Space Science

Prepared by: Reo Paolo M. Uri

No field of physical can be completely isolated from one any other. This is particularly true of astronomy and space research. So it is appropriate  that the final unit in this book other fields which you have studied in earlier units electricity chemistry electromagnetic radiation and nuclear physics. 

For example it would be impossible to build a powerful telescope without a knowledge of lenses and the behavior of light rays-as you learned in your studies of electromagnetism. The light coming from a distant star can be quickly analyzed today because yesterday's chemist learned to identify elements through the color of their flames. Rocket fuels are also products of the chemistry lab. And can you picture a mathematician plotting the course of a space flight on pencil and paper? Electronic computers has to be perfected before man could direct space ships on distant journeys.

You are about to enter a realm that will exercise your imagination. The discoveries that scientist have made about our universe for surpass the fantasies dreamed up by the science fiction writers you will have to stretch your powers of though just to appreciate the size of space. Our unit covers only a relatively few pages. Space itself is so vast that no one knows where it begins or ends. Yardsticks and speedometers are useless is discussing the distance in space. Miles and minutes are too brief to use as standards.

This unit will give  you an opportunity to soar not on the fragile wings of science fiction but aboard the solid vehicle of fact. Science fiction writers havr found material for countless stories in the mysteries of space. Their tales have already been out distanced by the scientific truths supplied by serious scientists.

For example what story teller could have proposed the idea that all the bodies in the universe are rushing away from each other. Yet, this theory of the expanding universe is widely accepted by reliable astronomers. Or who would suggested that we could measure the speed these bodies are traveling by studying the color of their light rays? Physicists have done just this by the use of the Doppler effect.

What comic book writer could have thought of locating distant stars by collecting and concentrating the radio waves that they send out? Radio astronomy is a flourishing new science.

What spinner of space tales could have dreamed of a "near-by" galaxy so distant that it requires over a million years for its light to reach the earth? Astronomers chant such a galaxy and consider it rather a routine assignment. Or what is more exciting than the thought of man's journey into space aboard a capsule or a moon ship? These flights are reality. Or what "mad" fictional character could propose a reaction type engine powered only laboratories. All these things and more are ready for your examination in this unit on space.After you have studied theses pages try to imagine something anything that is "fartherout" and more exciting than fact.

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