Chapter 1 - Science and the Universe: ABrief Tour1.1 - The Nature of Astronomy●Astronomy- study of the objects that lie beyond our planet Earth and the processes bywhich these objects interact w/ one another●Humanity’s attempt to organize what we learn into a clear history of the universe, fromthe Big Bang to today●Emphasize that science is aprogress report- one that changes constantly as newtechniques and instruments allow us to probe the universe more deeply●Cosmosevolves- changes in profound ways over long periods of time●Universe has evolved into a more hospitable place for life1.2 - The Nature of Science●Science is not merely a body of knowledge, but amethodby which we attempt tounderstand nature and how it behaves○Begins w/ many observations over a period of time●Scientists canmodelthe particular phenomena we want to understand○Models are always approximations of nature, subject to further testing●Ancient astronomers constructed a model that Earth was the center of the universe andeverything moved around it in circular orbits○Model updated by adding circle after circle to represent the movements of theplanets around Earth○New model has the Sun in the center●New models or ideas are sometimeshypotheses○Resolving issues will require difficult observations done at the forefront of ourtechnology, and all such hypothesis need further testing before incorporating themfully into our standard astronomical models○Hypothesis must be a proposed explanation that can betested■Must perform an experiment●Astronomy is sometimes called anobservational science○Make our tests by observing many samples of the kind of object we want to studyand noting carefully how different samples vary○New instruments and technology can let us look at info, and they pass or fail inthe same way we would evaluate the result of a lab experiment●Historical Science- what we observe has already happened in the universe and we can do
