Whats around us?

Jamezzyboyoo

Hi thread viewers!!

I'm not sure if this is a stupid question but I'll ask anyway!!

I have a strong interest in astronomy and was wondering what is below the earth so to speak, what is to be found if you look out into space in the direction of the south pole or is this being done already by satellites?

Thanks!
James.

Orion36

Jamezzyboyoo wrote: »

Hi thread viewers!!

I'm not sure if this is a stupid question but I'll ask anyway!!

I have a strong interest in astronomy and was wondering what is below the earth so to speak, what is to be found if you look out into space in the direction of the south pole or is this being done already by satellites?

Thanks!
James.

It is not stupid at all because the great astronomical minds applied themselves to questions of above and below on a round Earth.It took over a thousand years after it was written to find the right arguments for the Earth's daily and orbital motions but the old astronomer knew quite well how to consider a large Universe where 'above' and 'below' had no real meaning conceptually -

“And, finally, in what sense, and in reference to what thing is Earth said to be ‘intermediate?’ For the universe is infinite; now that which is infinite hath neither beginning nor limit, so it does not belong to it to possess a middle: for infinity is the deprivation of limits. But he who makes out Earth to be the middle not of the universe, but of the world, is ridiculous for his simplicity if he does not reflect that the ‘world’ itself is liable to the very same objections: for the universe hath not left a middle place for it also, but it is borne along without house or home in the boundless vacuum, towards nothing cognate to itself; perhaps it has found out for itself some other cause for remaining fixed, and so has stood still, but certainly not owing to the nature of its position. And it is allowable for one to conjecture alike with respect to Earth and with respect to the moon, that by some contrary soul and nature they are [actuated, the consequence of the diversity being] differences, the former remaining stationary here, the latter moving along. But apart from these considerations, see whether a certain important fact has not escaped their notice. For if whatsoever space, and whatever thing exists away from the center of Earth, is the ‘above,’ then no part of Earth is ‘below,’ but Earth herself and the things upon Earth; and, in a word, everybody standing around or investing the center, become the ‘above;’ whilst ‘below’ is one sole thing, that incorporeal point, which has the duty of counterbalancing the whole constitution of the world; if, indeed, the ‘below’ is by its nature opposed to the ‘above.’ And this is not the only absurdity in the argument, but it also does away with the cause through which all ponderous bodies gravitate in this direction, and tend downwards: for there is no mark below towards which they move: for the incorporeal point is not likely (nor do they pretend it is) to exert so much force as to draw down all objects to itself, and keep them together around itself. But yet, it is proved unreasonable, and repugnant to facts, to suppose the ‘above’ of the world to be a whole, but the ‘below’ an incorporeal and indefinite limit: whereas that course is consistent with reason, to say, as we do, that the space is large and possessed of width, and is defined by the ‘above’ and the ‘below’ of locality." Plutarch

http://thriceholy.net/Texts/Moon.html

Men no longer talk or think like that anymore and even though Plutarch was unaware of the right arguments for the Earth's motions through space he was among those who set the stage for Copernicus and Galileo.

ps200306

Jamezzyboyoo wrote: »

Hi thread viewers!!

I'm not sure if this is a stupid question but I'll ask anyway!!

I have a strong interest in astronomy and was wondering what is below the earth so to speak, what is to be found if you look out into space in the direction of the south pole or is this being done already by satellites?

Thanks!
James.

I suppose the first thing to say is that you don't need satellites -- if you're standing in the right place you can see the southern sky just by looking up. The further south you go, the more of the southern sky you can see. Where we are, about 53 degrees north of the equator, which is 37 degrees south of the North Pole, we can see 37 degrees south of the equator.

On a clear night when you can see Polaris, the North Star which roughly defines the celestial North Pole, it will be 53 degrees above the northern horizon. Imagine lines of longitude radiating out from this in all directions. Then fill in imaginary lines of latitude surrounding the North Star in bigger and bigger circles. When you get to the line of latitude that is 90 degrees from the North Star, that is the celestial equator. Since the North Star is 53 degrees above the northern horizon, the equator circle will be below the horizon to the north, will cut the horizon to your east and west, and will climb higher to the south, reaching 37 degrees directly south. Everything below that line is in the southern sky. It is only at the North Pole that you can see *none* of the southern sky, and only at the South Pole that you can see *all* of it at one time. (From anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere you will see the full southern sky across the duration of one year). As you travel southwards on the earth, more and more of the southern sky comes into view. Another less obvious phenomenon is that the sky appears to rotate as you travel south. So, for instance, the Man in the Moon is upside down in New Zealand, as are any constellations that can be seen from both hemispheres.

One of the first systematic maps of the southern sky was made by John Herschel (son of William, who discovered Uranus) in the 1830s from Cape Town in South Africa. More modern surveys include the Sloan Digital Sky Survey which, though based in the northern hemisphere, has surveyed the southern galactic cap. It's counterpart in Siding Springs in Australia -- SkyMapper -- is another wide angle sky survey including large parts of the southern sky. But there are many large observatories near the equator that can see large parts of the southern sky -- the European Southern Observatory in the Atacama in Chile, the Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the Teide observatory in Tenerife, and many more.