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 Olivia Deschenes  S. Laurencot  Nonfiction essay assignment: Astronomy

The author, Kristen Lippincott, of the book __Astronomy__ felt what she wrote is important because we need to know about space, the universe, how our ancestors studied the heavens, and how the people of today use technology to study our universe. If our ancestors didn’t study the stars then we wouldn’t be studying them today. We wouldn’t have the technology to look at them either. For example: if Hans Lippershey who was a glasses maker didn’t invent the telescope we wouldn’t have advance telescopes today. In the book it said, “Two of Lippershey’s children were playing in his shop and noticed that by holding two lenses in a straight line they could magnify the weather vane on the local church. Lippershey placed the two lenses in a tube and claimed the invention of the telescope.” (Page 22) This book can teach readers that people in ancient civilizations had different views about the universe from ours today and had different ways to study the heavens. For example: people back then thought that the earth was flat and the heavens revolved around it, not the other way around and they had tubes too concentrate on one area of the sky while we have high-tech telescopes today. In the book it said, “Ptolemy, believed the Universe was structured. He saw the Earth as the center of the Universe with the Moon, the known planets, and the Sun moving around it.” (Page 11) For history, this book can teach readers that our ancestors different tools to study space. For example: people used a device to measure altitudes called a quadrant. A quadrant looks like a quarter of a circle that is cut into a 90 degree angle. In the book it said, "By sighting the object through the peep holes along one straight edge of the quadrant, the observer can measure the height, or altitude, of that object." (Page 12) For culture, this book can teach readers that our ancestors thought that the Universe ODeschenes/page 2  had to do with magic, and some cultures thought the heavens were ruled by their gods and goddesses. For example: civilizations thought that the planets had the personality and power of their gods. In the book, it said, “Each planet was believed to have the personality and powers of one of the gods. Mars, the god of war,………, determined war, plague, famine, and violent death.” (Page 6) I, the reader, learned that the Sun is spinning. “Sunspots moving somewhat randomly across the surface of the Sun show that the Sun is actually spinning.” (Page 39) I also learned that it takes the sun 25 Earth day to make one full complete rotation. I learned that Neptune has a large internal ocean of warm water and gases. “This covers a huge internal ocean of warm water and gases.” (Page 57) And finally, I learned that total eclipses happen once every 360 years in the same place. “Total eclipses of the Sun are very rare in any given location, occurring roughly once every 360 in the same place.” (Page 39)