If Winston Churchill could call Russia and its people “a riddle wrapped in a mystery within a riddle,” then you can safely bet that the development of amateur astronomy in my country remains largely unknown to most readers of SKY&Telescore. I hope to dispel some of this mystery by telling our story.
It was said that the father of Russian amateur astronomers was Archbishop Athanasius, who lived in the northern port city of Arkhangelsk, only 150 km from the Arctic Circle. In 1692 he built an observatory equipped with several small refractors, but his observing capabilities were limited by ecclesiastical activities and incursions by Swedish armies.
Meanwhile, the reformer Tsar Peter the Great was raising Russia to the status of a great power. Although his methods were harsh and often crude, he founded the capital of St. Petersburg, founded many schools, and laid the foundation for the Russian Academy of Sciences, where many famous scientists of Europe were invited. Peter the Great observed with a telescope from time to time, and astronomy was quite fashionable during his reign. At the time, it was not unusual for nobles to build private observatories.
Some of Peter's followers also showed interest in astronomical observations. Empress Anna Ioanovna often invited the French astronomer Josep Delisle to show her the rings of Saturn and other bright stellar objects through Newton's long-focus telescope. But it must be recognized that this was the activity of amateurs, and no lasting contributions to science were made by Russian amateur astronomers in the 18th century.
But that was soon to change. Naval officer Plato Gamaleya independently invented the achromatic refractor lens, the invention of which is often attributed exclusively to the Englishmen Chester Moore Hall and John Dollond by Western historians. Gamaleya was also interested in meteorites, claiming that they were of asteroidal origin, despite Antoine Lavoisier's statement to the French Academy of Sciences that "rocks cannot fall from the sky."
In 1879, Vasily Engelhardt, a lawyer from Smolensk, founded an impressive observatory in the city of Dresden (then Saxony, now Germany). Engelhardt ordered a 12-inch refractor from the famous Dublin telescope maker Thomas Grebb. With this impressive telescope, Engelhardt devoted himself to observations. Over the course of 18 years, he published three volumes of meticulous observations of comets, asteroids, nebulae and double stars. He bequeathed all his astronomical equipment and 50,000 rubles to Kazan University, located 600 km east of Moscow, where the observatory that bears his name operates to this day.
Another lover's generosity also had consequences that continue to this day. At the end of the 19th century, on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, in Pulkovo, there was an outstanding Russian observatory. The latitude at which Pulkovo is located, 60 degrees, put forward a strong need for an observatory located further south, and in 1906 astronomer Alexei Gansky was sent to the Crimean peninsula to find a suitable site.

Soon after his arrival he came across two domes. As it turned out, Gansky stopped in front of the private observatory of a high-ranking government official, Nikolai Maltsov. During their first meeting, Maltsov offered his observatory as a gift to the Pulkovo Observatory, and even added the adjacent territory for further development. Nowadays, this place - the Simeiz observation station of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory - is home to 24 and 40-inch reflectors used by the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.

Chasing the moon's shadow

One of the most advanced Russian amateurs of the 19th century was Fyodor Semenov, the son of a successful industrialist in Kursk. Despite the fact that he was self-taught, Semenov was able to make a 4-inch refractor out of nothing, which is a feat even today. His passion was solar eclipses. Semenov was awarded the Gold Medal of the Russian Geographical Society for calculating the visibility of all eclipses that were supposed to occur in the northern hemisphere from 1840 to 2001.
Nikolai Donich, a government worker, devoted himself to chasing eclipses long before commercial airlines made global travel easy. Chasing the lunar shadow, Donich traveled to such exotic places as Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Despite his amateur status, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1905 entrusted Donich to lead eclipse expeditions to Spain and Egypt - he was even assigned a professional astronomer as an assistant!
August 14, 1887 The streak of total eclipse passed through the heart of Russia and caused an increase in public interest in astronomy, leading to the creation of the first astronomical society in the country. Residents of Nizhny Novgorod hired three steam ships for a 150km journey along the Volga to see the eclipse, and heated discussions arose between the passengers on the return trip. Horrified by the enormous ignorance of the rural population that they had to face, Platon Demidov, a local attorney and banker, and two young school teachers decided to create a society to spread the knowledge of astronomy to the masses.
But they faced numerous obstacles. Such a scientific society could only be created in a university city. In Nizhny Novgorod there were churches, monasteries, a Kremlin and a drama theater - but there was no university. Fortunately, Demidov’s connections in St. Petersburg led to the abandonment of this requirement, and the official charter of the “Nizhny Novgorod Circle of Physics and Astronomy Lovers” was approved a year later. Demidov donated his personal library and a small telescope, and members raised money to purchase a 4-inch refractor from Merz.

The circle in Nizhny Novgorod survived the Bolshevik revolution and the subsequent civil war and terror. Members published results of work on variable stars, corresponded with foreign amateur astronomers, and subscribed to foreign journals - quite unusual activity for that difficult time. They became most famous for their astronomical calendar, published annually since 1895. When Soviet astronomers sent an open letter to Pope Pius XI in 1930, accusing the Roman Catholic Church of burning Giordano Bruno and persecuting Galileo, the Vatican responded: “In the USSR, we know only astronomers from Nizhny Novgorod, with whom we exchange publications. Other persons who call themselves as “Russian astronomers” are unknown to us.”
In 1890, i.e. two years later, after Nizhny Novgorod received its circle, the Russian Astronomical Society was organized. Although membership was not limited to professionals, it was virtually impossible for an amateur to collect the five member recommendations required merely for recognition. The only exception was a 15-year-old Kiev schoolboy, who was the first to report the appearance of Nova in Perseus in 1901. For this discovery he received membership in the Russian Astronomical Society, and Tsar Nicholas II gave him a Zeiss telescope.
In 1908, the “Moscow Circle of Astronomy Lovers” was founded, followed a year later by the “Russian Society of World Science Lovers” or ROLM in St. Petersburg. The word "world science" roughly means "study of the universe," reflecting the broad scientific interests of its founder, Nikolai Morozov. As punishment for his revolutionary activities, Morozov spent 22 years in solitary confinement, and after his release from prison in 1905, he devoted the remaining years of his life to science. Upon reaching 700 members, Mirovedenie founded an observatory equipped with a 7-inch Merz refractor, regularly published observational results, and published the popular journal Mirovedenie.

Soviet Era

The Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 brought dramatic changes to every aspect of Russian life, including astronomy. The regimes of Lenin and Stalin demanded that all scientific research be subordinated to the task of "socialist construction" and astronomers were required to take solemn oaths such as "I swear that I will characterize the changes in the brightness of 150 recently discovered variable stars." Each new discovery demonstrated the possibility of socialism being superior to capitalism. When Petrograd astronomer S.M. Selivanov found the comet on September 1, 1919, government officials trumpeted this achievement around the world.
Boris Kukarkin, a Nizhny Novgorod amateur, in 1928 began publishing a newsletter called “Variable Stars”. Then it turned into a professional magazine, and Kukarkin himself became a famous professional astronomer. In the same decade, members of the Moscow Society of Astronomy Amateurs created the “Collective of Observers”. Several of its members, among them Boris A. Vorontsov-Veliaminov and Pavel P. Parenago, became internationally recognized authorities in astronomy. Some conclusions regarding the character of that time can be drawn from the last sentence of Parenago's book "World of Stars", which described I. Stalin as "the greatest genius of all mankind."
During those dark days, many of the core amateurs were repressed. In 1928 the Russian Astronomical Society was dissolved, followed two years later by the ROLM. However, World Studies continued to appear over the next few years and, in order to keep readers up to date with astronomical events in Western countries, contained some translations from foreign journals. However, ideology has penetrated here too. Emerging expanding universe theories were criticized as incompatible with Marxist-Leninist dogma. Mirovedenie ceased publication during the peak of Stalin's terror. Its final issue came with an editorial with the ominous title "To completely suppress sabotage on the astronomical front."
After the publication of World Studies ceased, Soviet amateurs did not have any magazine until 1965, when the popular bimonthly magazine Earth and the Universe appeared. However, its editors always gave more emphasis to geology and meteorology than to astronomy. In the magazine's heyday, its circulation exceeded 50,000 copies, but in recent years it has fallen sharply to less than 1,000 copies.

In 1932, amateur and professional astronomers throughout the Soviet Union united into the All-Union Astronomical-Geodetic Society, otherwise known by the abbreviation VAGO. The first scientific society created in Soviet times, VAGO established branches in dozens of cities, and its Central Council in Moscow coordinated visual observations of variable stars, meteors and noctilucent clouds by amateurs under the guidance of professionals. Became part of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1938, VAGO published observation manuals, organized eclipse expeditions, and regularly held conferences and congresses. VAGO's membership peaked in the 1980s, when it had approximately 70 branches scattered throughout. The youth section, created in 1965, coordinated work among isolated circles of young astronomers.

Traditions of telescope construction

The first astronomical optics in Russia was apparently made by Jacob Bruce, one of Peter the Great's close associates, who in 1733 “blinded” a concave mirror for a reflecting telescope. But the first real amateur in telescope building in our country was Ivan Kulibin. A self-taught mechanic from Nizhny Novgorod, Kulibin in 1767 managed to get his hands on a reflecting telescope of the Gregory system. He was able to determine the composition of his metal mirror—a hard, brittle alloy of copper and tin—and began building a machine to grind and polish mirrors and lenses. Kulibin also processed Flint glass to create achromatic lenses.
Despite the talent of people like Kulibin, Russia was many decades behind in telescope production compared to Europe and the United States. In the 20th century, the domes of our large observatories housed instruments made by German firms such as Fraunhofer, Merz, and Zeiss or American ones such as Alvan Clark. And only in 1904, Yuri Mirkalov founded the first Russian enterprise for the manufacture of telescopes, “Russian Urania”. Before the company's demise in 1917, its workshops produced more than a hundred telescopes and many domes for observatories, although Mirkalov received all the lenses from abroad.

Newtonian reflecting telescopes were popularized in Russia by Alexander Chikin. Four years after he processed his first mirror in 1911, Chikin published the book “Reflective Telescopes: Making Reflectors by Means Available to the Amateur.” For decades, this book has been the standard not only for amateurs, but also for professionals. Renowned optical designer Dmitry Maksutov, inventor of the catadioptric (mirror lens) telescopes now used throughout the world, was just one of many who found inspiration and guidance in the pages of Chikin's little "bible."

In the 1930s, simultaneously with the United States, amateur telescope building became popular in Russia. The leading proponent of these efforts was cytogeneticist and professor Mikhail Navashin. His book "The Astronomy Amateur's Telescope" went through several editions. Moscow artist Mikhail Shemyakin also played a prominent role, and under his leadership VAGO published the Amateur Telescopes series.

In Soviet times, an amateur could build a telescope practically for free, simply by joining a local club of telescope building enthusiasts, which existed in every big city. Well-equipped clubs had machines for making mirrors and accessories. Club members typically made 4- and 6-inch mirrors, and some even made large apertures up to 16 inches. Famous Among these clubs was the telescope construction club named after D. Maksutov, founded in 1973 by Leonid Sikoruk, a director from Novosibirsk. Its members adopted advanced telescope designs, including the Schmidt and Wright cameras, the Doll-Kirham and Ritchey-Chrétien cameras, and even the spectroheliograph. Sikoruk's book "Telescopes for Astronomy Lovers", published in 1982, remains popular to this day, and his documentary film "Telescopes" was broadcast on television throughout the Soviet Union.

In 1980, L. Sikoruk convinced the director of the Novosibirsk enterprise, which produced artillery and gun sights, to begin producing telescopes for astronomy enthusiasts, and this event became an important milestone for the promotion of Russian telescope construction. Bearing the TAL brand name, thousands of these instruments soon became widely available in stores. One or more of them found their way to every Russian school, astronomy club, and planetarium. Export of the TAL line of telescopes began in 1993, and the 6-inch Newton model was reviewed favorably in this magazine (SKY&Telescore December 1997, page 57).

Anatoly Sankovichis another enthusiast who has channeled his passion for telescopes into a commercial venture. Having manufactured numerous complex optical systems such as Wright-Schmidt cameras, Sankovich joined forces with other telescope builders in Moscow to launch Svema-Luxe http://www.telescope.newmail.ru/eng/eng.htm l The company now supplies the INTES manufacturing cooperative with parabolic primary mirrors with apertures up to 20 inches.

One can imagine that as the 20th century draws to a close, so too do the opportunities for new telescope optical designs. But in recent years, P. P. Argunov of Odessa and Yuri Klevtsov of Novosibirsk have invented a catadioptric telescope with fully spherical optics, which promises to be more cost-effective to manufacture than the Maksutov-Cassegrain, providing comparable quality. Novosibirsk Instrument-Making Plant http://www.npz.sol.ru/ recently added the 8-inch Klevtsov aperture to the TAL line of amateur telescopes, thereby combining individual ingenuity and state enterprise in the new Russia under construction.

A doubtful but hopeful future

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, VAGO lost its "all-Union" status and the activities of some of its branches ceased. A dark period began for astronomy. With rare exceptions, Russian hobbyists who wanted first-class telescopes had to make them with their own hands - although some of the telescope-building clubs survived, but the raw materials and supplies were no longer free. Under such unfavorable conditions, it would seem that amateur astronomy in Russia will slowly and for a long time fade away.

During the economic chaos that still prevails in our country, most Russians continue to struggle for a daily piece of bread, and have little money for hobbies. But despite these difficulties, we see many encouraging developments. Some former VAGO branches have survived as independent societies, and many new amateur groups have formed since 1995. The prices of ready-made telescopes and accessories, although very high, are no longer out of reach. Our growing ranks of skywatchers include one observer who has set a high standard for observational excellence. From his site in the North Caucasus, Timur Kryachko has so far discovered a dozen asteroids, one of which he discovered while serving in the Soviet Army. Kryachko monitors variable stars, hunts for supernovae, and sometimes oversees amateur dark-sky “expeditions” to the Caucasus and Crimea.

Thanks to the Internet, hobbyists from all over our vast country exchange messages and make connections. School-sponsored astronomy "Olympiads" also play an important role in growing the ranks of young astronomers (SKY&Telescore, March 2000, page 86). Local winners travel to Moscow to compete for overall recognition. Dobsons, joint observation trips, the Messier Marathon - everything that was foreign to us not too many years ago - is becoming more and more popular.

For the past five years the Moscow Astronomical Club, currently the largest amateur group in Russia, has sponsored an astronomy festival in Zvenigorod, 50 km west of Moscow http://astroclub.ru/astrofest

A handful of enthusiasts have also banded together to publish a monthly magazine, Stargazer, which is dedicated exclusively to amateur astronomy http://www.astronomy.ru/

It's time for astronomy and planetariums to flourish in Russia.

The British Royal Air Force's motto "through hardships to the stars" could of course be ours too.

"SKY&Telescore", September 2001, pp.66-73

Even as a child, being a curious child, I dreamed of becoming an astronaut. And naturally, as I grew up, my interest turned to the stars. Gradually reading books on astronomy and physics, I slowly studied the basics. At the same time as reading books, I mastered the map of the starry sky. Because I grew up in a village, so I had a fairly good view of the starry sky. Now in my free time I continue to read books, publications and try to follow modern scientific achievements in this field of knowledge. In the future I would like to purchase my own telescope.

Astronomy is the science of the movement, structure and development of celestial bodies and their systems, up to the Universe as a whole.

Man, at his core, has an extraordinary curiosity that leads him to study the world around him, so astronomy gradually arose in all corners of the world where people lived.

Astronomical activity can be traced in sources from at least the 6th-4th millennium BC. e., and the earliest mentions of the names of the luminaries are found in the “Pyramid Texts”, dating from the 25th-23rd centuries. BC e. - a religious monument. Certain features of megalithic structures and even rock paintings of primitive people are interpreted as astronomical. There are also many similar motifs in folklore.

Figure 1 – Heavenly disk from Nebra

So, one of the first “astronomers” can be called the Sumerians and Babylonians. The Babylonian priests left many astronomical tables. They also identified the main constellations and the zodiac, introduced the division of a full angle into 360 degrees, and developed trigonometry. In the 2nd millennium BC. e. The Sumerians developed a lunar calendar, improved in the 1st millennium BC. e. The year consisted of 12 synodic months - six of 29 days and six of 30 days, for a total of 354 days. Having processed their observation tables, the priests discovered many laws of the movement of the planets, the Moon and the Sun, and were able to predict eclipses. It was probably in Babylon that the seven-day week appeared (each day was dedicated to one of the 7 luminaries). But not only the Sumerians had their own calendar; Egypt created its own “sothic” calendar. The sothic year is the period between the two heliacal risings of Sirius, that is, it coincided with the sidereal year, and the civil year consisted of 12 months of 30 days plus five additional days, for a total of 365 days. A lunar calendar with a metonic cycle, consistent with the civil one, was also used in Egypt. Later, under the influence of Babylon, a seven-day week appeared. The day was divided into 24 hours, which at first were unequal (separately for light and dark times of the day), but at the end of the 4th century BC. e. have acquired a modern look. The Egyptians also divided the sky into constellations. Evidence of this can include references in texts, as well as drawings on the ceilings of temples and tombs.

Among the countries of East Asia, ancient astronomy received the greatest development in China. In China there were two positions of court astronomers. Around the 6th century BC. e. The Chinese specified the length of the solar year (365.25 days). Accordingly, the celestial circle was divided into 365.25 degrees or 28 constellations (according to the movement of the Moon). Observatories appeared in the 12th century BC. e. But much earlier, Chinese astronomers diligently recorded all unusual events in the sky. The first record of the appearance of a comet dates back to 631 BC. e., about a lunar eclipse - by 1137 BC. e., about the solar - by 1328 BC. e., the first meteor shower was described in 687 BC. e. Among other achievements of Chinese astronomy, it is worth noting the correct explanation of the causes of solar and lunar eclipses, the discovery of the uneven movement of the Moon, the measurement of the sidereal period, first for Jupiter, and from the 3rd century BC. e. - and for all other planets, both sidereal and synodic, with good accuracy. There were many calendars in China. By the 6th century BC. e. The Metonic cycle was discovered and the lunisolar calendar was established. The beginning of the year is the winter solstice, the beginning of the month is the new moon. The day was divided into 12 hours (the names of which were also used as the names of months) or into 100 parts.

Parallel to China, on the opposite side of the earth, the Mayan civilization is in a hurry to acquire astronomical knowledge, as evidenced by numerous archaeological excavations at the sites of the cities of this civilization. The ancient Mayan astronomers were able to predict eclipses, and very carefully observed various, most clearly visible astronomical objects, such as the Pleiades, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. The remains of cities and observatory temples look impressive. Unfortunately, only 4 manuscripts of different ages and texts on steles have survived. The Mayans determined with great accuracy the synodic periods of all 5 planets (Venus was especially revered), and came up with a very accurate calendar. The Mayan month contained 20 days, and the week - 13. Astronomy also developed in India, although it did not have much success there. Among the Incas, astronomy is directly related to cosmology and mythology, this is reflected in many legends. The Incas knew the difference between stars and planets. In Europe, the situation was worse, but the Druids of the Celtic tribes definitely had some kind of astronomical knowledge.

In the early stages of its development, astronomy was thoroughly mixed with astrology. The attitude of scientists towards astrology in the past has been controversial. Educated people in general have always been skeptical about natal astrology. But the belief in universal harmony and the search for connections in nature stimulated the development of science. Therefore, the natural interest of ancient thinkers was aroused by natural astrology, which established an empirical connection between celestial phenomena of a calendar nature and signs of weather, harvest, and the timing of household work. Astrology originates from Sumerian-Babylonian astral myths, in which celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, planets) and constellations were associated with gods and mythological characters; the influence of gods on earthly life within the framework of this mythology was transformed into the influence on the life of celestial bodies - symbols deities Babylonian astrology was borrowed by the Greeks and then, through contacts with the Hellenistic world, penetrated into India. The final identification of scientific astronomy occurred during the Renaissance and took a long time.

The formation of astronomy as a science should probably be attributed to the ancient Greeks, because they made a huge contribution to the development of science. The works of ancient Greek scientists contain the origins of many ideas that underlie the science of modern times. There is a relationship of direct continuity between modern and ancient Greek astronomy, while the science of other ancient civilizations influenced modern one only through the mediation of the Greeks.

In Ancient Greece, astronomy was already one of the most developed sciences. To explain the visible movements of the planets, Greek astronomers, the largest of them Hipparchus (2nd century BC), created the geometric theory of epicycles, which formed the basis of the geocentric system of the world of Ptolemy (2nd century AD). Although fundamentally incorrect, Ptolemy's system nevertheless made it possible to pre-calculate the approximate positions of the planets in the sky and therefore satisfied, to a certain extent, practical needs for several centuries.

The Ptolemaic system of the world completes the stage of development of ancient Greek astronomy. The development of feudalism and the spread of the Christian religion entailed a significant decline in the natural sciences, and the development of astronomy in Europe slowed down for many centuries. During the Dark Middle Ages, astronomers were concerned only with observing the apparent movements of the planets and reconciling these observations with the accepted geocentric system of Ptolemy.

During this period, astronomy received rational development only among the Arabs and the peoples of Central Asia and the Caucasus, in the works of outstanding astronomers of that time - Al-Battani (850-929), Biruni (973-1048), Ulugbek (1394-1449) .) etc. During the period of the emergence and formation of capitalism in Europe, which replaced feudal society, the further development of astronomy began. It developed especially quickly during the era of great geographical discoveries (XV-XVI centuries). The emerging new bourgeois class was interested in exploiting new lands and equipped numerous expeditions to discover them. But long journeys across the ocean required more accurate and simpler methods of orientation and time calculation than those that the Ptolemaic system could provide. The development of trade and navigation urgently required the improvement of astronomical knowledge and, in particular, the theory of planetary motion. The development of productive forces and the requirements of practice, on the one hand, and the accumulated observational material, on the other, prepared the ground for a revolution in astronomy, which was carried out by the great Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), who developed his heliocentric system of the world, published in the year his death.

The teachings of Copernicus were the beginning of a new stage in the development of astronomy. Kepler in 1609-1618. the laws of planetary motion were discovered, and in 1687 Newton published the law of universal gravitation.

New astronomy gained the opportunity to study not only the visible, but also the actual movements of celestial bodies. Her numerous and brilliant successes in this area were crowned in the middle of the 19th century. the discovery of the planet Neptune, and in our time - the calculation of the orbits of artificial celestial bodies.

Astronomy and its methods are of great importance in the life of modern society. Issues related to measuring time and providing humanity with knowledge of exact time are now being resolved by special laboratories - time services, organized, as a rule, at astronomical institutions.

Astronomical orientation methods, along with others, are still widely used in navigation and aviation, and in recent years - in astronautics. The calculation and compilation of the calendar, which is widely used in the national economy, is also based on astronomical knowledge.

Figure 2 – Gnomon - the oldest goniometer tool

Drawing up geographical and topographic maps, pre-calculating the onset of sea tides, determining the force of gravity at various points on the earth's surface in order to detect mineral deposits - all this is based on astronomical methods.

Studies of processes occurring on various celestial bodies allow astronomers to study matter in states that have not yet been achieved in earthly laboratory conditions. Therefore, astronomy, and in particular astrophysics, which is closely related to physics, chemistry, and mathematics, contributes to the development of the latter, and they, as we know, are the basis of all modern technology. Suffice it to say that the question of the role of intra-atomic energy was first raised by astrophysicists, and the greatest achievement of modern technology - the creation of artificial celestial bodies (satellites, space stations and ships) would generally be unthinkable without astronomical knowledge.

Astronomy is of exceptionally great importance in the fight against idealism, religion, mysticism and clericalism. Its role in the formation of a correct dialectical-materialistic worldview is enormous, for it is it that determines the position of the Earth, and with it man, in the world around us, in the Universe. Observations of celestial phenomena themselves do not give us grounds to directly discover their true causes. In the absence of scientific knowledge, this leads to their incorrect explanation, to superstition, mysticism, and to the deification of the phenomena themselves and individual celestial bodies. For example, in ancient times the Sun, Moon and planets were considered deities and were worshiped. The basis of all religions and the entire worldview was the idea of ​​​​the central position of the Earth and its immobility. Many people’s superstitions were associated (and even now not everyone has freed themselves from them) with solar and lunar eclipses, with the appearance of comets, with the appearance of meteors and fireballs, the fall of meteorites, etc. So, for example, comets were considered the harbingers of various disasters befalling humanity on Earth (fires, disease epidemics, wars), meteors were mistaken for the souls of dead people flying into the sky, etc.

Astronomy, by studying celestial phenomena, exploring the nature, structure and development of celestial bodies, proves the materiality of the Universe, its natural, regular development in time and space without the intervention of any supernatural forces.

The history of astronomy shows that it has been and remains the arena of a fierce struggle between materialistic and idealistic worldviews. Currently, many simple questions and phenomena no longer determine or cause a struggle between these two basic worldviews. Now the struggle between materialistic and idealistic philosophies is taking place in the area of ​​more complex issues, more complex problems. It concerns the basic views on the structure of matter and the Universe, on the emergence, development and further fate of both individual parts and the entire Universe as a whole.

The twentieth century for astronomy means more than just another hundred years. It was in the 20th century that they learned the physical nature of stars and unraveled the mystery of their birth, studied the world of galaxies and almost completely restored the history of the Universe, visited neighboring planets and discovered other planetary systems.

Having been able at the beginning of the century to measure distances only to the nearest stars, at the end of the century astronomers “reached” almost to the boundaries of the Universe. But until now, measuring distances remains a sore problem in astronomy. It is not enough to “reach out”; it is necessary to accurately determine the distance to the most distant objects; only in this way will we know their true characteristics, physical nature and history.

Advances in astronomy in the 20th century. were closely connected with the revolution in physics. Astronomical data was used to create and test the theory of relativity and the quantum theory of the atom. On the other hand, progress in physics has enriched astronomy with new methods and possibilities.

It is no secret that the rapid growth in the number of scientists in the 20th century. was caused by the needs of technology, mainly military. But astronomy is not as necessary for the development of technology as physics, chemistry, and geology. Therefore, even now, at the end of the 20th century, there are not so many professional astronomers in the world - only about 10 thousand. Not bound by conditions of secrecy, astronomers at the beginning of the century, in 1909, united into the International Astronomical Union (MAC), which coordinates the joint study of a common starry sky for all. Collaboration between astronomers from different countries has especially intensified in the last decade thanks to computer networks.

Figure 3 – Radio telescopes

Now in the 21st century, astronomy faces many tasks, including such complex ones as studying the most general properties of the Universe; this requires the creation of a more general physical theory capable of describing the state of matter and physical processes. To solve this problem, observational data are required in regions of the Universe located at distances of several billion light years. Modern technical capabilities do not allow detailed exploration of these areas. However, this problem is now the most pressing and is being successfully solved by astronomers in a number of countries.

But it is quite possible that these problems will not be the main focus of the new generation of astronomers. Nowadays, the first timid steps are taken by neutrino and gravitational wave astronomy. Probably, in a couple of decades, they will be the ones who will reveal to us a new face of the Universe.

One feature of astronomy remains unchanged, despite its rapid development. The subject of her interest is the starry sky, accessible for admiring and studying from any place on Earth. The sky is the same for everyone, and everyone can study it if they wish. Even now, amateur astronomers make significant contributions to some areas of observational astronomy. And this brings not only benefits to science, but also enormous, incomparable joy for themselves.

Modern technologies make it possible to simulate space objects and provide data to the average user. There are not many such programs yet, but their number is growing and they are constantly being improved. Here are some programs that will be interesting and useful even to people far from astronomy:

• The RedShift computer planetarium, a product of Maris Technologies Ltd., is widely known in the world. This is the best-selling program in its class, it has already earned more than 20 prestigious international awards. The first version appeared back in 1993. It immediately met with an enthusiastic reception from Western users and gained a leading position in the market for full-featured computer planetariums. In fact, RedShift has transformed the global market for software for astronomy enthusiasts. With the power of modern computers, dull columns of numbers are transformed into virtual reality, which contains a high-precision model of the solar system, millions of deep space objects, and an abundance of reference material.
• Google Earth is a Google project in which satellite photographs of the entire earth's surface were posted on the Internet. Photos of some regions have unprecedented high resolution. Unlike other similar services that display satellite images in a regular browser (for example, Google Maps), this service uses a special client program downloaded to the user's computer Google Earth.
• Google Maps is a set of applications built on the free mapping service and technology provided by Google. The service is a map and satellite images of the whole world (as well as the Moon and Mars).
• Celestia is a free 3D astronomy program. The program, based on the HIPPARCOS Catalog, allows the user to view objects ranging in size from artificial satellites to full galaxies in three dimensions using OpenGL technology. Unlike most other virtual planetariums, the user can freely travel around the Universe. Add-ons to the program allow you to add both real-life objects and objects from fictional universes created by their fans.
• KStars is a virtual planetarium included in the KDE Education Project package of educational programs. KStars shows the night sky from anywhere on the planet. You can observe the starry sky not only in real time, but also what it was or will be by indicating the desired date and time. The program displays 130,000 stars, 8 planets of the solar system, the Sun, the Moon, thousands of asteroids and comets.
• Stellarium is a free virtual planetarium. With Stellarium it is possible to see what can be seen with a medium and even large telescope. The program also provides observations of solar eclipses and the movements of comets.

1. "History of Astronomy". Electronic resource.
   Access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/History of astronomy
2. "Ancient Astronomy and Modern Astronomy". Electronic resource.
   Access mode: http://www.prosvetlenie.org/mystic/7/10.html
3. "The practical and ideological significance of astronomy." Electronic resource.
   Access mode: http://space.rin.ru/articles/html/389.html
4. “The beginnings of astronomy. Gnomon is an astronomical instrument." Electronic resource. Access mode: http://www.astrogalaxy.ru/489.html
5. "Astronomy of the XXI century - Astronomy in the XX century." Electronic resource.
   Access mode: http://astroweb.ru/hist_/stat23.htm
6. "Astronomy" Electronic resource.
   Access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy
7. “Astronomy of the XXI century - Results of the XX and tasks of the XXI century.” Electronic resource.
   Access mode: http://astroweb.ru/hist_/stat29.htm
8. "RedShift Computer Planetarium". Electronic resource.
   Access mode: http://www.bellabs.ru/RS/index.html
9. Google Earth. Electronic resource.
   Access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Planet_Earth
10. Google Maps. Electronic resource.
    Access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps
11. "Celestia" Electronic resource.
    Access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestia
12. KStars. Electronic resource.
    Access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/KStars
13. "Stellarium" Electronic resource.
    Access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellarium

There is probably not a single person on the entire planet who has not thought about the strange flickering dots in the sky that are visible at night. Why does the Moon go around the Earth? Astronomy studies all this and even more. What are planets, stars, comets, when will there be an eclipse and why do tides occur in the ocean - science answers these and many other questions. Let's understand its formation and significance for humanity.

Definition and structure of science

Astronomy is the science of the structure and origin of various cosmic bodies, celestial mechanics and the development of the universe. Its name comes from two ancient Greek words, the first of which means “star”, and the second - “establishment, custom”.

Astrophysics studies the composition and properties of celestial bodies. Its subsection is stellar astronomy.

Celestial mechanics answers questions about the motion and interaction of space objects.

Cosmogony deals with the origin and evolution of the universe.

Thus, today ordinary earth sciences, with the help of modern technology, can extend the field of research far beyond the boundaries of our planet.

Subject and tasks

In space, it turns out, there are a lot of different bodies and objects. All of them are studied and constitute, in fact, the subject of astronomy. Galaxies and stars, planets and meteors, comets and antimatter - all this is only a hundredth part of the questions that this discipline poses.

Recently, an amazing practical opportunity has arisen. Since then, astronautics (or astronautics) has proudly stood shoulder to shoulder with academic researchers.

Humanity has dreamed of this for a long time. The first known story is Somnium, written in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. And only in the twentieth century were people able to look at our planet from the outside and visit the Earth’s satellite - the Moon.

Topics in astronomy are not limited to just these problems. Next we will talk in more detail.

What techniques are used to solve problems? The first and most ancient of them is observation. The following features have only recently become available. This is photography, the launch of space stations and artificial satellites.

Questions concerning the origin and evolution of the universe and individual objects cannot yet be sufficiently studied. Firstly, there is not enough accumulated material, and secondly, many bodies are too far away for accurate study.

Types of observations

At first, humanity could only boast of ordinary visual observation of the sky. But even this primitive method gave simply amazing results, which we will talk about a little later.

Astronomy and space are more connected today than ever. Objects are studied using the latest technology, which allows the development of many branches of this discipline. Let's get to know them.

Optical method. The oldest version of observation using the naked eye, with the participation of binoculars, telescopes, and telescopes. This also includes the recently invented photography.

The next section concerns the registration of infrared radiation in space. It is used to record invisible objects (for example, hidden behind gas clouds) or the composition of celestial bodies.

The importance of astronomy cannot be overestimated, because it answers one of the eternal questions: where did we come from?

The following techniques explore the universe for gamma rays, x-rays, and ultraviolet radiation.

There are also techniques that do not involve electromagnetic radiation. In particular, one of them is based on the theory of the neutrino nucleus. The gravitational wave industry studies space on the propagation of these two actions.
Thus, the types of observations known at the present time have significantly expanded mankind’s capabilities in space exploration.

Let's look at the process of formation of this science.

The origin and first stages of the development of science

In ancient times, during the primitive communal system, people were just beginning to get acquainted with the world and identify phenomena. They tried to understand the change of day and night, the seasons of the year, the behavior of incomprehensible things such as thunder, lightning, and comets. What the Sun and Moon are also remained a mystery, so they were considered deities.
However, despite this, already in the heyday of the Sumerian kingdom, the priests in the ziggurats made quite complex calculations. They divided the visible luminaries into constellations, identified the “zodiacal belt” known today in them, and developed a lunar calendar consisting of thirteen months. They also discovered the “Metonian cycle”, although the Chinese did this a little earlier.

The Egyptians continued and deepened their study of celestial bodies. They have an absolutely amazing situation. The Nile River floods at the beginning of summer, just at this time it begins to appear on the horizon, which hid in the winter months in the sky of the other hemisphere.

In Egypt, they first began to divide the day into 24 hours. But at the beginning their week was ten days, that is, the month consisted of three decades.

However, ancient astronomy received its greatest development in China. Here they managed to almost accurately calculate the length of the year, could predict solar and lunar eclipses, and kept records of comets, sunspots and other unusual phenomena. At the end of the second millennium BC, the first observatories appeared.

Antiquity period

The history of astronomy in our understanding is impossible without Greek constellations and terms in celestial mechanics. Although at first the Hellenes were very mistaken, over time they were able to make fairly accurate observations. The mistake, for example, was that they considered Venus, appearing in the morning and evening, to be two different objects.

The first to pay special attention to this area of ​​knowledge were the Pythagoreans. They knew that the Earth is spherical in shape, and day and night alternate because it rotates around its axis.

Aristotle was able to calculate the circumference of our planet, although he was mistaken by a factor of two, but even such accuracy was high for that time. Hipparchus was able to calculate the length of the year and introduced geographical concepts such as latitude and longitude. Compiled tables of solar and lunar eclipses. From them it was possible to predict these phenomena with an accuracy of two hours. Our meteorologists should learn from him!

The last luminary of the ancient world was Claudius Ptolemy. The history of astronomy has preserved the name of this scientist forever. A most brilliant mistake that determined the development of mankind for a long time. He proved the hypothesis according to which the Earth is in and all celestial bodies revolve around it. Thanks to militant Christianity, which replaced the Roman world, many sciences were abandoned, such as astronomy too. No one was interested in what it was or what the circumference of the Earth was; they argued more about how many angels would fit into the eye of a needle. Therefore, the geocentric scheme of the world became the measure of truth for many centuries.

Indian astronomy

The Incas viewed the sky a little differently than other peoples. If we turn to the term, astronomy is the science of the movement and properties of celestial bodies. The Indians of this tribe first of all singled out and especially revered the “Great Heavenly River” - the Milky Way. On Earth, its continuation was Vilcanota, the main river near the city of Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire. It was believed that the Sun, having set in the west, sank to the bottom of this river and moved along it to the eastern part of the sky.

It is reliably known that the Incas identified the following planets - the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus, and without telescopes they made observations that only Galileo could repeat with the help of optics.

Their observatory was twelve pillars, which were located on a hillock near the capital. With their help, the position of the Sun in the sky was determined and the change of seasons and months was recorded.

The Mayans, unlike the Incas, developed knowledge very deeply. The bulk of what astronomy studies today was known to them. They made a very precise calculation of the length of the year, dividing the month into two weeks of thirteen days. The beginning of the chronology was considered to be 3113 BC.

Thus, we see that in the Ancient World and among the “barbarian” tribes, as “civilized” Europeans considered them, the study of astronomy was at a very high level. Let's see what Europe could boast of after the fall of the ancient states.

Middle Ages

Thanks to the zeal of the Inquisition in the late Middle Ages and the weak development of the tribes in the early stages of this period, many sciences took a step back. If in the era of antiquity people knew that astronomy was studied, and many were interested in such information, then in the Middle Ages theology became more developed. Talking about the Earth being round and the Sun being in the center could get you burned at the stake. Such words were considered blasphemy, and people were called heretics.

The revival, oddly enough, came from the east through the Pyrenees. The Arabs brought to Catalonia knowledge preserved by their ancestors since the time of Alexander the Great.

In the fifteenth century, the Cardinal of Cusa expressed the opinion that the universe is infinite, and Ptolemy was mistaken. Such sayings were blasphemous, but very much ahead of their time. Therefore, they were considered nonsense.

But the revolution was made by Copernicus, who, before his death, decided to publish the research of his entire life. He proved that the Sun is in the center, and the Earth and other planets revolve around it.

Planets

These are celestial bodies that orbit in space. They got their name from the ancient Greek word for “wanderer.” Why is that? Because to ancient people they seemed like traveling stars. The rest stand in their usual places, but they move every day.

How are they different from other objects in the universe? Firstly, the planets are quite small. Their size allows them to clear their path of planetesimals and other debris, but it is not enough to start out like a star.

Secondly, due to their mass, they acquire a rounded shape, and due to certain processes they form a dense surface. Third, planets usually orbit in a specific system around a star or its remains.

Ancient people considered these celestial bodies to be “messengers” of the gods or semi-divines, of a lower rank than, for example, the Moon or the Sun.

And only Galileo Galilei, for the first time, with the help of observations in the first telescopes, was able to conclude that in our system all bodies move in orbits around the Sun. For which he suffered from the Inquisition, which silenced him. But the matter was continued.

By the definition accepted by most today, only bodies with sufficient mass that orbit a star are considered planets. The rest is satellites, asteroids, etc. From the point of view of science, there are no loners in these ranks.

So, the time during which a planet makes a full circle in its orbit around a star is called a planetary year. The closest place on its path to the star is periastron, and the farthest is apoaster.

The second thing that is important to know about planets is that their axis is tilted relative to their orbit. Due to this, when the hemispheres rotate, they receive different amounts of light and radiation from the stars. This is how the seasons and time of day change, and climatic zones have also formed on Earth.

It is important that the planets, in addition to their path around the star (per year), also rotate around their axis. In this case, the complete circle is called a “day”.
And the last feature of such a celestial body is its clean orbit. For normal functioning, the planet must, along the way, collide with various smaller objects, destroy all “competitors” and travel in splendid isolation.

There are different planets in our solar system. Astronomy has eight of them in total. The first four belong to the “terrestrial group” - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars. The rest are divided into gas (Jupiter, Saturn) and ice (Uranus, Neptune) giants.

Stars

We see them every night in the sky. A black field dotted with shiny dots. They form groups called constellations. And yet it is not for nothing that an entire science is named in their honor - astronomy. What is a "star"?

Scientists say that with the naked eye, with a sufficiently good level of vision, a person can see three thousand celestial objects in each hemisphere.
They have long attracted humanity with their flickering and “unearthly” meaning of existence. Let's take a closer look.

So, a star is a massive lump of gas, a kind of cloud with a fairly high density. Thermonuclear reactions occur or have previously occurred inside it. The mass of such objects allows them to form systems around themselves.

When studying these cosmic bodies, scientists identified several classification methods. You've probably heard about "red dwarfs", "white giants" and other "residents" of the universe. So, today one of the most universal classifications is the Morgan-Keenan typology.

It involves dividing stars according to their size and emission spectrum. In descending order, the groups are named in the form of letters of the Latin alphabet: O, B, A, F, G, K, M. To help you understand it a little and find a starting point, the Sun, according to this classification, falls into group “G”.

Where do such giants come from? They are formed from the most common gases in the universe - hydrogen and helium, and due to gravitational compression they acquire their final shape and weight.

Our star is the Sun, and the closest one to us is Proxima Centauri. It is located in the system and is located from us at a distance of 270 thousand distances from the Earth to the Sun. And this is about 39 trillion kilometers.

In general, all stars are measured in accordance with the Sun (their mass, size, brightness in the spectrum). The distance to such objects is calculated in light years or parsecs. The latter is approximately 3.26 light years, or 30.85 trillion kilometers.

Astronomy enthusiasts should undoubtedly know and understand these numbers.
Stars, like everything else in our world, the universe, are born, develop and die, in their case, explode. According to the Harvard scale, they are divided along a spectrum from blue (young) to red (old). Our Sun is yellow, that is, “mature.”

There are also brown and white dwarfs, red giants, variable stars and many other subtypes. They differ in the level of content of different metals. After all, it is the combustion of various substances due to thermonuclear reactions that makes it possible to measure the spectrum of their radiation.

There are also names "nova", "supernova" and "hypernova". These concepts are not entirely reflected in terms. Stars are just old, mostly ending their existence with an explosion. And these words only mean that they were noticed only during the collapse; before that, they were not recorded at all even in the best telescopes.

When looking at the sky from Earth, clusters are clearly visible. Ancient people gave them names, composed legends about them, and placed their gods and heroes there. Today we know such names as Pleiades, Cassiopeia, Pegasus, which came to us from the ancient Greeks.

However, today scientists stand out. To put it simply, imagine that we see in the sky not one Sun, but two, three or even more. Thus, there are double, triple stars and clusters (where there are more stars).

Interesting facts

Due to various reasons, for example, distance from the star, a planet can “go” into outer space. In astronomy, this phenomenon is called an “orphan planet.” Although most scientists still insist that these are protostars.

An interesting feature of the starry sky is that it is not actually the same as we see it. Many objects exploded long ago and ceased to exist, but were so far away that we still see the light from the flash.

Recently, there has been a widespread fashion for searching for meteorites. How to determine what is in front of you: a stone or a celestial alien. Interesting astronomy answers this question.

First of all, a meteorite is denser and heavier than most materials of terrestrial origin. Due to its iron content, it has magnetic properties. Also, the surface of the celestial object will be melted, since during its fall it suffered a severe temperature load due to friction with the Earth’s atmosphere.

We examined the main points of such a science as astronomy. What are stars and planets, the history of the formation of the discipline and some fun facts you learned from the article.

The Department of Astronomy at St. Petersburg University is one of the oldest in Russia. It was established in January 1819. The first head of the department was Academician V.K. Vishnevsky, after him it was occupied by Academician A.N. Savich for more than 40 years. In 1881, through the efforts of Professor S.P. Glazenap, the Astronomical Observatory was founded at the University, which in 1992 was transformed into the Astronomical Institute.

Over the years, outstanding scientists studied, worked and taught at the Astronomical Department - V.A. Ambartsumyan, V.V. Sobolev, V.A. Dombrovsky, V.V. Sharonov, K.F. Ogorodnikov, M.F. Subbotin and other. The department is particularly proud of the fact that two of its graduates - academicians V.A. Ambartsumyan and A.A. Boyarchuk - headed the International Astronomical Union for a number of years.

Currently, the Astronomical Department of the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of St. Petersburg University consists of the Astronomical Institute and three departments: astronomy, celestial mechanics, and astrophysics. The Institute includes laboratories of theoretical astrophysics, observational astrophysics, active galactic nuclei, astrometry, celestial mechanics and stellar astronomy, radio astronomy and solar physics. About 80 scientists work at the institute and departments, including 21 doctors and 43 candidates of science.

The department's scientific and educational laboratories are equipped with modern equipment. The Special Astronomy Library, numbering about 20,000 items, receives many Russian scientific periodicals and major astronomical journals from abroad. All resources are used by both employees and graduate students and students of the Astronomical Department.

University astronomers conduct observations on many telescopes in Russia, near and far abroad: on a 6-meter optical telescope and on a 600-meter radio telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, on telescopes at the Pulkovo and Crimean Observatories, as well as on large telescopes in France, Germany, Italy and even in the Hawaiian Islands. Collaboration with the world's leading astronomical institutions has become an integral part of the life of university astronomers.

Astronomical research

Modern astronomy studies a wide variety of objects - from the neighboring Moon and artificial celestial bodies to quasars located at the “edge” of the Universe. These are stars, large and small planets, their satellites, galaxies and quasars, dust and gas clouds, radiation, gravitational and magnetic fields, as well as cosmic rays. The Universe is a unique physical laboratory that makes it possible to study matter in all states, including those inaccessible to research using the methods of “terrestrial” physics.

Many areas of astronomical research are represented at St. Petersburg University. Let's list the most important ones:

• fractal structure of the Universe
• galaxies with active nuclei
• hidden mass in galaxies
• spiral structure of our Galaxy
• kinematics of stars
• interaction of radiation and matter in various space objects
• synthesis of chemical elements in stars
• stars with protoplanetary systems
• solar radio emission
• dynamics of interplanetary matter
• evolution of orbits in planetary and satellite systems
• mathematical methods for processing astronomical observations
• calculation of telescope design and optics

As a rule, scientific research is carried out in close cooperation with employees of institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences: Main (Pulkovo) Astronomical Observatory, Special Astrophysical Observatory, etc., as well as foreign institutes and observatories.

Every year, University astronomers publish 1-2 books and about 90 articles, half of them in international scientific journals. The achievements of the University’s astronomers are marked by prestigious awards, a large number of personal and collective grants, and numerous invitations to Russian and international scientific conferences. The names of our scientists are on maps of the Moon and Mars. In honor of the astronomical observatory of Leningrad University, the asteroid Aoluta is named, 9 others are named after outstanding astronomers of the University.

Astronomy training

According to the university tradition, leading scientists deliver lectures and work with graduate and undergraduate students. The student learning process can be divided into two stages:

• at the first stage, basic mathematical, physical and astronomical disciplines are studied, as well as programming,
• in the second, the focus is on training in one of eight specializations (astrometry, celestial mechanics, stellar astronomy, theoretical astrophysics, observational astrophysics, radio astronomy, solar physics, physics of planetary systems).

The total duration of study at the Astronomical Department of St. Petersburg University is 6 years.

After choosing a specialization, senior students listen to lectures and participate in seminars in various areas of modern astronomy, for example: space astrometry, dynamics of stellar systems, physics and evolution of stars, physics of galaxies and galaxy clusters, radio astronomical studies of the Sun, relativistic and stochastic celestial mechanics, etc.

A special place in the training of students is occupied by astronomical observational practices, some of which take place at the largest observatories and institutes in our country, near and far abroad. Much attention in the learning process is paid to the active development of computer technologies. This is facilitated by the high level of equipment of the Astronomical Institute with both modern computing facilities and the latest computer programs for processing astronomical observations and modeling space objects.

Undergraduate and graduate students of the Astronomy Department are directly involved in scientific research under the guidance of senior colleagues. This is extremely important for the formation of highly qualified specialists capable of conducting scientific work at the world level.

The Astronomical Department of St. Petersburg State University provides fundamental education that can be applied in a wide variety of areas of human activity. Graduates of the astronomy department work in astronomical institutions of St. Petersburg - the Main (Pulkovo) Astronomical Observatory, the Institute of Applied Astronomy, the Astronomical Institute of St. Petersburg University, as well as in institutes and observatories in Russia and the CIS countries. A considerable number of graduates undergo internships and work abroad: in Germany, the USA, France, Sweden, Finland, Poland and other countries. In addition to scientific activities, graduates of the department find themselves as teachers of elite schools and universities, programmers, and specialists in the field of computer and network technologies. After graduation, students can enter graduate school to continue scientific work and defend a dissertation.

The future generation will consider the 80-90s of the last century as the period that determined the development of astronomy in the 21st century. This is indeed so, because it was in those years that scientific results were obtained, the significance of which is difficult to find analogues in the history of astronomy of the 20th century. That period is also significant in that astronomers began to seriously raise the question of the future of our Earth, not only in epistemological terms, but also to ensure the safety of all humanity. Unfortunately, the range of opinions, especially in the mass press, regarding the possible danger is very wide - from outright panic to complete ignorance of the problem. Therefore, we will try to give a brief summary of the actual state of affairs.

GENERAL VIEWS ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH AND THE SUN

Astronomers have not yet developed a final opinion about the detailed processes of formation of the Solar System, since no single hypothesis can explain many of its features. But what almost all astronomers are unanimous about is that a star and its planetary system are formed from a single cloud of gas and dust, and this process can be explained by the known laws of physics. It is assumed that this cloud had a rotation. In the center of such a cloud, 4.7 billion years ago, a condensation formed, which, due to the law of universal gravitation, began to compress and attract surrounding particles. When this condensation reaches a certain mass, high temperatures and pressures are created in the center, which leads to the release of enormous energy due to thermonuclear reactions of the transformation of four protons into a helium atom 4H+ He. At this moment, the object enters a crucial stage of its life - the stage of a star.

The rotation of the cloud leads to the appearance of a rotating disk around the star. In those regions where the average distance between the particles of the disk is small, they collide, which causes the formation of so-called planetesimals approximately 1 km in size, and then planets around the star. The formation of the Earth took about 50 million years. Part of the non-condensed matter of the disk (solid and ice particles) could fall onto the surface of the planets during movement. For the Earth, this process lasted approximately 700 thousand years. As a result, the mass of the Earth constantly increased and, most importantly, was replenished with water and organic compounds. About 2 billion years ago, primitive plants began to appear, and 1 billion years later, the current nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere was formed. About 200 million years ago, the simplest mammals appeared, 4 million years ago, Australopithecus rose to its feet, and 35 thousand years ago, the direct ancestor of Homo sapiens appeared.

For us, the main thing is the following: can the described scheme be refuted or confirmed by observations, if we check, in particular, its following consequences:
a) protoplanetary disks should be discovered near young stars;
b) near stars that are at a later stage of development, it is necessary to detect planetary systems;
c) since not all the matter of the protoplanetary disk condenses into large bodies, especially at the periphery of the disk, then remnants of such matter must exist in the Solar System.
If this article had been written 30 years ago, it would have been difficult for the author to find such evidence, since the telescopes and receiving equipment that existed at that time could not register the objects mentioned above due to their weak brightness. And only in the last decade, thanks to the use of space telescopes and increased accuracy of astronomical measurements, most of the theory’s predictions have been fully confirmed.

Protoplanetary disks. Since such disks contain dust, an infrared excess of color should be observed in the radiation from the disk and star. Such excesses have been found in several stars, in particular in the bright northern hemisphere star Vega. For some stars, the Space Telescope named after. E. Hubble obtained images of such disks, for example, of many stars in the Orion Nebula. The number of disks being discovered near stars is constantly growing.

Planets around stars. To observe planets near stars using traditional methods, it is necessary to create telescopes with very large diameters - on the order of hundreds of meters. The creation of such telescopes is a completely hopeless endeavor, both from a technical and financial point of view. Therefore, astronomers found a way out of the situation by developing indirect methods for detecting planets. It is known that two gravitationally bound bodies (a star and a planet) rotate around a common center of gravity. Such a motion of a star can only be established on the basis of extremely precise observational methods. Such methods based on modern technology have been developed in recent years, and to get acquainted with them we refer the reader to the article by A.M. Cherepashchuk.

About 700 stars were immediately observed using these methods. The result exceeded our best expectations. By the end of January 2001, 63 planets had been discovered around 50 stars. Basic information about the planets can be found in the article.

Discovery of transplutonian comets. In 1993, objects 1992QB and 1993FW were discovered, located outside the orbit of Pluto. This discovery could have big implications, as it confirmed the existence on the far periphery of our solar system at a distance of more than 50 AU. the so-called Kuiper belt and then the Oort cloud, where hundreds of millions of comets are concentrated, preserved for 4.5 billion years and being the remnants of the matter that could not condense into planets.

ASTRONOMICAL PAST OF THE EARTH

After its formation, the Earth went through a long path of development. It was found that the natural course of its development was disrupted due to certain geological, climatic or biological reasons, leading to the disappearance of vegetation and wildlife. The causes of most of these crises are explained by scientists as both oceanic phenomena (a decrease in the salinity of the oceans, a change in the chemical composition towards an increase in toxic elements in ocean waters, etc.) and terrestrial phenomena (the greenhouse effect, volcanic activity, etc.). In the 50s of the 20th century, attempts were made to explain some crises by astronomical factors - on the basis of many astronomical phenomena recorded by observers and described in historical documents. It should be noted that over a period of 2000 years (from 200 BC to 1800 AD), 1124 important astronomical facts were recorded in various sources, some of which can be associated with crisis phenomena.

It is now believed that the crisis that took place 65 million years ago, when reef corals disappeared and dinosaurs became extinct, was caused by the collision of a large celestial body (asteroid) with the Earth. For a long time, astronomers and geologists searched for confirmation of this phenomenon until they discovered a large crater on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico with a diameter of 300 km. Calculations have shown that to create such a crater, an explosion equivalent to 50 million tons of TNT (or 2500 atomic bombs that fell on Hiroshima; an explosion of 1 ton of TNT corresponds to the release of energy of 4 "1016 erg) was necessary. Such energy could be released during a collision with an asteroid measuring 10 km and having a speed of 15 km/s. This explosion raised dust into the atmosphere, which completely eclipsed the Sun, which led to a decrease in the temperature of the Earth with the subsequent extinction of living things. Estimation of the age of this crater led to a figure of 65 million years, which coincides with the moment of one of the biotic crises in the development of the Earth.

Then, in 1994, astronomers theoretically predicted and then observed the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy with Jupiter. Have there been similar comet collisions with Earth? According to the American scientist Massa, there have been similar collisions over the past 6 thousand years. Particularly catastrophic was the fall of a comet into the ocean near Antarctica in 2802 BC.

Thus, all of the above leads to the following conclusions:
* astronomers have reliable confirmation of existing ideas about the past development of the Solar system;
* this allows us to judge quite definitely the future of the solar system. In particular, some of the described phenomena raise a serious question: does Space pose a danger to the future of our Earth?

ASTRONOMICAL FUTURE OF THE EARTH

From the above it is clear that the greatest troubles for humanity can be caused by moving small celestial bodies. Let's consider how great the chance of a collision is.

Asteroids (or minor planets). The main characteristics of these objects are as follows: masses 1 g-1023 g, dimensions 1 cm-1000 km, average speeds when approaching the Earth 10 km/s, kinetic energy of objects 5 "109-5" 1030 erg.

Astronomers have found that in the Solar System the number of asteroids with a diameter greater than 1 km is about 30 thousand, and there are significantly more smaller asteroids - about hundreds of millions. Most asteroids rotate in orbits located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, forming the so-called asteroid belt. These asteroids, naturally, do not pose a risk of collision with the Earth.

But several thousand asteroids with a diameter of more than 1 km have orbits that intersect the Earth’s orbit (Fig. 2). Astronomers explain the appearance of such asteroids by the formation of instability zones in the asteroid belt. Let's give some examples.

The asteroid Icarus in 1968 approached the Earth at a distance of 6.36 million km. If Icarus collided with the Earth, there would be an explosion equivalent to the explosion of 100 Mt of TNT, or the explosion of several atomic bombs. Another asteroid, 1991BA, with a diameter of 9 m, passed on January 17, 1991 at a distance of only 170 thousand km from Earth. It is easy to calculate that the time difference between the Earth and the asteroid passing the intersection point is only 1.5 hours. On December 9, 1994, asteroid 1994XM1 flew over Russian territory at a distance of only 105 thousand km.

There are also examples of asteroids falling onto the Earth's surface. There is some belief that in 1908, an asteroid with a diameter of 90 m collided in Siberia with a subsequent explosion equivalent to an explosion of approximately 20 Mt of TNT. If this body had fallen three hours later, it would have destroyed Moscow.

Using data on impact craters on the surface of the Earth, planets and their satellites, astronomers came to the following estimates:
* collisions with large asteroids, which can lead to global catastrophes in the development of the Earth, occur approximately once every 500 thousand years;
* collisions with small asteroids occur more often (every 300 years), but the consequences of collisions are only local.

Based on the orbits of already studied asteroids, astronomers have compiled a list of potentially dangerous known asteroids whose orbits will pass at a critical distance from Earth until the end of the 21st century. This list contains about 300 objects whose orbits intersect the Earth's orbit. The closest passage at a distance of 880 thousand km is expected for the asteroid Hathor in October 2086.

In general, astronomers believe that the number of dangerous and as yet undiscovered dangerous asteroids is approximately 2,500. It is these mysterious wanderers who will constitute the main danger to the future of the Earth.

Comets. Their typical characteristics are as follows: masses 1014-1019 g, core dimensions 10 km, tail dimensions 10 million km, movement speed 10 km/s, kinetic energy 1023-1028 erg.

Comets differ from asteroids in their structure: while asteroids are solid blocks, comet nuclei are accumulations of “dirty ice.” In addition, comets, unlike asteroids, have extended gas tails. But the passage of the Earth through such tails does not pose any danger due to their low density. For example, when the Earth passed through the tail of Comet Halley on May 18, 1910, no anomalies were noticed on the Earth's surface.

But the problem of the danger of a collision with the comet's nucleus became very relevant after 1994 in connection with the fall of various parts of the Shoemaker-Levy comet onto the surface of Jupiter. The resulting explosions were estimated to be equivalent to the explosion of 60,000 Mt of TNT, which is equal to the explosion of several million atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima.

Astronomers estimate that comets pass between the Earth and the Moon every 100 years, and some fall to Earth about once every 100 thousand years. It has also been estimated that over the course of an average human life, the probability of being struck by a comet is 1/10,000.

Astronomers' studies have shown that over the past 2400 years there have been 20 close (less than 15 million km) passages of 18 comets. The closest pass at a distance of 2.3 million km was that of Comet Lexel in July 1770. It is estimated that three studied comets will have close passages in the next 30 years. But, fortunately, the minimum distances will not be so dangerous - more than 9 million km.

It should be borne in mind that so far we have been talking about known comets. The discovery of transplutonian comets was mentioned above. These comets can fly into the inner regions of the Solar System, in particular, intersecting the Earth's orbit. It is possible that these not yet discovered comets may pose a danger.

ASTROPHYSICAL HAZARD

But, alas, not only collisions have global consequences for the Earth. Let us briefly note only two possible dangers emanating from deep space.

Future life of the Sun. Astrophysicists can calculate all stages of a star's life. According to calculations, for example, in 7.9 billion years the Sun will turn into a red supergiant, increasing its size by 170 times, while absorbing Mercury. It is not difficult to calculate that in our sky the Sun will look like a red ball occupying half of the celestial sphere. As a result, the temperature on Earth will rise, intense evaporation of the oceans will begin, which will increase the opacity of the atmosphere, which will cause the so-called greenhouse effect: the Earth will become very hot.

Further inflation of the Sun will lead to the fact that the Earth will actually rotate inside the Sun. According to this scenario, the Earth is destined for a not very pleasant fate. The friction between the Earth and the Sun's gas particles will reduce the Earth's orbital speed, causing the Earth to spiral toward the central regions of the Sun. This will lead to the fact that the Sun will heat the Earth to extremely high temperatures, turning it into hot rocks without any signs of the presence of water in the oceans and, of course, life.

Supernova explosions. Other stars that have more mass than the Sun live a little differently. At a certain stage, they can explode, releasing monstrous energy (astronomers call this process a supernova explosion). It was found that there are two reasons for such outbreaks.

At the last stage of a star's life, nuclear reactions stop and it turns into a dense object - a white dwarf (WD). But if there is a neighboring star near the BC, then the matter of this star can flow onto the BC. At the same time, thermonuclear reactions begin again on the surface of the BC, releasing enormous energy. This flare mechanism works for SNI-type supernovae.

Another type of supernova (SNII) is explained by the evolution of a star with a mass greater than ten solar masses. Thermonuclear reactions are accompanied by the conversion of hydrogen into heavier elements. At each stage, energy is released that heats the star. The theory predicts that when iron formation is achieved, the sequence of reactions stops. The inside of the iron core contracts within a second. When the interior of the star reaches nuclear densities, it bounces away from the center, colliding with the still collapsing outer portion of the core. The resulting shock wave destroys the entire star. The energy released in 1 s will be monstrous, equal to the energy emitted by 100 suns in 109 years.

Some astronomers (I.S. Shklovsky and F.N. Krasovsky) believed that such an explosion could have occurred at a star close to the Sun 65 million years ago. According to the scenario described by these authors, the ejected material after the explosion reached the Earth several thousand years later. It contained relativistic particles, which, when entering the Earth's atmosphere, caused an intense flow of secondary cosmic particles, which, upon reaching the Earth's surface, increased radioactivity by 100 times. This would inevitably lead to mutations in living organisms with their subsequent disappearance.

The likelihood of such an explosion having a global impact on the Earth in the future depends, firstly, on how often supernova explosions occur in our Galaxy, and, secondly, on the critical distance r from the star. Based on the observed data, the famous star statistician S. van der Berg came to the conclusion that for every 1 billion years, an average of 150,000 supernova explosions occur in the volume of our Galaxy of 1 kpc3. If we take the critical distance to the star as r = 10 light years, then it is easy to find that in order for one flare to occur in a volume of such a radius, a time of 60 billion years is required. This value is significantly greater than the age of the Earth. Thus, it is unlikely that biotic crises can be explained by the outbreak phenomenon. Such an outbreak is also not very likely in the future. However, it should still be noted that the above considerations are based on average estimates. For example, we note that the star Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion may flare up in several thousand years. Another star, h Car, will erupt in 10,000 years. Fortunately, the distances to them are quite large - 650 and 10,000 light years.

Gamma-ray bursts. About 30 years ago, astronomers, using satellite observations, established that at various points of the celestial sphere there are objects that flare in the gamma range (Fig. 3) with flare durations from fractions of a second to several minutes. Recent estimates of the distances to these objects indicate that they are located far beyond the boundaries of our Galaxy. This means that the radiation energy in the gamma range of these objects is fantastically high - about 1050-1052 erg.

The most common hypothesis about the mechanism of outbreaks, proposed by S.I. Blinnikov et al., is a hypothesis about the merger of two neutron stars - the last stage of the life of a binary system consisting of two massive stars. Calculations by astrophysicists have shown that such a merger releases energy equivalent to the radiation energy of a billion galaxies similar to ours. You can read more about these objects in.

But such pairs of neutron stars can exist not only at a cosmological distance, but also inside our Galaxy. Astrophysicists have calculated that in our Galaxy, one pair merger occurs every 2-3 million years. The presence of three such pairs has now been reliably established. If one of them (PSR B2127+11C) begins to merge, then the consequences for the Earth will be very serious, although in more than 220 million years. First of all, strong gamma radiation will destroy the ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere. But the main thing is that during the flare, energetic cosmic particles are formed, which, upon reaching the Earth's atmosphere, will create secondary cosmic particles. These particles will reach the surface of the Earth and even deeper, turning it into a radioactive cemetery.

All the above facts raise the main question.

WHAT TO DO?

The answer to this question in relation to small bodies of the Solar System should contain two aspects:
astronomical - it is necessary to discover unknown and potentially dangerous objects in advance at the greatest possible distance from the Earth, calculate their exact orbits and predict the moment of possible danger;
technical - decisions must be made and implemented in order to avoid a possible collision.

To solve the astronomical part, a network of telescopes with a diameter of about 2 m is now being created. This will make it possible to detect approximately 90% of dangerous asteroids at a distance of up to 200 million km and 35% of dangerous comets at a distance of up to 500 million km. Since the speed of objects is about 10 km/s, this will allow us to have a reserve time of several months for making a decision.

The accuracy of theoretical calculations of orbits and collision moments is primarily determined by the number of identified positions of dangerous objects in the sky. This problem can be solved using the above network of telescopes. Next, when calculating orbits, it is necessary to carefully take into account disturbances in the movement of celestial bodies caused by the influence of all the planets of the Solar System. This problem has already been solved by astronomers with high accuracy.

The most difficult thing to take into account is the non-gravitational forces that affect the movement of objects. These forces are due to many reasons. Asteroids and comets move in the material environment (interplanetary plasma, electromagnetic field), while experiencing resistance. They are also influenced by light pressure forces from the Sun. As a result, bodies can deviate from a purely Keplerian orbit, that is, calculated taking into account only the gravitational interaction of the body with the Sun (and planets).

The technical aspect of the problem is more complex, and there are essentially three options. One involves the destruction of a dangerous object by sending a missile with a nuclear bomb at it. Calculations have shown that to destroy an asteroid with a diameter of 1 km, an explosion of 4 "1019 erg is required. But this project can bring unpredictable environmental consequences associated with the clogging of space with nuclear waste.

There is an option to try to deviate the movement of an object from its natural orbit by imparting an additional impulse to it, say, by landing a rocket with a powerful power plant on its surface. Today, both such projects are still difficult to implement: for this it is necessary to have rockets with larger masses and higher speeds than are currently available. But in principle, this is not at all a lost cause for 21st century technology.

The third option is based on the use of non-gravitational effects in the movement of celestial bodies. For example, comet nuclei can be deflected from their original orbit using the sublimation method, the essence of which is as follows. The comet's orbit is to some extent determined by the forces of light pressure from the Sun, which causes the formation of a tail. If you destroy or weaken the dust surface of the core, then
the enhanced outflow of matter from the nucleus can give the comet momentum in the desired direction.

Although astrophysical danger awaits the Earth in the distant future, there are already quite interesting ideas to avoid it. Some of them even seem fantastic. One option proposes creating a shield around the Earth using material from asteroids or the Moon. For example, the mass of the asteroid Ceres is quite sufficient to create a disk near the Earth 1 km thick. It may well shield particle flows and radiation from supernovae and gamma-ray bursts.

In conclusion, we note that there is no basis for apocalyptic fatalism. Humanity has already reached a sufficiently high level of science and technology to predict the danger. Moreover, it is already on the verge of creating an effective defense system. One can only hope that humanity, realizing the impending danger, will make efforts to further develop science and the necessary technology instead of resolving internal conflicts, thoughtlessly spending its intellect and financial resources.

LITERATURE
1. Surdin V.G. The birth of stars. M.: URSS, 1997. 207 p.
2. Cherepashchuk A.M. Planets in the Universe // Soros Educational Journal. 2001. No. 4. P. 76-82.
3. Kippenhan R. 100 billion Suns: The birth, life and death of stars. M.: Mir, 1990. 293 p.
4. Lipunov V.M. “Military secret” of astrophysics // Soros Educational Journal. 1998. No. 5. P. 83-89.
5. Kurt V.G. Experimental methods for studying cosmic gamma-ray bursts // Ibid. 1998. No. 6. pp. 71-76.
6. Near-Earth astronomy (space debris). M.: Kosmosinform, 1998. 277 p.
Reviewer of the article A.M. Cherepashchuk

* * *
Nail Abdullovich Sakhibullin, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Head. Department of Astronomy, Kazan State University, Director of the Astronomical Observatory named after. V.P. Engelhardt. Winner of the RAS Prize. Full member of the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan. Area of ​​scientific interests: astrophysics, physics of stellar atmospheres. Author of 80 scientific publications and one monograph.