The goal of this essay was to take a deeper dive into one of the subjects that we were passionate about. I chose astrophysics and discussed its history, key people, key theories, and unique discoveries.
A Deep Dive into Astrophysics
Duncan Crenshaw
Dr. Davis
IST 185-002
October 3rd, 2024
The history of astrophysics is long and complicated. If I wanted to describe the history of astrophysics extensively, it would take the length of this essay and then some. Instead, I am going to focus on the history after Isaac Newton’s laws of motion and gravitation in 1687. Before this, astronomy was broadly studied but remained an area available to grow significantly. This led to a development in 1859 from Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff: Spectral analysis. This development is generally accepted as the start of astrophysics. Around fifty years later in 1905, Einstein became a key figure in the field with his discovery of the special theory of relativity and then ten years later his theory of general relativity. After Einstein, Hubble discovered that there are more galaxies than just our Milky Way galaxy. He also discovered that the universe is constantly expanding. Modern discoveries are more abundant and mind-boggling. In the mid to late 1900s alone we discovered quasars, pulsars, and exoplanets. The most recent and the most important discovery is the photo of the black hole that was taken in 2019.
Like many other aspects of astrophysics, the scope and subject matter is broad. Many other forms of natural sciences, such as biology and chemistry, have fields mixed with astronomy. Space is such a large, mostly undiscovered, playground for scientists to work together and try to make sense of it all. For instance, most of the information we know about objects outside the solar system is thanks to astrochemistry. There are research methods, which I will cover later that showcase how chemistry is particularly important in astrophysics.
Research methods in astrophysics can range in a variety of ways. When most people think about space and methods, they think of telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope or the James Webb Space Telescope. These devices have led to breathtaking photography and other visual phenomena being recorded. The downside to this approach is that it fails to gather any details of objects that are not “surface level.” These are far from the only research methods that exist. One of the most interesting to me is neutrino detection labs. Neutrinos are almost massless particles that scientists do not know a lot about. They theorize that neutrinos are released when stars explode in a supernova or potentially in the formation of black holes. The research method for these particles is fascinating; they build a lab underground with thousands of sensors in a dark room. When a neutrino interacts with these sensors, it produces a flash of light in the dark room. They record these rooms with video and can count the number of neutrinos by the number of flashes over a given time period.
Theories are the basis of most astrophysics. The most well-known theory in astrophysics is the Big Bang Theory. This theory tackles the creation of the universe. It theorizes that the universe was created in an instant. Before that, everything was in an infinitely dense, singular point, and then at an instant, it began expanding; first at speeds faster than the speed of light, then at the speed of light. This theory is controversial because current science does not allow us to peer back over 13.7 billion years ago. The reason the theory is widely accepted is because of mathematical equations and models that support this. We also can see some remnants left behind from it in the cosmic microwave background. Another theory is the Planetary Formation Theory. This theory tackles the formation of planets and other objects in systems that are not stars. It says planets form from a disk of stardust and other small objects. These objects smash together and collide until the objects are large enough to have a significant gravitational pull. At this point, the process begins to go a lot faster, and these objects grow into eventual planets. These planetoids can influence the future forming of planets in the system. This theory is critical in astrophysics because it gives a reason for how our solar system and other star systems develop and why they might have the type of objects they have. It gives us an explanation of many complicated phenomena such as the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars or the atmospheric makeup of planets.
Many professional associations in the field are universities due to the nature of the work. With so much of the work being research or experimental, scientists need access to world-class laboratories and facilities. If not at a university, research and experiments are typically carried out through government agencies like NASA for the United States or the European Space Agency for Europe. Most journals in the field are written with research from these entities and are published internally.
The community is very centralized through the government agencies. In the US, the community runs through NASA. NASA hosts seminars and community events at many universities throughout the US. On the international level, governmental agencies communicate with each other and work together on certain projects like the International Space Station or the Euclid space mission, an ESA mission with NASA participation. There are many other examples of NASA participating in research or experiments from other countries.
Works cited
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Makiri, J. (2011, February 24). Cool Science: The IceCube Neutrino Observatory. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2011/02/24/133997980/cool-science-the-icecube-neutrino-observatory
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