There was something there!!
For centuries, humans have believed that the earth is the center of the universe. According to them, the sun, moon, stars all revolved around the earth. This universe was created for man and man was the most important object of this universe.
Then in the 17th century came Galileo, an Italian astronomer. He destroyed this outdated ideology of centuries. Galileo said that the sun does not revolve around the earth, but that the earth revolves around the sun, and so do the other planets, such as Venus. It was a crime to speak against a theory held for centuries. The palaces became houses of sand. Life was hard on Galileo.
But where does the path of knowledge stop? An idea that takes root is like a stormy relay that sweeps away every obstacle in its way like a rag.
Today, after Galileo, science has progressed so much that we are going into space, exploring the universe. Today, our conception of the universe is not based on outdated or fictitious stories, but on reality.
With advances in astronomy and modern science, our conception of the universe is becoming better and more realistic.
Until the early 20th century we knew a lot about the solar system and the Milky Way, but then in 1924 Edwin Hubble came along. He proved through observations that our galaxy is not the only galaxy in this universe, but there are many other galaxies besides us. Edwin Hubble also stated that the universe is expanding rapidly.
By the end of the 20th century we had sent the Hubble telescope into space, built huge astronomical observatories on Earth. We knew how vast the universe was. There are billions of galaxies and billions more stars. But we were not able to know if there is any planetary system like our solar system around other stars. This idea has been going on in science for centuries, from Newton to many other scientists from time to time had presented the idea that there will be planets around other stars, but there was no proof and how could it happen?
How easy was it to find a minor planet around a star several light years away? The stars give light and are visible, but the planets? They merely reflect the light of the stars, so finding planets light-years away? It didn't seem possible.
Then came the 90s. Two astronomers from Switzerland
were observing binary star systems in the universe. Binary stars are stars that revolve around each other.
And were learning about the rotation speed.
They looked at a Sun-like star called 51 Pegasi, 50 light-years from Earth.
They thought there was something there. There is a slight change in the wavelength of the star's light, which is possible not from a star, but from a large planet orbiting it. This planet could have been the size of Jupiter.
Further observations revealed that this Jupiter-like planet is actually a hot planet and that of its star
Gard completes one cycle in four days.
This planet was named Pegasi 51 b. This discovery opened the way to search for Earth or Earth-like planets around other stars. The Nobel Prize in Physics in 2019 was awarded to these two scientists for this discovery.
Today we have discovered about 5000 planets that orbit other stars in the universe. They are called Exoplanets. In the world of astronomy, finding planets like Earth and signs of life on them is a modern and important topic of science.
It is possible that by the end of this century we will know that there are other planets besides us that have life or other creatures.
It may also destroy our claim to the universe that we are a very important thing in this universe.
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We are alone in the universe
Or is the universe alone in us?
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