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After Galileo, people used telescopes more often and began to see further-away objects such as the planets Uranus and Neptune. They also saw how stars were similar to our Sun, but in a range of colours and sizes and other far away objects such as nebula. |
Since the 20th century astronomy has progressed a lot. It is now possible to use very big telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope to look at stars and galaxies billions of miles away. Astronomers now use giant transmitters to look at things using x rays and radio waves. |
Astronomy Equipment. |
To study astronomy on a basic level you can just use your eyes. Looking at something with just your eyes is called using your naked eye. Many stars are too far away to see with your eyes: you need binoculars or a telescope to see them. |
Kinds of astronomy. |
Astronomy has become a very large science in the past few hundred years, and there are many different types of astronomy. |
Lunar astronomers study the moon, while planetary astronomers study the planets near our sun, and the planets near other stars. Some astronomers study special types of stars, like when two stars are next to each other. Other astronomers study distant galaxies, which are very large groups of many stars. |
There are also astronomers who never look at the sky at all. These "theoretical" astronomers use physics and mathematics in combination with computers to create "models" of how the universe behaves, then they compare their models to what is observed. They want to understand and predict the events which happen in the un... |
Architecture |
Architecture is the design of structures; how they are built. An architect must study for many years to become qualified. The purpose of most architecture is shelter. On a small scale, a garden shed or a stable are examples of simple architecture. On a large scale, architecture may mean the designing of whole towns and... |
The Word Architecture. |
The word architecture seems to suggest something higher, more noble, than simply the designing of a building. A successful building should speak of wisdom handed down through thousands of years. Sadly that wisdom is very often ignored. Most new construction is poor in design and materials. People rip out delicate, eleg... |
History. |
In the past, people built huts and wood houses to shelter from the weather. For reasons of cost, the houses were simple and small. For safety, they were often close together. Great civilizations like the Ancient Egyptians built large temples and structures, like the pyramids. The Ancient Greeks and Romans made what we ... |
Classical Architecture is very formal, it always obeyed laws. It used symmetry, which really means balance, and it used proportion which means keeping shapes to certain patterns. The Golden Mean was a rule (or law) which said, (to put it very simply) if you are making a room, or any other thing, it will work best if yo... |
In some parts of the world, like India, the architecture is famous for stone carving on temples and palaces. Different architectural styles were made in China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Africa, Mexico, and Central and South America. |
Later, people in Western Europe in the Middle Ages made Romanesque architecture, then Gothic architecture. Gothic buildings have tall, pointed windows and arches. Many churches have Gothic architecture. Castles were also built at this time. In Eastern Europe, churches usually had domes. People were copying the Classica... |
Then in the 18th Century the Industrial Revolution happened and people began to invent machines to make things quickly and cheaply. Many factories and mills were built during, or after this revolution. 100 years later, in the Victorian era, architects like George Fowler Jones and Decimus Burton still followed the Gothi... |
Modernism, which started as early as 1890, has resulted in some handsome, impressive buildings, like the Chrysler Building in New York, but also some truly horrible buildings. The ancient laws have been forgotten, or ignored, as architects have become more interested in doing something 'original'. It seems incredible t... |
Anatomy |
Anatomy is the study of the bodies of living beings (people, animals, plants). It is like taking the body apart, and looking at its parts (organs, muscles and bones). People who study "anatomy" then look where a certain organ (or bone, or muscle) should be, or where it normally is. |
Asteroid |
An asteroid is like a planet, but smaller. The name "asteroid" means "like a star" in the ancient Greek language. Asteroids may look like small stars in the sky, but they really do move around the Sun, while stars only seem to move because the Earth spins. Like planets, asteroids do not make their own light. Because of... |
Most asteroids are made of rock, but some are made of ice or metal. Most asteroids in our Solar System are in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. |
Formation. |
Asteroids are the leftover rock and other material from the formation of the Solar System. These rocks were too small to make a planet, and could not collide to form one. |
Discovery. |
In the 1600s, Gisuppe Piazzi discovered the first asteroid. It was named Ceres, and is the biggest object in the asteroid belt. Other asteroids, like Juno, Pallas, and Vesta were discovered later. Today, astronomers know of hundreds of thousands of asteroids, which range from fractions of a mile to 600 miles across. |
Afghanistan |
Afghanistan (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان) is a country located in South Asia. It is bordered by Iran in the west, Pakistan in the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan in the north, and China in the northeast.. |
Islam is the main religion. Persian (Dari) and Pashto are the main languages. The population of Afghanistan is divided into many ethnic groups of which Tajik, Pashtun, Hezara, Uzbek and Baloch. Although the name Afghan (in its original meaning) refers to Pashtuns only, but under the constitution of Afghanistan, the wor... |
History. |
The modern Afghanistan was established in 1747 and in 1919 the king of Afghanistan declared independence for the state (from UK control over Afghan foreign affairs) under the new name "Afghanistan". The history of the land does not begin in 1747. Aryan (Indo-European people) tribes settled in the area around 4000 years... |
By the middle of the sixth century BC, the Persians who were also Aryans included the area within its boundaries and created Persian Empire. Alexander the great conquered Persian Empire by fighting in 330 BC. After him Kushans, Parthians and Sassanians took over. The Sassanians who were also Persians called their empir... |
Other people took Iran by fighting like the Arabs (7th century), Turks (10th century) and Mongols (13th century). The area which is now known as Afghanistan was then called "Khorasan" and it was a prosperous and important province of Iran, as it was the seat of most rulers. |
The Safavid dynasty (1502-1736) made Shia Islam the religion of their state. Safavids were cruel to Afghans (Pashtuns) who were living in the south eastern parts of Khorasan and their religion was different, it was Sunni Islam. Afghans then revolted and separated Khorasan from Iran in 1747. |
The country served as a buffer between the British and Russian empires until it won independence from British control in 1919. |
Wars in Afghanistan. |
In 1979 Soviet Union attacked and occupied Afghanistan. The occupation resulted in the killings of at least 600,000 to 2 million Afghan civilians and many more refugees. After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, a series of civil wars continued. |
In 1996, Afghanistan was seized by a hardline movement called the Taliban. Taliban were emerged in 1994 and were sponsored by Pakistan. During the Taliban's rule, much of the Afghans experienced restrictions on their freedom and violations of their human rights. The civil wars and Taliban rule left Afghanistan in ruins... |
Following the September 11 attacks, the United States overthrew the Taliban government for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden and several al-Qaida members, who were behind these attacks. |
In December 2004, Hamid Karzai became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan. |
Angola |
Angola is a country in Africa. The capital is Luanda. Angola is situated in the south of the continent. |
Argentina |
Argentina or the República Argentina, is a country in south South America. Argentina is the second-largest country in South America and the eighth-largest country in the world. |
About 39 million people live in the Argentina. Spanish is the language most people speak and the official language, but many other languages are spoken. Some of these are Guarani, Mapudungun and Quechua and even Welsh in Patagonia. |
The capital city of the Argentina is Buenos Aires, one of the largest cities in the world, in eastern Argentina. In order by number of people, the largest cities in Argentina are Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario, Mendoza, La Plata, Tucumán, Mar del Plata, Salta, Santa Fe, and Bahía Blanca. |
Argentina is located between the Andes mountain range in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east and south. It is bordered by Paraguay and Bolivia in the north, Brazil and Uruguay in the northeast, and Chile in the west and south. It also claims the the Falkland Islands (Spanish: "Islas Malvinas") and Sout... |
History. |
The name Argentina comes from the Latin "argentum" (silver) as the Spanish conquistadors believed the area had silver. In the Americas, Canada, US, Brazil and Argentina are the largest countries (in that order). |
The oldest signs of people in Argentina are located in the Patagonia (Piedra Museo, Santa Cruz), and are more than 13,000 years old. In 1480 the Inca Empire conquered northwestern Argentina, making it part of the empire. In the northeastern area, the Guaraní developed a culture based on yuca and sweet potato however ty... |
Other languages spoken are Italian, English and German. Lunfardo is Argentinean slang and is a mix of Spanish and Italian. Argentineans are said to speak Spanish with an Italian accent. |
Politics. |
Argentina is a federal republic. The people of Argentina vote for a President to rule them and Senators and Deputies to speak for them and make laws for them. The President is Cristina Fernández de Kirchner since December 2007. |
Geography. |
Argentina is almost 3,700 km long from north to south, and 1,400 km from east to west (maximum values). It can be divided into three parts: the Pampas in the central part of the country, Patagonia in the southern part down to Tierra del Fuego; and the Andes mountain range along the western border with Chile, with the h... |
The most important rivers include the River Plate, Paraguay, Bermejo, Colorado, Uruguay and the largest river, the Paraná. River Plate was incorrectly translated though, and should have been translated to English as River of (the) Silver. River Plate is also a famous Buenos Aires soccer team. |
Other information. |
The majority of the Argentineans are descendants of Europeans mainly from Spain, Italy, Germany, Ireland, France, other Europeans countries and Mestizo representing more than 90% of the total population of the country. |
Football or soccer is the most popular sport, although the national sport of the country is Pato. Argentina has a number of highly-ranked Polo players. Field hockey (for women) rugby and golf are also favorites. |
Argentina is a Christian country. Most of Argentina's people (80 percent) are Roman Catholic. Roman Catholicism is the state religion but Argentina also has the largest population of Jewish community after Israel and US. Many Middle Eastern immigrants who were Muslims converted to Catholicism, but there are still Musli... |
Medicine is socialized and so is education, making Argentina's literacy rate about 98%. State University is free as well. |
Austria |
Austria (German: Österreich), officially "Republic of Austria", is a country in Central Europe. Around Austria there are Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. Currently, the chancellor is Werner Faymann. Austria has been a member-state of the EU since 1995. |
The people in Austria speak German, a few also Hungarian, Slovenian and Croatian. The capital of Austria is Vienna (Wien). |
Austria is more than thousand years old. Its history can be followed to the ninth century. At that time the first people moved to the land now known as Austria. The name "Ostarrichi" is first written in an official document from 996. Since then this word has developed into the Modern German word "Österreich". |
Austria is a democratic state and has nine federal states (): Vorarlberg, the Tyrol, Salzburg, Carinthia, Styria, Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Vienna and Burgenland. It is a neutral state, that means it does not take part in wars with other countries. Austria is in the United Nations since 1955 and in the European Uni... |
Ancient times. |
There has been human settlement in the area that is now Austria for a long time. The first settlers go back to the Paleolithic age, they time of the Neanderthals. They left works of art, such as the Venus of Willendorf. In the Neolithic age, people were living there to dig for resources, especially copper. Ötzi, a mumm... |
The Romans. |
The Romans settled in most of modern Austria. They built larger cities. The most important of these were Carnuntum (near Vienna), Virunum (north of Klagenfurt) and Teurnia (near Spittal an der Drau). |
Modern times. |
Austria was an empire from about 800 to 1918. And was ruled by The House of Habsburg for most of that period. Then it became a republic. The "First Republic" was from 1918 to 1938, the "Second Republic" has been from 1945. From 1938 to 1945 Austria was part of Germany. |
Geography. |
Austria is a largely mountainous country since it is in the Alps. The high mountainous Alps in the west of Austria flatten somewhat into low lands and plains in the east of the country. |
Music and Arts. |
Many famous composers were Austrians or born in Austria. There are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Johann Strauss, Sr., Johann Strauss, Jr. and Gustav Mahler. In modern times there were Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg, who belonged to the Second Viennese School. |
Austria has many artists, there are Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele or Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Inge Morath or Otto Wagner and scienc. |
Food. |
Famous Austrian dishes are Wiener Schnitzel, Schweinsbraten, Kaiserschmarren, Knödel, Sachertorte and Tafelspitz. |
Armenia |
Armenia is a country in the Caucasus region of Europe. Its capital city is Yerevan. Armenia received its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. |
Armenia touches Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. |
There are some minorities living in Armenia, such as Greek, Russian, and other minorities, and more than 90% of the people are ethnic Armenians. Also, the Armenian Apostolic Church, is by far the largest religion in the country. There are a small amount of other Christians, Muslims and atheists. |
Armenia is the place that some Christians believe Noah's Ark landed, and Noah's family settled. The Armenian name for Armenia (Hayastan) means Land of Haik. Haik was the name of a great-great-grandson of Noah. |
Throughout history, Armenia's size has changed many times. Today Armenia is much smaller than it was once. In 80 BC, the Kingdom of Armenia covered parts of what is today Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and, of course, Armenia. |
From 1920 to 1991, Armenia was a Communist country. (Communism is a political idea.) It was a member of the Soviet Union. |
Today, Armenia's borders are locked with Turkey and Azerbaijan, due to conflicts. In 1992, Armenia and Azerbaijan had a war over the land of Nagorno-Karabakh. The fighting stopped in 1994, and Armenia has had control over this land, but Azerbaijan still disputes about the land. |
Archaeology |
Archaeology is the study of the past by looking for the remains and relics (historical things) left by the people who lived before us. These are called "artifacts", and can include old coins, tools, buildings and garbage (rubbish). Archaeologists try to work out what these remains mean. |
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