An astronomical object, celestial object, stellar object or heavenly body is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists within the observable universe. In astronomy, the terms object and body are often used interchangeably. However, an astronomical body or celestial body is a single, tightly bound, contiguous entity, while an astronomical or celestial object is a complex, less cohesively bound structure, which may consist of multiple bodies or even other objects with substructures. Examples of astronomical objects include planetary systems, star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies, while asteroids, moons, planets, and stars are astronomical bodies. A comet may be identified as both body and object: It is a body when referring to the frozen nucleus of ice and dust, and an object when describing the entire comet with its diffuse coma and tail. Scientific Revolution and Copernican Revolution Astronomical objects such as stars, planets, nebulae, asteroids and comets have been observed for thousands of years, although early cultures thought of these bodies as gods or deities. These early cultures found the movements of the bodies very important as they used these objects to help navigate over long distances, tell between the seasons, and to determine when to plant crops. During the Middle-Ages, cultures began to study the movements of these bodies more closely. Several astronomers of the Middle-East began to make detailed descriptions of stars and nebulae, and would make more accurate calendars based on the movements of these stars and planets. In Europe, astronomers focused more on devices to help study the celestial objects and creating textbooks, guides, and universities to teach people more about astronomy. During the scientific revolution, in 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus's heliocentric model was published. This model described the Earth, along with all of the other planets as being astronomical bodies which orbited around the Sun located in the center of the Solar System.

À propos de ce résultat
Cette page est générée automatiquement et peut contenir des informations qui ne sont pas correctes, complètes, à jour ou pertinentes par rapport à votre recherche. Il en va de même pour toutes les autres pages de ce site. Veillez à vérifier les informations auprès des sources officielles de l'EPFL.
Cours associés (28)
ME-443: Hydroacoustique pour aménagements hydroélectriques
Introduction aux phénomènes propagatifs dans les circuits hydrauliques, calculs de coups de béliers, comportement transitoire d'aménagements hydroélectriques, simulation numériques 1D du comportement
PENS-226: Mission Asclepios: Terrestrial lunar base
This ENAC week provides students the opportunity to conduct an analysis of the interior conditions of an analog lunar base used by Asclepios to conduct simulated space missions, and to learn more abou
PHYS-465: Astrophysics III : galaxy formation and evolution
Galaxy formation & evolution is about studying how galaxies in our Universe come into existence, how they evolve and what shapes their properties. This course describes the observational facts of gala
Afficher plus
Publications associées (86)
MOOCs associés (3)
Introduction à l'Astrophysique
Ce cours décrit les principaux concepts physiques utilisés en astrophysique. Il est proposé à l'EPFL aux étudiants de 2eme année de Bachelor en physique.
Introduction à l'Astrophysique
Ce cours décrit les principaux concepts physiques utilisés en astrophysique. Il est proposé à l'EPFL aux étudiants de 2eme année de Bachelor en physique.
Introduction to Astrophysics
Learn about the physical phenomena at play in astronomical objects and link theoretical predictions to observations.