From the Left
Astronomy and astrophyics research should be a national priority. We live in very exciting times on the astronomical front. Through continued research, we stand to continue to gain much knowledge about the universe in which we live.
Since the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) began operating reliably in 1993, it has led to many important discoveries, including the following:
- Hubble's Constant: Prior to the launch of HST, Hubble's Constant, the rate at which the universe is expanding, was only known to an accuracy of 50%. Thanks to HST, it is now known to an accuracy of better than 10%. Furthermore, we now know that the rate of expansion is accelerating, rather than decelerating due to gravity as previously thought.
- Extrasolar Planets: As of January 2007, a total of 209 extrasolar planets have been discovered, mainly due to the HST.
- Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: This awesome comet collided with Jupiter in 1994 and luckily, HST had a chance to obtain detailed images of this collision.
Other important recent astronomical discoveries include the following:
- Age of the Universe: Thanks to observations obtained from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) launched in 2001, the age of the universe is now known to be 13.7 +/- 0.2 billion years. This is a tremendously more precise measurement than was ever possible before.
- Composition of the Universe: Also thanks to WMAP, we now know that the observable universe consists of just 4% luminous matter (stars), 23% mysterious dark matter, and 73% even more mysterious dark energy.
- Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR): Perhaps the most exciting discovery of WMAP was the anisotropy of the CMBR, the fireball from which the universe was ultimately created. While small (one part in 10^5), this anisotropy was ultimately responsible for the formation of all the large-scale structures in the observable universe, including galaxies, galactic clusters, and superclusters. The CMBR is also known to have formed 400,000 years after the Big Bang, when the universe cooled down to 3000 degrees Kelvin, cool enough for the first atoms to form and for the universe to become transparent.
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From the Right
Going into space and exploring new planets, solar systems, and living in space are important projects that may lead to the survival of mankind when living on earth is no longer possible. The government should be sponsoring more programs so that more research can be done. Space exploration is very expensive and requires a lot of equipment and other items in order to be successful. There are many observatories that survive on private funding or through programs in which they receive little money each year. Astronomers spend their time looking at possible problems that are taking place in space. These problems could endanger the earth in the future.
Astronomy and space programs are funded in part by the government, but they still need more money in order to continue their research. The government needs to realize the importance of space exploration in order to understand the need for more money. But through private efforts, many advances have been made. The space station, for example, supports researchers from all over the world. It is gathering data that will tell others what is out there in space. This information could be useful later on. The efforts put in by researchers are worth it in the end.
Government research is also important so that researchers will be able to work with other countries to find out more about space. Astronomers will always find more information as they spend their time looking up to the stars. Spending money on these programs is not a waste, it is money well spent.
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