When did man begin to discover new stars ?

[iammoog]

Hi, <br /><br />I hope you'll forgive me posting to the board with what may be a really obvious question.<br /><br />I'm working on a script for my next short film and part of it is to be a conversation between two astronomers from the victorian era. <br /><br />So, can you help me to answer the following questions?<br /><br />1) When did scientists begin to discover new stars?<br /><br />and <br /><br />2) Were there any specific, major advances in astronomy around 1900? <br /><br />Huge thanks to you if you can take the time to reply. <br /><br />Moog<br />

 

[docm]

1. as soon as man turned his eyes skyward he began naming stars and seeing patterns, many of which survive today. The best surviving detailed records are those of the ancient Chinese and Arabs.<br /><br />2. A few tidbits;<br /><br />1894: Lowell Observatory is founded<br />1896: First photo atlas of the Moon published by the Lick Observatory; radioactivity is discovered; the Perth Observatory is founded.<br />1897: Yerkes Observatory is founded<br />1898: Phobos is discovered<br />1899: The spectrum of the Andromeda galaxy is photographed by Scheiner.<br />1900: Charlier suggests that the Universe is composed of larger and larger clusters; stars are grouped into galaxies, galaxies into clusters, clusters into superclusters etc.<br />1905: Einstein's special theory of relativity<br />1906: William Morgan suggests that the Milky Way is a spiral.<br />1907: Einstein's equivalence principle. stating that acceleration and gravity are equivalent.<br />1908: Tunguska, Siberia impact leveling thousands of square miles; Hermann Minkowski shows space + time are equivalent to a four-dimensional sheet of paper.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

What do you mean by new stars?<br /><br />If you mean stars too dim to be seen by eye, that would be with the invention of the telescope around the year 1600.<br /><br />The first asteroid, 1 Ceres (then called a planet, now a dwarf planet) was discovered January 1st 1801.<br /><br />I'll have to do a little research to find big astro-developments around 1900 <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Welcome to Space.com!<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[iammoog]

Thanks for the reply DocM.<br /><br />Nice list of events <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />I think I should have phrased my number 1 question better though. <br /><br />I wonder if there has been a period of time in which man thought he had discovered all the stars there were to see, and then , perhaps with the aid of better technology, discovered there were more. If so, when did that happen? <br /><br />Thanks again!

 

[nexium]

Some expert astronomers are of the opinion that we have recently found nearly all the stars that can be found. Likely some have had similar opinions most years for a very long time. Neil

 

[bobw]

I don't think astronomers ever thought they had found and cataloged or named all the stars but prior to about 1915 they thought they were all in the milky way. Ten years later they knew that some of the nebulae were actually other galaxies millions of light years away from us. That must have been a pretty exciting time to be alive. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[kelvinzero]

Here is a book from 1903 that is a very interesting read. It sounds very well reasoned, although contains several things we now know to be wrong.<br /><br />At the time of writing they thought the galaxy was all there is, had no idea what the sun really was, yet already with incomplete information were usefully discussing issues of habitable zones in which life could exist.<br />http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/wallace/S728-1.htm<br /><br />Also there is this one on possibility of life on mars<br />http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10855<br />

 

[enigma10]

<i><font color="yellow">1) When did scientists begin to discover new stars?</font></i><br /><br /> When thier young pupils saw more than they did.<img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"<font color="#333399">An organism at war with itself is a doomed organism." - Carl Sagan</font></em> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

I have an interesting old book published in 1904 called<br />"Astronomy for Amateurs" by the French astronomer Camille Flammarion.<br /><br />A chapter I'll have to read today is 24. "Nebula in the Greyhounds" to find out what constellation that is! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[deapfreeze]

It would be an interesting read from 1904. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#0000ff"><em>William ( deapfreeze ) Hooper</em></font></p><p><font size="1">http://deapfreeze-amateur-astronomy.tk/</font></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[alkalin]

Britannica has rather a good article on astronomy history. Galileo could publish and really started modern astronomy, although there were telescopes for sale in various countries at about that time frame of about 1608.

 

[qso1]

It may be an obvious question, but its an excellent one.<br /><br />Proxima Centauri is the star closest to the sun and wasn't even discovered until 1915. This because its a red dwarf star and those types of stars are thought to be the most common. They are pretty difficult to see, especially the further out they are.<br /><br />Good luck on your script and film. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[iammoog]

Thanks so much to everyone who's posted. <br />There's some interesting ideas there, but please feel free to carry on posting if you get any more thoughts.<br /><br />I think I might have become hooked on this site - there's some amazing stuff around <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <br /><br />Moog