Astronomy & Astrophysics: Modern Astronomy

From Astronomy Encyclopedia
Telescope mounting that has one axis (altitude) perpendicular to the horizon, and the other (azimuth) parallel to the horizon.

se of photography in astronomical research. The first successful photograph of a celestial object was the daguerreotype plate of the Moon taken by English Scientist John W Draper in March 1840.

From Astronomy Encyclopedia
Concave (negative) LENS placed between a telescope objective and eyepiece to increase the magnification, usually by two or three times.

Small optical instrument consisting of two similar telescopes mounted on a single frame so that separate images enter each of the viewer's eyes. As with a single telescope, distant objects appear magnified, but the binocular has the additional advantage that it substantially increases the range of depth perception of the viewer because the magnified images are seen with both eyes.

From Astronomy Encyclopedia
Reflecting telescope with a concave paraboloidal primary and a convex hyperboloidal secondary. Light is gathered by the primary and reflected to the secondary, which is placed in the light path on the optical axis.

From Astronomy Encyclopedia
Newtonian telescope equipped with a low, stable altazimuth mounting; its designer, by John Lowry Dobson (1915-), refers to it as a sidewalk telescope.

From Astronomy Encyclopedia
Telescope mounting in which one axis, the polar axis, is parallel to Earth's axis of rotation, and the telescope can be moved about the other axis, the declination axis, which is perpendicular to the polar axis.

From Collins Dictionary of Astronomy
A catadioptric telescope named after its Soviet inventor, Dmitri Dmitriyevich Maksutov, who published its design in 1941. A Dutch telescope maker, Albert A. Bouwers of Amsterdam, arrived independently at the same design in the same year.

From Astronomy Encyclopedia
Instrument with which astronomers can measure the intensity (that is, the brightness) and various other properties of visible LIGHT , and also of infrared radiation and ultraviolet radiation.

Study of celestial bodies by means of the electromagnetic radio frequency waves they emit and absorb naturally.

From Collins Dictionary of Astronomy
A telescope that employs a mirror (the primary mirror) to bring light rays to a focus. The various configurations include the Cassegrain, Ritchey–Chrétien, Newtonian, Gregorian, and coudé telescopes. There are also the Maksutov and Schmidt telescopes, which are catadioptric telescopes.

From Collins Dictionary of Astronomy
A catadioptric wide-field telescopic camera first built in 1930 by the Estonian Bernhard Schmidt. A short-focus reflecting telescope with a spherical mirror suffers from severe spherical aberration. This is normally corrected by modifying the surface to a paraboloid.

The study of X-ray emissions from celestial objects, using instruments mounted on rockets or satellites.

U.S. physicist and mathematician, born in Germany. He formulated the special theory of relativity (1905) and the general theory of relativity (1916), and made major contributions to the quantum theory, for which he was awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 1921. He was noted also for his work for world peace.

Russian-born US physicist who provided the first evidence for the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe. He predicted that it would have produced a background of microwave radiation, which was later found to exist.

Austrian-born astronomer, working in England and the U.S.: with Bondi and Hoyle he proposed the steady-state theory of the universe.

US astronomer. He made pioneer studies of the Sun and founded three major observatories. In 1889 he invented the spectroheliograph, a device for photographing the Sun at particular wavelengths.

British theoretical physicist noted for his research into the origin of the universe. His work influenced the development of the big bang and black hole theories.

Danish astronomer: he discovered the existence of giant and dwarf stars, originating one form of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.

American astronomer who proved that the spiral ‘nebulae’ were galaxies lying far beyond our own Milky Way.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Belgian cosmologist who - perhaps because he was also a priest - was fascinated by the Creation, the beginning of the universe, for which he devised what later became known as the ‘Big Bang’ theory.

US astronomer and popularizer of astronomy whose main research was on planetary atmospheres, including that of the primordial Earth.

Schwarzschild became interested in astronomy as a schoolboy and published papers on binary orbits at 16. He became director of the Potsdam observatory in 1909. Although an excellent observational astronomer who made great advances in photographic methods, Schwarzschild’s lasting contributions are theoretical and were largely made during the last year of his life.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Dutch astronomer, mathematician, and physicist. He contributed to the birth of modern cosmology and was influential in English-speaking countries in bringing the relevance of the general theory of relativity to the attention of astronomers.

U.S. astronomer, born in Russia, noted for his work in stellar spectroscopy and his discovery (1937) of interstellar hydrogen.

US space project to land a person on the Moon, achieved on 20 July 1969, when Neil Armstrong was the first to set foot there.

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
The name of the US space shuttle that on 28 January 1986 exploded 73 seconds after blast-off from Cape Canaveral, instantly killing all seven astronauts, including a high-school teacher, Christa McAuliffe, the first private citizen to take part in the US shuttle programme.

From Collins Dictionary of Astronomy
A series of US space missions that extended the knowledge gained from the Mercury project and preceded the Apollo program. The project demonstrated that humans could function effectively over long periods of weightlessness, both inside and outside a spacecraft.

430-tonne orbiting space station being constructed by the USA, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil, and the 17 member nations of the European Space Agency.

Russian space station, the core of which was launched on 20 February 1986.

US government agency for space flight and aeronautical research.

From Astronomy Encyclopedia
First US SPACE STATION . Skylab was developed from the third stage of the SATURN V rocket. The 75-tonne station was launched into a near circular orbit 433 km (270 mi) above the Earth's surface on 1973 May 14.

From Collins Dictionary of Astronomy
A series of Soviet crewed spacecraft, the first of which – Soyuz 1 – was launched Apr. 23 1967. The flight of Soyuz 1 ended tragically when its parachute became entangled during reentry and it crashed in Kazakhstan, killing its cosmonaut pilot Vladimir Komarov, the first person to die during a space mission.

A reusable manned vehicle that takes off like a rocket but lands on a runway like an aircraft and which is designed to travel into space.

A large orbiting artificial satellite, where crews of astronauts can live and carry out scientific and technological research in space over periods of weeks or months.

From Collins Dictionary of Astronomy
Any of a series of Soviet artificial satellites, the first of which – Sputnik 1 – was the first spacecraft to be placed in orbit. This 58-cm diameter sphere, weighing 84 kg, was launched on Oct. 4 1957; it burnt up in the Earth's atmosphere 92 days later.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.), American astronaut, b. Montclair, N.J. After graduating from West Point (1951), Aldrin joined the U.S. air force and flew 66 combat missions during the Korean War.

American astronaut, born in Wapakoneta, Ohio. A U.S. Navy fighter pilot during the Korean War, Armstrong became a test pilot for what was then the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics in 1955.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Russian astronaut (cosmonaut), b. near Gzhatsk, RSFSR. He was the first in history to be rocketed into orbital space flight. His flight on Apr. 12, 1961, lasted 1 hr. 48 min. and circled the earth once.

From The Hutchinson unabridged encyclopedia with atlas and weather guide
US astronaut and Democrat politician, senator from Ohio 1974–99. While senator, he chaired the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs 1987–95. On 20 February 1962, he became the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth, doing so three times in the spacecraft Friendship 7.

From The Hutchinson unabridged encyclopedia with atlas and weather guide
US astronaut. He piloted Gemini 7 in 1965, commanded Gemini 12 in 1966, and orbited the Moon on Apollo 8 (the first crewed lunar flight) in 1968.

From Notable American Women: Completing the Twentieth Century
When the space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, seven crew members lost their lives, including Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space, and Judith Resnik, who was making her second shuttle flight after becoming the second American woman in space.

From The Penguin Biographical Dictionary of Women
In 1983 Sally Ride became the first American woman in space – a distinction she earned on account of her scientific record, good team work, and talent for calm problem solving.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
American astronaut. He served on a destroyer during World War II and later had extensive experience as a test pilot. On May 5, 1961, under the U.S. space program Project Mercury, he became the first American to be launched into space.

From The Penguin Biographical Dictionary of Women
Valentina Tereshkova made history in 1963 when she became the first woman ever to fly in space. Born near Yaroslavl, the daughter of a farmer, she worked in a cotton mill and was an avid amateur parachutist with 126 jumps to her credit.

U.S. rocket engineer, born in Germany, where he designed the V-2 missile used in World War II. In the U.S. he worked on the Apollo project.