the print. We live in a universe that is simple at heart!

I thought i was clever.

There is no need to be concerned about sub-atomic particles such as quarks just now.

If you get that there are 3 bits in an atom, with positive and negative charges ( like battery has +ve and -ve), and neutrons with none, that's good enough right now.

You do not need to know what makes up potions, electrons or neutrons just now.

Hell, Physicist's that have serious advanced equipment are still working out these sub-atomic particles - which is why they have toys like CERN

 

 

 

 

[andy fearn]

1 hour ago, alecras2345 said:

Hi guys i have joined an online telescope site and there are various lessons, called quests,  that you have to complete in order to get gravity points.     I tried a beginner quest about nebula and i din't understand the terminology.   I was told my a member of the site that i need to understand science to understand astronomy.    I suffered head injury wen i was young so i it difficult to learn things.  It's kind of put me off astronomy, so i can't know about what's up there without understanding science?     Here is a little of the definition of Emission nebulae from the site i joined, Emission nebulae are clouds of ionized gases that emit their own light.   What??   I give up!

 

Ash

Hi Ash, welcome SGL. Is there an astronomy group near to you that you could join and help you. I  have learnt so much by joining my group, and from this site as well. I wish you well and good luck.

[iapa]

Do you just want to look at the night sky, or do you want to take pictures?

Which ever, do you want planets, stars or galaxies, nebula? etc.

These may help determine your path to astronomical frustration hehehe

[StarryEyed]

Ash. 

KEEP coming here you will get answers... 

Some Gas can give off light that we can see. You might have fluorescent lights in your house those long tube lights that sometimes flicker when you turn them on. The have a gas in them that gives off a white light. Gases are chemicals so even oxygen can produce a light with colour. Hydrogen is another which looks red. When fireworks explode they have different colours and this is because there are different chemicals in them that when they burn produce different colours. 

So keep asking questions and we wilk try and find you the answers. 

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by StarryEyed

[StarryEyed]

One more thing. You dont need to understand how flowers grow to understand they can be beautiful. So you can look at the moon without understanding how it got there but still find it beautiful just like everyone that ever lived also found it beautiful and nearly all of them didnt know how it got there. 

 

 

[vlaiv]

1 hour ago, alecras2345 said:

Emission nebulae are clouds of ionized gases that emit their own light. 

Don't be put off by terminology that you don't understand at the moment. Give it some time and things will fit in their place.

Above sentence is describing effect not much more complicated than for example: "When you flip the switch electrical current flows thru the circuit and light bulb emits light".

There are numerous depths at which above phenomena can be explained - from very mundane - you want the light in your kitchen - so you flip the switch and light comes on and you can see better - all the way down to equations governing elementary particles and fields on a quantum level.

However you slice it - it is the same phenomena - and you don't need to know deeper levels in order to understand and appreciate how kitchen light works.

As far as astronomy and nebulae go - it is good to have some very basic knowledge of type of astronomical objects and how they are differentiated.

Nebulae are shining gas in space, but there are several different kinds.

There are emission and reflection nebulae.

They differ by how they shine. Emission type nebulae shine much like flame shines (flame is gas that is hot enough to emit light) - but as pointed out above - process is a bit different and much more similar to neon signs (which is gas in a tube that is made to shine by electricity).

Reflection type nebulae shine because there is nearby star that is illuminating them. It is very similar to shining a torch at smoke or fog - light from some source (like a star) is just scattered in gas.

Emission nebulae can be diffuse, planetary type or supernova remnant

Diffuse type are just gas floating around that is under influence of gravity while planetary type nebula and supernova remnant happen when star explodes. If it is small star - it won't make big explosion (it won't go supernova) and it just ejects outer layer of its material that then slowly spreads into outer shell that glows.

Supernova are very violent star explosions that rip apart stars and eject star material all over the place - that gas also shines.

[vlaiv]

Here is nice short video covering types of nebulae

 

[Gfamily]

Hi Ash 

I suggest you have a look at the Crash Course Astronomy Videos on YouTube. These are presented by a great guy called Phil Plait - who calls himself the Bad Astronomer (because one of his first things was writing about Bad Astronomy in films, books and TV programmes) 

He's very good 

Anyhow  - this should be a good place to start

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sViAwfeMjV0&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPAJr1ysd5yGIyiSFuh0mIL

 

[AstroMuni]

15 hours ago, alecras2345 said:

I was told my a member of the site that i need to understand science to understand astronomy.

Its all about taking this in perspective....how much of science do you need to understand anything that happens in our everyday lives 🙂 As an example do you need to fully know Newton's law and equations to understand that gravity pulls things down?

So enjoy the hobby without worrying too much about understanding the full science behind it. We are all learning, including the research scientists at CERN etc. We are just at slightly different levels of understanding 😉

[alecras2345]

I don't really want to get into the science behind astronomy, i just want to look at images of stars planets nebulae.     I was reading Planets by Brian cox and i enjoyed it because it wasn't scientific, it just gave the plain facts which is what i like.    Whereas the book Wanders of the solar system by Brian cox does look at the science behind the sun which i get a mental block with.     I know that at the suns core hydrogen atoms and fusing together to for helium and that releases energy, called nuclear fusion, thats all i know about the sun, and also the various features on the photosphere.

[SpaceWatcher]

Hi Ash

Astronomy is what you want it to be, not what someone else thinks you need, if that site’s ideas for what you need don’t agree with yours then don’t let it put you off, find somewhere else, it should be about making it accessible to anyone with an interest 😀

You can enjoy visual astronomy with no deep knowledge of the science, if you’re happy that a nebula is a cloud of dust/gas then that is all you need for now to enhance your enjoyment of astronomy

When I was 12 and first saw Jupiter, Saturn and it’s rings and the moon through a scope I had no real idea of what they were, I was just amazed and it started a love of astronomy that has lasted, um… quiet a while now 😬, I acquired more detailed knowledge as a when I needed it

Enjoy the stars and post questions on Stargazers Lounge, we’ll all help 

👍🏻

Edited May 30, 2022 by SpaceWatcher
Correction

[vlaiv]

1 minute ago, SpaceWatcher said:

hen I was 12 and first saw Jupiter, Saturn and it’s rings and the moon through a scope I had no real idea of what they were

This is great point.

None of the people that actually discovered objects in space - had any idea what they were at the time. That did not prevent them from discovering and wandering (and I'm certain enjoying the process).

Planets were thought of as stars that wonder around (as they move differently then stars in the night sky).

Other galaxies are thought of as same as other nebulae - lumps of gas out there - we had no clue that they are enormous groups of billions of stars much further away.

[AstroMuni]

26 minutes ago, alecras2345 said:

I don't really want to get into the science behind astronomy, i just want to look at images of stars planets nebulae. 

A lot of us in this hobby are here to do just that 🙂 So just enjoy the vastness and beauty of our universe! Along the way you will pick up small pieces of new info to build onto your knowledge and thats just part of the fun.

[Gfamily]

You might also enjoy the WorldWideTelescope website

This gives you the opportunity to roam the sky, zoom in on areas and see what's worth looking at in your field of view. 

https://worldwidetelescope.org/webclient/

I suggest you start by selecting the Digitized Sky Survey (Color) and start exploring by clicking on the images at the bottom of the screen.  

[alecras2345]

Hi guys thanks for all your replies,  the worldwide telescope sounds good and i have used it but it's not live, i'd rather look at things live.     I met a guy on holiday at the beginning of May and he was into astronomy and he's liked it since he was young, he was 32 when i met him.    I asked him what part of astronomy are you interested in most?   He said i like black holes because nobody knows much about them.      How can i get like him? He called himself a space nerd.  I'm not that much into astronomy i wish i knew more.   He mentioned he reads Brian cox books, but from my point of view Brian cox books goes into the science of the universe and the solar system.    How can i learn astronomy without being confused with the science?   Non scientific astronomy.   I'm not really interested in the science of space, i just like facts not confusion which is what Brian cox does.

Ash

[AstroMuni]

18 minutes ago, alecras2345 said:

 I'm not really interested in the science of space, i just like facts not confusion which is what Brian cox does.

Hi Ash,

It will be a challenge to get material that only covers the facts that you are interested in, so you will need to adapt and learn to skip out sections that detail the science behind these facts 🙂 As mentioned earlier, join a local astro club where you can chat with others without getting too deep into the science.

Have you tried this site from OU that was mentioned by @SpaceWatcher in your other post? https://www.telescope.org/

Edited June 1, 2022 by AstroMuni

[alecras2345]

I'm not an OU student so i may not be allowed to use the scope., plus im not sure how it works     Are you saying that i can read Brian cox's books and just skip the science?

Ash

[Starwatcher2001]

If you have access to a local library it would be worth looking to see which books appeal to you. Even if there's only a chapter or two it might to worth taking it out to read. Cheaper than buying a book and finding you don't enjoy it.

[AstroNebulee]

Hi

You could try the awesome astronomy podcasts and videos. I like listening to them, informative, light hearted and help. 

http://awesomeastronomy.com/

https://youtube.com/c/Awesomeastronomy

Cheers 

Lee 

Edited June 1, 2022 by AstroNebulee

[Carbon Brush]

Hi Ash. On choosing books. You don't have to be fully up to date.
Take a look around secondhand book shops, or charity shops. Much better on your wallet!

I have some books published in the 1980s showing images from Pioneer and Voyager. They still amaze.
Books with Apollo images and the background story are stil valid. The last moon visitor was 1972.
Halleys comet was around in 1986 and won't be back for a very long time.

Keep asking the questions.

David.