Astronomical Undertakings: Legend and Legitimacy in Man's Search for Another Earth

by Oeser, Erhard

• ISBN13: 9781935603023
• ISBN10: 1935603027
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-10-15
• Publisher: Univ of Akron Pr

Summary

Since ancient time, mankind has wondered whether a second Earth might exist in the universe-a planet that supports life like our own. Ancient Greek philosophers believed that the moon could be such a place. The search for that second Earth was spurred in 1609: Early that year, Johannes Kepler, a follower of Copernicus, published his New Astronomy outlining the laws of planetary motion, and later that same year, Galileo built a three-powered telescope and saw at the moon as a different world covered with mountains and valleys. At approximately the same time, astronomy became real science and astrology devolved into a pseudoscience. Oeser's contention is that at this point, the search for the second Earth became the driving factor in the growth of space research. When man finally landed on the moon and discovered that no life existed, the search did not stop but the destination changed. We are compelled to find others like us in the vast universe.