Hello there! Welcome to our astronomy class blog. My two astronomy classes for 2011-2012 will be posting some of their projects, discussing current topics on astronomy, astrophysics and physical science relating to all things astronomical.
We are in the midst of our historical astronomy unit, and it's time to start thinking about other astronomers than the ones briefly listed in our books. On Monday we will have the COWS (Computers On Wheels Stations) in our classroom and you will begin research on your assigned astronomer. If this goes well I suspect we will be doing a lot more projects online!
Edmond Halley is an astronomer also known as Edmund. He was a mathematician and a physicist. He was the Astronomer Royal from 1720 to his death in 1742. There is some confusion over both the date and year of Halley's birth, but Edmund claims October 29, 1656 as his birthday. He was born in Haggerston, Shoreditch, England. He came from a Derbyshire family, and he was a wealthy soap-maker in London at a time when the use of soap was spreading throughout Europe.
ReplyDeleteEdmond Halley’s greatest accomplishment was the discovery of Halley’s comet in 1705. His belief that the comet sightings in 1456, 1531, 1607, and 1682 were the same comet and that it would return. When the comet returned as he predicted, the comet was named by its discoverer Edmund Halley. Other interesting background about Edmond Halley is that he made important observations at The Queen’s College in Oxford. He made an occultation of Mars by the Moon on June 11, 1676. Halley was given a ship to travel to South Atlantic. He studies compass variations. This was the first purely scientific voyage by and English navel vessel. He also studied the conditions terrestrial magnetism. He published the General Chart of the Variation of the Compass.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_Halley http://www.universetoday.com/90307/edmond-halley/
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=edmond+halley%27s+comet&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1138&bih=544&tbm=isch&tbnid=S3oAE00m8vv1tM:&imgrefurl=http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/edmond_halley.html&docid=8DoYBkupbW3P-M&imgurl=http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/StarChild/learning_center/people/Halley.gif&w=229&h=312&ei=LxmyTsrWC-mriQKamaBZ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=419&vpy=170&dur=671&hovh=249&hovw=183&tx=106&ty=231&sig=100305586913622428442&page=1&tbnh=170&tbnw=124&start=0&ndsp=9&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0