164) The
"25 Euro Silver-Niobium Coin Series": (vii) 2003 onwards minted by the Austrian Mint
by using Niobium and Niobium metal insertion technology for the first time
anywhere in the World of Numismatics:
Seventh
Coin in the Series: “The International Year of Astronomy” (2009):
In 1609, the
Mathematician and Astronomer Galileo Galilei first observed the moon through a
telescope.
Galileo’s
historical viewing of the moon’s surface through his telescope in 1609 and his
astounding discoveries/observations that changed mankind’s concept of the Earth
in relation to the Universe forever, the mountains and craters on the Moon, a
plethora of stars invisible to the naked eye and moons around Jupiter etc.
On the 400th
Anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by
Galileo, as well as, to commemorate the publication of Johannes Kepler’s “Astronomia nova” in the 17th
century, the year 2009 was declared the “International Year of Astronomy” by
the United Nations Organisation (UNO), which was co-ordinated by the
“International Astronomical Union” (IAU) and also endorsed by UNESCO (the UNO group which is responsible
for educational, scientific and cultural initiatives.
The focus of this
initiative was to provide an opportunity to ordinary laypersons to gain a
deeper insight into astronomy’s role in enriching all human cultures.
At
the same time it educated the public about significant astronomical discoveries
across time. The aim was primarily to help people rediscover their place in the
Universe through the sky and thereby feel a personal sense of wonder and
discovery.
The
Galilean Telescope:
Interestingly, in September
1608, it was Hans Lippershey, a young spectacle maker from Middelburg
demonstrated one of his inventions to the Dutch Government, which was a telescope,
and although he was not awarded the patent, Galileo heard about this telescope
in June 1609, seized upon this initiative to build a gadget similar to
the “Dutch Perspective Glass” (as Lippershey’s invention was called) within a
month and greatly improved the design in the following year. He observed the
sky through his own telescope.
Other persons to whom the
credit of development of the telescope goes to are Zacharias Janssen who was
also a spectacle maker in Middleburg and Jacob Metius of Alkmaar.
The design which Galileo
used in 1609 is commonly called a “Galilean telescope. It used a convergent
(plano-convex) objective lens and a divergent (Plano-concave eye-piece lens in
1610). A Galilean telescope had no intermediary focus and resulted in a
non-inverted and upright image. Galileo’s best telescopes magnified objects
some 30 times. Because of the flaws in its design, such as the shape of the
lens and the narrow field of view, the images were blurred and distorted,
nevertheless, the Galilean telescopes were good enough to explore the sky.
The
word “telescope” comes from the Greek word “teleskopos” meaning “far” (for “tele”) and “to look or
see” (for “skopien”). This term was coined by the Greek Mathematician Giovanni
Demisiani for one of Galileo Galilei’s instruments which was presented at a
banquet at the Accademia dei Lincei. Interestingly, in an article in the
“Starry Messenger” Galileo himself had used the term “perspicillium” for his gadget.
Galileo’s astronomical
discoveries, among others, left a lasting legacy, which included studying the Earth’s
moon’s craters and viewing the phases of Venus, as well as, the lasting
categorisation of the four large moons of Jupiter discovered by him – Io,
Europa, Ganymede and Callisto as the Galilean moons.
Galileo had a run-in with the Catholic Church,
which baulked his research/discoveries at every stage and put a spanner into Galileo
publishing his findings by placing his publications on the “List of Prohibited
Books”, confiscating papers on his findings and suspecting him of “heresies” sentencing
him by Inquisition to imprisonment and placing
him under house arrest. Had the Church left him alone, perhaps, he would have
enriched human civilisation with more fascinating discoveries during his time.
The Church had to “reassess” Galileo in the later centuries and in 1939,
Pope Pius XII in his first speech to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences held Galileo
as being among the “most audacious heroes of research who was not afraid of the
stumbling blocks and the risks on the way, nor fearful of the funereal moments”.
Some
Programmes organised during the “International Year of Astronomy” – 2009:
The
Galileoscope: This was a fixed duration world-wide
Astronomy event of four days (2-5 April 2009), where the programme shared
personal experiences of practical astronomical observations with as many people
as possible across the world. The focus was on developing a simple, easy to
assemble and easy to use telescope that could be distributed to millions of
persons, and which aimed to provide every participant world-wide with one of
these little telescopes to take home, enabling them to observe the moon and other celestial bodies with an instrument
similar to the one developed by Galileo.
The Galileoscope was a
small mass-produced refracter telescope, designed with the intention of increasing
public interest in astronomy and science. It was meant as an inexpensive means
through which millions of persons across the globe could view the same
celestial objects seen by Galileo such as the craters on the Earth’s moon, four
of Jupiters moons and the Pleiades.
Some
other programmes: also held during this period were – 100
hours of Astronomy (to have as many people throughout the world to look
through a telescope just as Galileo did for the first time 400 years ago), the Cosmic
Diary (which focussed on what it was like to be an astronomer), The Portal
to the Universe (this provided a global, one-stop portal for online
astronomy related contents serving as a social networking site for astronomy
content providers, lay-persons, educators and scientists etc), She is an
astronomer (a project to provide astronomy related information to female
professional and amateur astronomers, students and enthusiasts), Dark Skies
Awareness (culminating in the form of “star hunts” or “star counts” for
providing people with a fun way to become increasingly aware about light
pollution through first hand observations of the night sky, Astronomy &
World heritage (for establishing a link between science and culture and
scientific values of properties connected with Astronomy), Galilean nights
(a programme to involve amateur and professional astronomers world-wide to take
to train their telescopes at the night sky much in the manner of Galileo 400
years ago with a special focus on Jupiter and its moons, the Sun, the Moon
etc.) the Galileo Teacher Training Programme, among other initiatives.
The
2009 “25 Euro Silver-Niobium Coin”:
The
Commemorative coin titled “ Coin of the Year of Astronomy”:
This coin is titled “Munze Zum Jahr der Astronomie” (meaning
“Coin of the Year of Astronomy”) and commemorates the “International Year of
Astronomy” (2009). It also commemorates the 400th anniversary of the
invention of Galileo’s telescope.
The Obverse of the coin depicts the surface of the moon. A
satellite is shown orbiting the moon, while the outer silver ring shows the
planet Earth on the left periphery, partially covered by the Moon and a
stylised Sun illuminating the heavens which figures towards the right lower
Periphery of the coin. On the upper to right Periphery is mentioned the name of
the country “Republik Ostereich”
(meaning the “Republic of Austria”). On the lower silver Periphery is mentioned
the denomination of the coin “25 Euro”. On the right hand side of the Niobium
core is mentioned “ruckseite des mondes”
(meaning “Back of the Moon”).
The dark side of the moon
was, however, beyond Galileo’s means of observation.
The
colour of the Niobium insert in this coin is golden yellow.
The Reverse of the coin shows a portion of Galileo’s portrait
and his telescope. The background shows one of his first drawings of the
surface of the moon which provides the background to his portrait.
In the silver ring around the Niobium core are
shown the development of the telescopes spanning from Galileo’s telescope
to the Isaac Newton Telescope, the Observatory in Kremsmunster Abbey,
a modern telescope, a radio telescope and a space telescope.
One can also see an image of the Sun, as well as, a planet, depicting mankind’s
ability to observe the celestial orbs and to study the mysteries of the
Universe, thanks to the range of telescopes at its disposal over the centuries.
On the lower Periphery of
the coin is mentioned the year “1609” (i.e. the year Galileo first
observed the moon’s surface through his newly designed telescope), while on the
upper Periphery is mentioned the year “2009” (which corresponds to the
400th Anniversary of Galileo’s first observation of the moon’s
surface through his telescope and which was also designated as the
“International Year of Astronomy).
On the Niobium core is
mentioned “Jahr der ostronomi”
(meaning the “Year of Astronomy”).
The mintage of this coin was limited to a maximum of 65000 pieces.
The
specifications of the coin are:
Face value: 25 Euros;
Metallic composition: Outer ring: Silver (Ag) 900 – 9 gms, Niobium 998 – 6.50
gms; Diameter: 34 mm; Weight: 16.50 gms; Edge: smooth.
The mintage of this coin was limited to a maximum of 65000 pieces.
Isaac
Newton Telescope:
Isaac Newton was an
English physicist and mathematician, known as a “natural philosopher” who was
one of the most influential scientist of all time and a key figure in the
“scientific revolution”. His book “Philosophiae
Naturalis Principia Mathematica” (meaning “Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy”) published in 1687, laid the foundations for classical
mechanics. His laws of motion and universal gravitation have been followed by
scientists over the centuries. Using the same principles, he explained the
trajectories of comets, tides, the precession of the equinoxes etc. He
contributed hugely to optics and the development of the calculus and formulated
an empirical law of cooling, studied the speed of sound and developed a theory
of colour based on the observation that a prism decomposes light into the many
colours of the visible spectrum.
He
is credited with having built the first practical reflecting telescope.
In his honour, a project
called the “Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes” was started in 1984, with
the relocating of the Isaac Newton Telescope, an optical telescope from Herstmonceux Castle in Sussex, England,
which was the site of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, (where this telescope
was located since 1967) to Roque de los
Muchachos Observatory on La Palma
in the Canary Islands. This was necessitated due to sound/light pollution in
Greenwich. This telescope is now a member of the Isaac Newton Group of
Telescopes.
In addition to the Isaac
Newton Telescope, this Group operates the William Herschel Telescope, and
Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope, optical telescopes for the Science and Technology
Facilities Council (STFC), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
(NOW) and the “Instituto de Astrofisica
de Canarias” (IAC – which is an astrophysical Research Institute located in
the Canary Islands). The telescopes are all located at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma in the Canary Islands.
Observatory
in Kremsmunster Abbey:
Kremsmunster Abbey (“Stift Kremsmunster” in German) is a
Benedictine monastery in Kremsmunster in Upper Austria. It was set up in 777 AD
by Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria. The Abbey had a famous library and an
observatory. The observatory was built by Alexander Fixlmillner (1731-1759), an
abbot at the monastery whose nephew Placidus Fixlmillner was the first
astronomer to compute the orbit of Uranus and later became the Director of the
observatory.
The South Wing of the
Kremsmunster observatory houses among other places, the Mathematical Tower
which is 51 metres high where the observatory is located – the Kremsmunster Sternwarte. The observatory
is eight stories high and contains an assorted collection of objects of natural
history.
Modern
Telescope:
The original telescopes
were “Refractor style” gadgets which consisted of a single long tube through
which the light passed down in a straight line to the eye-piece. Telescopes
have come a long way in both design and technology since those early years.
Today the most modern telescopes are computerised and the image can be viewed
on the computer screen. Many telescopes are also computer controlled so that
one can move and save co-ordinates in the computer, or take a photo or a video,
for later references. These modern telescopes are based on a Catadioptrics
design which was developed by the German Bernhard Schmidt, based on a
combination of refractor and reflector telescopes. This design can be used in
small as well as professional Observatory models. The Modern Telescope gathers
light through its front objective lens, focussing this light and then the
eyepiece magnifies the image or light to the size of the observer’s pupil
affording a pupil size image of the viewed object.
Radio
Telescope:
A Radio telescope is a
form of directional radio antenna used in radio Astronomy. The same types of
antennae are used for tracking and collecting data from satellites and space
probes. The Radio telescopes operate in the radio frequency portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum where they can detect and collect data on radio
sources. Radio telescopes are mostly large parabolic “dish” antennae used
singly or in array.
Radio observatories are
generally located away from populated places so as to avoid electromagnetic
interference (EMI) from Radio, Television, Radar and other EMI emitting
devices. Also, they are mostly located in valleys etc. to avoid such EMI.
3 space based
radiotelescopes have been sent to space – Zond 3 (sent by USSR in 1965), HALCA
(sent by Japan in 1997) and Spektr-R (sent by Russia in 2011).
On Earth, a radiotelescope
having a 100 meter diameter antenna in Effelsberg, Germany, Green Bank
Telescope in West Virginia, USA, the 76 metre Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank
Observatory in Cheshire, England, 70 metre telescopes – 3 Russian RT-70 and 3
in the Godstone network, most of which are fully steerable are some of the
largest in the World.
Many astronomical objects
are not only observable in visible light but also emit radiation at radio
wavelengths. Besides observing energy emitting objects like pulsars and
quasars, radio telescopes can “image” most astronomical objects like galaxies,
nebulae and radio emissions from planets.
Space
Telescope:
In 1946, the US
theoretical astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer was the first to conceive the idea of
a telescope in outer space.
A space telescope is an
instrument in outer space that is used for observation of distant planets,
galaxies and outer space objects. This category is different from
observatories/telescopes located in space that are pointed towards the Earth
for the purpose of reconnaissance and information gathering. One of the
advantages for such telescopes orbiting Earth is that it is placed outside the
Earth’s atmosphere and is not subject to twinkling or light pollution from
artificial light sources on Earth.
Space telescopes are
grouped by major frequency ranges i.e. gamma ray, x-ray, ultraviolet, infrared,
visible, microwave optical and radio.
Some such Space
Observatories are the Hubble Space telescope (1990) which works mainly
in visible light but can take infra-red images, Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
(1991) which maps hundreds of Gamma ray sources and records Gamma Ray bursts –
signs of most violent happenings in the Universe, Chandra X-Ray Observatory(1999)
which is the most powerful X-Ray telescope, Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory (SOHO) which keeps a track on the Sun at ultra-violet and
visible light wave-lengths, Spitzer Space Telescope (2003) which is an
infra-red telescope for observing the Universe at invisible, infrared
wavelengths. The Spitzer looks at cooler objects in space such as small dim
stars, extra-solar planets and giant clouds between the stars, among others.
2014 - Evolution
2015 - Cosmology
Links:
1) The 25 Euro Silver-Niobium Coin Series issued by the Austrian Mint: First Coin: "700 Years of Hall City in Tirol or Tyrol"
For posts on COTY (Coin of the Year) winners since 2015 in a competition held by Krause Publications of Germany, please visit the following links:
The following coins have
been issued in this Series:
2003 – 700 years of Hall City in Tyrol or Tirol.
2004 – 150 years Semmering
Alpine Railway
2005 – 50 years of
Television
2006 – The European
Satellite Navigation
2007 – Austrian Aviators
2008 – Fascinating light
2009 – Year of Astronomy
2010 – Renewable Energy Sources.
2011 – Robotics
2012 – Bionics
2013 – Drilling tunnels
2014 - Evolution
2015 - Cosmology
Links:
1) The 25 Euro Silver-Niobium Coin Series issued by the Austrian Mint: First Coin: "700 Years of Hall City in Tirol or Tyrol"
Links to posts on Federal Republic of Germany issues and other posts on this blog:
For posts on COTY (Coin of the Year) winners since 2015 in a competition held by Krause Publications of Germany, please visit the following links:
Choudhary Roy S. has commented:
ReplyDelete" Wonderful...!!"