Download Our place in the cosmos

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European celestial globe
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Clock-driven Chinese celestial globe
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Arabic celestial globe
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Epitome of the Almagest
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Copernicus’s De revolutionibus
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Galileo’s Dialogo
Kepler’s Astronomia nova
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Newton’s Principia
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Ptolemaic armillary sphere
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10 Copernican armillary sphere
11William Herschel’s seven-foot telescop
12 Speculum mirror made by William Herschel
13‘A Compendius View of Our Solar System’
14 Mean motion orrery
15Poster for Messiah conducted by Herschel
16Salary letter from King George III
17 Glass positive of Pluto discovery
18 Pluto bumper sticker
19 Pluto bumper sticker
Front cover Pioneer plaque image: NASA
20 Mars globe
21 Arecibo message illustration
22 ‘Dear ET’ Nature cover
23SuperWASP camera
24 Print of New Discoveries on the Moon
25 Astounding Science Fiction magazine
26 Science fiction paperbacks
27 Early popular science books
28 Moon Machine from A Grand Day Out
29 Model of a Mars Attacks! Martian
30Scale model of Herschel observatory
31COBE FIRAS mirror mechanism
32 Glass positive photograph of 1919 solar eclipse
33 Gravity Probe B gyroscope rotor and housing
34GEO-600 prototype test mass
35LIGO prototype beam splitter
36Dark Energy Survey lens
37 DRIFT I dark-matter detector
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Our place in the cosmos
Our place in the cosmos
The night sky’s mysterious twinkling
lights have intrigued people of all
cultures. Centuries of observations
have expanded our horizons, changing
our ideas about the cosmos and posing
new questions.
Celestial sphere
European celestial globe
1878
This globe features beautiful constellation
figures such as Taurus the Bull and Aries the
Ram. The star patterns are the reverse of what
we see in the night sky, because many celestial
globes depict the sky as if you were outside a
sphere, looking down.
The illustrations are based on the work of
17th-century Venetian map-maker Vincenzo
Coronelli. His globes became a lavish status
symbol for royalty and wealthy noblemen
across Europe.
Source: Purchased Inv. No: 1878-10
Object 1
Sphere of the heavens
Clock-driven Chinese celestial globe
1830
This celestial globe has an internal clockwork
drive so that it turns to represent the motion of
the stars. On the surface you can see the stars
grouped according to Chinese constellations.
The Milky Way is shown by a band of dots, and
five patches represent star clusters.
Object 2
Source: Purchased Inv. No: 1988-1422
Silver stars
Arabic celestial globe
1601–1700
The silver stars on this globe are labelled with
their Arabic names. We still use many Arabic
names to describe the stars today – in the
constellation of Orion the Hunter, the star Rigel
is named after the Arabic word for ‘foot’.
Arabic mathematicians would have used globes
like this one to assist with astronomical
calculations and to refine calendars.
Source: Royal Astronomical Society Inv. No: 1914-597
Object 3
Ptolemy’s great book
Epitome of the Almagest
1496
This book summarises Claudius Ptolemy’s
theories – the basis of astronomy for over a
thousand years. Around AD 150, Ptolemy wrote
a work in Greek outlining known theories of
astronomy. During the Middle Ages this was
lost in Europe, but translated and widely used
by Arabic astronomers who called it al-majisti
(the greatest).
Latin and Greek translations of Arabic works
brought Ptolemy’s ideas back to Europe in the
1400s. This copy of the book shows an early
example of recycling: it is bound in vellum that
was originally used for church music.
Object 4
Source: Science Museum Library (F O.B. PTO)
Copernicus changes the cosmos
De revolutionibus celestium orbium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres)
1543
Nicolaus Copernicus’s book, published shortly
after the author’s death in 1543, offered
scholars a new vision of the cosmos. Making
the Sun rather than the Earth the centre of the
universe offered a solution to many puzzling
observations of the planets, although it would
be many years before the controversial theory
was widely accepted.
This is a first edition of the book, one of only
about 260 that survive.
Source: Science Museum Library (Q O.B. COP)
Object 5
The book that led to Galileo’s trial
Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo (Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems)
1632
In this book Galileo compared the Earth-centred
Ptolemaic and Sun-centred Copernican systems.
He wrote in Italian, rather than the Latin of
scholars, to reach a wider audience.
Galileo clearly favoured the Copernican system,
but he misjudged the reception the book would
receive from the Catholic Church. He was tried
for heresy, forced to recant his ideas, and ended
his life under house imprisonment.
Object 6
Source: Science Museum Library (Q O.B. GAL)
Kepler’s astronomy
Astronomia nova (New Astronomy)
1609
Johannes Kepler’s book, outlining his theories
of planetary motion, made the radical claim that
the planets move in ellipses, not perfect circles.
Kepler’s work provided significant support for
the Copernican theory of a Sun-centred universe.
Kepler’s theories were based on data collected
by astronomer Tycho Brahe. He had to make
thousands of calculations to work out the
peculiarities of Mars’s orbit, describing the
experience as ‘my war with Mars.’
Source: Science Museum Library (F O.B. KEP)
Object 7
Newton’s system of the world
Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica
1687
This book, first published in 1687, is one of
the most important scientific works ever
written. It outlined Isaac Newton’s law of
universal gravitation. This law applied to
everything, from why apples fall to the
ground to why planets orbit the Sun.
Principia provided a successful
mathematical description of how the world
works. It was the backbone of physics for
more than 200 years, until Einstein
published his general theory of relativity.
Object 8
Source: Science Museum Library (Q O.B. NEW)
Earth’s place in space
We have realised that we are not the
centre of the cosmos, just a very small
part of it. But that is just the beginning of
wonder, not the end. Where do we fit in?
And are we alone?
An Earth-centred cosmos
Ptolemaic armillary sphere
1500–99
This model depicts Ptolemy’s Earth-centred
cosmos. The bands illustrate the motion of
the Sun, Moon and stars. Armillary spheres
were used in medieval times to teach priests
how to calculate the hours of prayer at
sunrise and sunset.
Portraits of noblemen often included an
armillary sphere to suggest wisdom and
learning. More recently, novelist Umberto
Eco chose the armillary sphere as a
gruesome murder weapon in his 1983 book
The Name of the Rose.
Source: Purchased Inv. No: 1880-47
Object 9
A Sun-centred cosmos
Copernican armillary sphere
1807–46
With the Sun at the centre, this model
demonstrates Nicolaus Copernicus’s vision of
the cosmos. The central band shows the Sun’s
apparent annual path through the zodiac,
while the crossed bands mark the seasons.
Copernican theory was firmly established by
the time this model was made in the early
1800s. It includes recent discoveries such as
the asteroids Ceres and Vesta. The model may
have been used as a teaching aid or decorative
item for a wealthy customer.
Object 10
Source: Purchased Inv. No: 1982-967/2
The telescope that found a planet
Seven-foot telescope made by William Herschel
c. 1780
This is William Herschel’s own telescope. It may
be the one he used in his back garden in the
spring of 1781 to study what appeared to be a
comet. Repeated observation revealed it was a
new planet – the first such discovery in written
history. Today we call this planet Uranus.
Source: The Herschel Family Archive Inv. No: L2009-4029
Object 11
Reflections of the stars
Speculum mirror made by William Herschel
1770–1820
A mirror like this sits at the bottom of William
Herschel’s telescope. It is made of highly
polished speculum, a mix of copper and tin.
Herschel was obsessed with making perfect
mirrors to accurately gather light from faraway
objects. His sister Caroline described having to
force morsels of food into his mouth while he
continued to polish for hours.
Object 12
Source: Royal Astronomical Society Inv. No: 1971-465/2
The planet ‘Herschell’ on the map
‘Epitome of Astronomy’ or ‘A Compendius View of Our Solar System’
c. 1781–1800
This chart calls the seventh planet
‘Herschell’, after the man who discovered
it in 1781. The name ‘Uranus’ only became
common decades later.
The distance table shows the new planet
twice as far from the Sun as Saturn.
William Herschel had doubled the size of
the known Solar System.
Source: Purchased Inv. No: 1985-1135
Object 13
Our Solar System grows
Mean motion orrery
1813–22
This orrery, or planetary model, shows six
satellites around Uranus, the farthest planet
then known. William Herschel discovered the
innermost two, Titania and Oberon, in 1787.
By 1798 he had reported four additional
satellites. However, no other astronomer
managed to see these and observations in
the 1850s showed Herschel was mistaken.
We now know of almost 30 Uranian satellites.
All are named after characters from
Shakespeare or Pope, following a tradition
started by Herschel’s son John.
Object 14
Source: Mr H D Black Inv. No: 1950-55 pt 2
Music of the heavens
Poster for a concert performance of Handel’s Messiah conducted by William Herschel
1778
Before finding fame as an astronomer,
William Herschel made a living as a
musician. Caroline Herschel sang at this
1778 performance of Handel’s Messiah.
She abandoned a soprano career to assist
her brother in his astronomical research.
Source: The Herschel Family Archive Inv. No: L2009-4030
Object 15
By royal appointment
Salary letter from King George III to William and Caroline Herschel
1800
In 1800, William Herschel was paid £200 in
annual salary as King’s Astronomer. His sister
Caroline was paid £50 to act as his assistant,
making her the first professional female
astronomer.
A note from Herschel’s wife Mary says that the
handwriting is that of King George III himself.
Object 16
Source: The Herschel Family Archive Inv. No: L2009-4031
Finding Pluto
Glass positive of Pluto discovery
1930
From 1930 until 2006, our Solar System had
nine planets. Tiny Pluto was discovered by
Clyde Tombaugh, who was searching for a
predicted ‘Planet X’ that might explain oddities
in the orbits of Neptune and Uranus.
Tombaugh’s photographs show the same patch
of sky a few nights apart. One ‘star’ seems to
have moved, indicating that it is actually a
planet. Astronomers later discounted the idea
of Planet X – Pluto had just been in the right
place at the right time. It was controversially
demoted to ‘dwarf planet’ in 2006.
Source: Science Museum Inv. No: 1930-680
Object 17
The Pluto problem
Pluto bumper stickers
2006
On 24 August 2006 the International
Astronomical Union voted on a new
definition of ‘planet’. The decision demoted
Pluto to ‘dwarf planet’, reducing the number
of planets in our Solar System to eight.
This generated a flurry of worldwide news
coverage about the changing status of our
planetary neighbourhood. Internet ‘Save
Pluto’ campaigns were quick to follow.
These bumper stickers were among the
first products to go on sale.
Objects 18, 19
Source: Purchased Inv. Nos: 2006-213, 2006-214
Big questions
We have learned a lot about the
cosmos, but we still face many puzzles.
What is it all made of? How did it begin?
How does it work? Great international
experiments have begun to probe the
ultimate mysteries.
Life on Mars?
Mars globe
1896–99
This Mars globe shows surface details of the
Red Planet observed and named by Giovanni
Schiaparelli in 1877. Schiaparelli used the
word canali to describe lines that seem to
run between the darker areas.
Some astronomers, particularly Percival
Lowell, believed these to be irrigation
channels and therefore evidence of intelligent
life on Mars. But later studies revealed a
barren planet, although scientists are still
searching for evidence of bacterial life.
Source: Purchased Inv. No: 2001-320
Object 20
Calling ET
Arecibo message illustration
2009
This is a graphical representation of the
message sent in 1974 from the huge Arecibo
radio telescope in Puerto Rico. The message,
composed of binary digits, was the first
deliberate attempt to transmit information
to extraterrestrials. It carries information
on DNA, human beings, the Solar System
and the telescope itself.
The message was beamed towards the M13 star
cluster, but will never reach it – by the time the
signal gets to that part of space, in about 25,000
years from now, the cluster will have moved.
Object 21
Source: Science Museum
Sounds and sights of Earth
‘Dear ET’ Nature cover
This magazine shows the cover of the 12-inch
‘golden record’ carried on board the twin Voyager
spacecraft. Intended as a time capsule for
extraterrestrials, each disc includes pictures and
sounds of the natural world, human languages
and music. The cover carries instructions on how
to play the record and where it has come from.
Launched in 1977, Voyagers 1 and 2 are now
travelling into interstellar space. It will be about
40,000 years before either spacecraft comes
within a light year of a nearby star.
Source: Nature Inv. No: E2009.73.1
Image: NASA
Object 22
Planet hunter
Camera from the Super Wide Angle Search for Planets (SuperWASP)
c. 2001–09
SuperWASP’s twin telescopes are searching
for new planets outside of our Solar System.
This ordinary-looking camera lens from
SuperWASP-North (La Palma) helped the
team find their first two planets in 2004. Each
telescope has eight cameras that monitor
millions of stars simultaneously, looking for
telltale signs of planets orbiting other stars.
In June 2009, SuperWASP’s count was up to
25, the most new planets discovered by any
single project.
Object 23
Source: Queen’s University Belfast/Andor Technology Belfast
Inv. No: L2009-4037
Exclusive: lunar life
Print of New Discoveries on the Moon
c. 1835
This picture of exotic creatures on the Moon
was inspired by the Great Moon Hoax of 1835.
The New York Sun reported that astronomer
John Herschel had turned his powerful new
telescope to the Moon and discovered manbats, bipedal beavers and a sapphire temple.
The bogus articles are thought to have been
written by reporter Richard Adams Locke in
an attempt to boost the paper’s circulation.
Source: Purchased Inv. No: 1995-249
Object 24
Pulp-fiction aliens
Astounding Science Fiction magazine
1950s
Image: Rocket Publishing
Extraterrestrial life has long provided a source
of inspiration for magazines. Astounding Science
Fiction is part of the world’s longest-running
sci-fi magazine series. It started out as
Astounding Stories in 1930 and became
Analog Science Fiction and Fact in the 1960s.
Arthur C Clarke, who became a famous sci-fi
writer and futurist, devoured vast numbers of
such magazines in the early 1930s – they were
brought across the Atlantic as ship ballast!
Arthur C Clarke (right) with Stanley Kubrick.
Object 25
Source: Imperial College Science Fiction Society
Inv. Nos: L2009-4049, L2009-4050
Paperback aliens
Science fiction paperbacks
1912–57
With A Princess of Mars (1912) Edgar Rice
Burroughs adopted a style and subject matter
that influenced the sci-fi authors of the 1950s
and beyond. One such was Ray Bradbury, who
took us back to the Red Planet in 1950 with his
tales of conflict in the Martian Chronicles.
Three years later Arthur C Clarke’s alien
Overlords visited Earth in Childhood’s End. In
1957 astrophysicist Fred Hoyle described a
fictional cosmos when he wrote of The Black
Cloud, a huge intelligent organism that
threatened to block out the Sun.
Source: Imperial College Science Fiction Society
Inv. Nos: L2009-4045, L2009-4046, L2009-4047, L2009-4048
Object 26
Early extraterrestrials
Early popular science books
1687 and 1884
Cyrano de Bergerac’s Comical History of the
States and Empires of the World of the Moon
and Sun is a satirical portrayal of trips
to inhabited planets. Despite the satire,
de Bergerac was keenly interested in
17th-century scientific developments and
believed in a Copernican universe.
Camille Flammarion, one of the foremost
astronomers and popularisers of the 1800s,
argued strongly that extraterrestrial life was
a reality. In Terres du ciel he reviewed the
forms of life to be found on each of the
planets in the Solar System.
Object 27
Source: Science Museum Library (O.B. CYR, 523.2 FLAMMARION)
A cracking good alien?
Moon Machine from A Grand Day Out
Mid 1980s
This little being is the actual Moon Machine that
appeared in Nick Park’s first Wallace & Gromit
film. The intrepid explorers found it on the Moon.
Like many fictional aliens, it looks and acts very
similar to things on Earth. It appears to be a
cross between a robot and a cooker. It issues
parking tickets, uses a policeman’s truncheon
and dreams of a skiing holiday.
Source: Aardman Animations Inv. No: L2009-4032
Object 28
Take me to your leader
Model of a Mars Attacks! Martian
2006
The Martians in Tim Burton’s 1996 movie
Mars Attacks! are based on the original
Topps collectable card series of the early
1960s. This model was made from a
commercially available construction kit.
From War of the Worlds to Mars Attacks!,
Martians have been portrayed as bent on
destroying humanity. Fortunately for us, they
have been unsuccessful. The Mars Attacks!
invaders were killed off by Slim Whitman’s
country music.
Object 29
Source: Mat Irvine Inv. No: L2009-4039
Herschel in space
Scale model (1:10) of the Herschel infrared space observatory
Original c. 2001–09
Herschel, launched in May 2009, will answer
questions about how stars and galaxies form.
In orbit a million miles from Earth, it studies
the sky at infrared wavelengths, to observe
very cold, faraway objects.
This is a one-tenth-scale model. The real
spacecraft is almost the length of this
showcase and carries the biggest single
mirror ever placed in space.
Source: European Space Agency Inv. No: L2009-4042
Object 30
Studying the Big Bang’s echo
Mirror mechanism of COBE spacecraft’s FIRAS instrument (engineering prototype)
1980s
Big Bang theory is scientists’ favoured
explanation for how the universe developed. It
states that space expanded from an initial very
hot and dense state. Predicted remnant radiation
from the early universe was detected in 1964.
In 1990 the FIRAS instrument on board NASA’s
COBE spacecraft measured the spectrum of this
radiation. Its moving mirrors created interference
patterns in a radiation beam, enabling the precise
spectrum to be reconstructed.
Object 31
Source: On loan from the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
Inv. No: L2009-4043
Proving Einstein’s relativity
Glass positive photograph of total solar eclipse
1919
In May 1919, British physicist Arthur Eddington
organised a test of Einstein’s theory of general
relativity. Two Royal Society teams observed a
solar eclipse from Brazil and the island of
Principe off west Africa.
Photographs appeared to show that the mass of
the Sun had bent light from distant stars, just
as Einstein had predicted. This gravitational
distortion could only be observed during a total
eclipse, when the Sun’s own light was masked.
Source: Royal Observatory, Greenwich Inv. No: 1920-18
Object 32
Testing Einstein
Gravity Probe B gyroscope rotor and housing
1992–95
The Gravity Probe B experiment was designed
to test two predictions of Einstein’s general
theory of relativity: that a massive body such as
the Earth should warp and twist the space-time
around it.
Four spheres like this one – among the most
perfect ever made – were set spinning on a
spacecraft precisely pointed towards a guide
star. Scientists are currently analysing the
mission data to see if the angle of the spheres’
spin was altered by the warp and twist.
Object 33
Source: Stanford University Inv. No: 2005-75
Catching gravity’s waves
Prototype test mass from the GEO-600 gravitational wave detector
2003
This piece of pure sapphire is a prototype test
mass for the British–German GEO-600
experiment. Tiny movements of the
experiment’s test masses would indicate the
presence of a gravitational wave.
These elusive waves are predicted by Einstein’s
general theory of relativity. Caused by violent
cosmic events, such as black holes colliding in
distant galaxies, they stretch and squeeze
space-time.
Source: University of Glasgow, Department of Physics and Astronomy Inv. No: L2009-4036
Object 34
Searching for space-time ripples
Prototype beam splitter for the
Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO)
2008
This is a prototype part for Advanced LIGO,
one of the most sensitive experiments ever
designed. It will split a laser beam down two
paths, several kilometres long. Scientists will
look for changes in the path lengths that might
be caused by a passing gravitational wave.
Gravitational waves are tiny, fleeting warps in
the fabric of space-time, predicted by Einstein’s
general theory of relativity. They are caused by
moving bodies such as colliding stars.
Object 35
Source: Science & Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Inv. No: L2009-4054
Detecting dark energy
Prototype camera lens and holder for the Dark Energy Survey
2008
From 2011 the Dark Energy Survey will try to
solve the biggest mystery of the universe. Its
powerful camera will map 300 million galaxies to
try and find evidence of ‘dark energy’. Scientists
believe this invisible phenomenon makes up 74%
of the cosmos and is speeding up its expansion.
The survey camera will have five huge lenses.
The largest is almost twice the size of this one.
Source: Optical Sciences Lab, University College London Inv. No: L2009-4040
Object 36
Searching for missing matter
DRIFT I dark matter detector
2001
DRIFT I was built by UK and US scientists to
search for ‘dark matter’. This invisible matter,
thought to make up around 23% of the
universe, is known to exist because of its
gravitational effects on ordinary matter in
stars, galaxies and planets.
Scientists think that dark matter is most likely
to be previously unknown particles. DRIFT I
ran between 2001 and 2004, 1.1 kilometres
underground in Yorkshire’s Boulby Mine. It did
not detect dark-matter particles, but its
powerful successors continue the search.
Object 37
Source: University of Sheffield, Occidental College (USA), Temple University (USA) Inv. No: 2009-59