Week 9- Space and Art

Scientists have explored and researched for many years about space and the universe that we live in. They continue to discover new and incredible information that not only makes you think about your existence but fascinates you so much you want to learn and find out more information. The video that was presented in lectures this past week called, “Powers of Ten”, was mind-blowing. As the video started out with just a clear image of a picnic in Chicago, it was noticeable that once the video started to expand its field of view 10 times wider, that the picnic that seemed so large at first now became this little spec in the frame. As the camera angle continued to get higher and higher, the images of our country, earth, and solar system quickly diminished and finally came to a stopping point that was outside of our galaxy. After watching this video, it provides a clear illustration of how vast and endless our universe truly is.

Images from the "Powers of Ten" video

Space research has been persistent for quite some time and scientists have been able to discover aspects of space that seem to be incomprehensible. One of the most influential discoveries was the “Heliocentric” description of the solar system, which was discovered by Nicolaus Copernicus. His discovery changed the way people viewed the universe as he found that the sun was the center of the solar system, which was in opposition to the previous notion that the Earth was at the center. With Copernicus’s discovery, as Professor Vesna explains in lecture it was the, “first time we scientifically had the sun as the center of the solar system,” (Vesna). 

Image of Copernicus's "Heliocentric" description of the solar system

This week’s lectures on “Space” revealed a lot of information that I was unaware of. One of the most interesting pieces of information that I learned from this week was the designing of space flights. The owner of Virgin, Richard Branson and the designer of the spaceship called, “Spaceship One”, together are planning to “commercialize space flights in two or three years’ (Vesna). These flights that will be offered to go to space, illustrates how amazing Space is and our fascination with it. Although the flights will be offered at a great price of $200,000, the fact that individuals will have the ability to see and explore space in a couple of years through commercial flights is astonishing and something that I would never have thought was possible. With the design and construction of these spacecraft, it helps show that we are eager to expand upon our knowledge of what we know about space and what there is still to learn to about space.  

The Virgin Space flights ready to launch in the next couple of years

Sources:

Vesna, Victoria. Week 9. Lectures. https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/63226/wiki/unit-9-view?module_item_id=970456

Wikipedia. Copernicus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus
"Array." Research – Conducting Research on SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. http://www.virgingalactic.com/research/   
Image 1: Wikipedia. Heliocentric. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentrism 
Image 2: "Responsible Nanotechnology." Web. 01 Dec. 2013.http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2008/05/powers-of-ten-in-years.html 
Image 3:  "Flights of Fancy: Virgin Galactic Plans Space Hotels, Day Trips to the Moon: Scientific American." Web. 01 Dec. 2013. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=virgin-galactic-space-hotels