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The top 5 astronomical discoveries of all time (so far)

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2024 2:48 pm
by GCoyote
A nice quick summary by Paul Sutter

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/03 ... -all-time/

Re: The top 5 astronomical discoveries of all time (so far)

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2024 4:03 pm
by Gfamily
I think I'd have left off Black Holes and included the discovery that Stars are mostly made of Hydrogen and Helium. It's less than 100 years since Cecilia Payne submitted her PhD thesis that correctly used the intensity of the Spectral Lines in the sun and Saha's theory of ionisation to determine that the Sun's composition is 75% Hydrogen and most of the rest being Helium.
Previously, astronomers had overestimated the presence of heavier elements owing to their relative dominance in the Solar Spectrum

Re: The top 5 astronomical discoveries of all time (so far)

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2024 7:15 am
by Graeme1858
That's a good read Gary.

Paul Sutter did a similar podcast, which was, also good.

Graeme

Re: The top 5 astronomical discoveries of all time (so far)

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2024 11:03 pm
by OzEclipse
Very good read. Thanks for finding and sharing that!
Joe

Re: The top 5 astronomical discoveries of all time (so far)

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2024 11:05 pm
by messier 111
thx for the link .