Introduction to Astronomy and the Search for Life Elsewhere Essay

Introduction to Astronomy and the Search for Life Elsewhere - Essay Example from the telescope he made, he published relevant discoveries in the Sidereus Nuncius in March of 1610 which gained increasing interests from various scholars in the field of astronomy. Putting telescopes in space have the following advantages compared with the use of ground-based telescopes: (1) the lack of atmosphere, which makes it possible to see things in space that are otherwise blocked at certain wavelengths when trying to view them from the ground; (2) going out into space reduces the temperature at which the telescope operates, further improving image resolution and the performance of the detector arrays and other optoelectronic devices on board; and (3) it is much darker in space than it is on the ground, which makes it easier to see objects that are far away (PennWell Corporation, 2004, pars. 3 & 4). gone before. Retrieved 19 August 2010. The NASA define a dwarf planet as â€Å"a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, (c) has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite† (NASA, 2010, par. 3). Pluto was reclassified by the IAU as a dwarf planet because of the provision: it has not â€Å"cleared the neighborhood† around its orbit; meaning â€Å"as planets form, they become the dominant gravitational body in their orbit in the Solar System. As they interact with other, smaller objects, they either consume them, or sling them away with their gravity. There are still many objects with similar size and mass to Pluto jostling around in its orbit. Until Pluto crashes into many of them and gains mass, it will