List of basic astronomy topics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Astronomy is the science of celestial objects (e.g., stars, planets, comets, and galaxies) and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere. It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the formation and development of the universe. Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. Astronomers of early civilizations performed methodical observations of the night sky, and astronomical artifacts have been found from much earlier periods. However, astronomy did not develop into a modern science until after the telescope was invented. The following list of topics is provided as an overview of and introduction to astronomy.

Astronomy Portal

1 Essence of astronomy
- 1.1 Relation to astrophysics
2 Branches of astronomy
3 History of astronomy
4 Basic astronomy concepts
5 Astronomers
6 Astronomy lists
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Essence of astronomy

Main article: Astronomy

[edit] Relation to astrophysics

The subjects of astronomy and astrophysics are very large and closely related, too overlaid and intertwined in almost all their branches for either to be considered subordinate to the other. Astronomy is the ancient subject, concerning the observations of bodies beyond the Earth (and also with timekeeping and calendar maintenance), together with the meaning of those observations and our understanding of the nature of those bodies. Astrophysics is much more recent. The basic understanding of the movement of celestial bodies, and its essential connection with earthly natural science, or physics, dates from the work of Galileo and Isaac Newton. The realization that the light of stars could be analyzed for clues about their physical nature, such as mass, size, temperature, composition, age, and evolution, began with the development of optical spectroscopy in the mid-19th century.

Thus uninterpreted observation may be considered as closest to pure astronomy, whereas physical modeling of the Universe, from comets and asteroids to the Sun, planets and stars, to cosmology and the Big Bang, becomes more nearly "pure astrophysics" (if indeed such a subject exists apart from speculation) the more it is concerned with laboratory and theoretical physics, and the more detached from observation. As astronomy has taught us a great deal about physics, so has physics (and its related fields, from mathematics to chemistry, and perhaps soon to include biology) proved essential to our understanding of astronomy.

[edit] Branches of astronomy

General astrophysics is the study of physics of the universe, including the physical properties (luminosity, density, temperature, chemical composition) of astronomical objects. The subdisciplines of theoretical astrophysics are:

Astrobiology - the study of the advent and evolution of biological systems in the universe.
Compact objects - the study of the very dense matter in white dwarfs and neutron stars and their effects on environments including accretion.
Exoplanet studies - the study of the various planets outside of the solar system
Cosmology - the study of the origin and evolution of the universe as a whole. The study of cosmology is theoretical astrophysics at its largest scale.
Galaxy formation and evolution - the study of the formation of the galaxies, and their evolution.
Galactic astronomy - the study of the structure and components of our galaxy and of other galaxies.
High energy astrophysics - the study of phenomena occurring at high energies including active galactic nuclei, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, quasars, and shocks.
Interstellar astrophysics - the study of the interstellar medium, intergalactic medium and dust.
Extragalactic astronomy - the study of objects (mainly galaxies) outside our galaxy.
Stellar astronomy - the study of the stars.
Plasma astrophysics - the study of astrophysical plasmas.
Relativistic astrophysics - the study of the effects of special relativity and general relativity in astrophysical contexts including gravitational waves, gravitational lensing and black holes.
Stellar evolution - the study of the evolution of stars from their formation to their end as a stellar remnant.
Star formation - the study of the condition and processes that led to the formation of stars in the interior of gas clouds, and the process of formation itself.

Planetary Sciences is the study of the planets of the Solar System. This includes such subjects as

Atmospheric science - the study of atmospheres.
Planetary formation - the study of the formation of planets and moons
Planetary rings - the study of the dynamics, stability, and composition of planetary rings
Solar physics - the study of the sun
Magnetospheres - the study of the magnetic fields of planets and moons
Planetary surfaces - the study of the surface geology of planets and moons
Planetary interiors - the study of the interior composition of planets and moons
Asteroids, Comets, and Kuiper belt objects - the study of the smallest gravitationally bound bodies

The subdisciplines of observational astronomy are generally made by the specifications of the detectors:

General techniques for astronomical research are also convenient ways of dividing the field:

photometry - the study of how bright celestial objects are when passed through different filters
spectroscopy - the study of the spectra of astronomical objects
Astrometry - the study of the position of objects in the sky and their changes of position. Defines the system of coordinates used and the kinematics of objects in our galaxy.

Other disciplines that may be considered part of astronomy: