The universe is a very curious and surprising place. The world of stars, galaxies and the cosmos has always intrigued us and made us wonder about our existence, history and future.
From the beginning, humanity has molded its understanding of the intangible into tangible objects such as Stonehenge, the Mayan pyramids, or medieval churches as an aim to express that unbreakable link between earth and heaven.
Thanks to scientific and technical research and advancement, human beings today can easily gather information about the nature of the universe, galaxies, and stars. At the time, when Galileo optimized the refracting telescope in 1609 by introducing multiple lenses, the first thing he did – as it could not have been otherwise – was to point it at the night sky. This instrument, which allowed us to literally look into space, has determined the physical appearance of observatories over the centuries . And they don’t even need to be on Earth anymore.
Astronomical observatories such as Yerkes, located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin (USA), was built in 1897. It was the first astrophysical observatory in the world built for scientific research, therefore it is considered the birthplace of modern astrophysics . And it is that it was not only the fact that it had a telescope, but it also managed to make important scientific discoveries, such as the detection of carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere, the fifth moon of Uranus and the second moon of Neptune, for example. name some of them.
Another renowned observatory is the Paranal Observatory, in Chile. Although we can find several observatories in Chilean territory, this is undoubtedly the most popular. Operated by the European Southern Observatory, it has the Very Large Telescope. The VLT is made up of four small telescopes, Kueyen, Antu, Melipal and Yepun, which stand for Moon, Sun, Southern Cross and Venus; they allow astronomers to see details up to 25 times more accurate than with individual telescopes.
And what about the Einstein Tower. Built by Erich Mendelsohn in 1921 near Berlin, Germany, this icon of Expressionism is hailed for its artistic and architectural qualities, but its scientific value is not trivial either: the tower was built by the director of the Einstein Foundation, Erwin Finlay-Freundlich, with the aim of testing Einstein’s theory of relativity.
The structure has become one of the leading solar physics research centers in Europe.
In any case, whether or not you have an astronomical observatory like those mentioned, there are many that you can see with the naked eye.
We review this 2020 astronomical calendar, month by month!
