They say, “Astronomy is the mother of sciences”. The oldest of all sciences it surely is! Although this claim is doubtful in a way; when man left the trees (arboreal) and came to walk on two legs, instead of all fours, and became bipedal (Homo erectus), it was probably the first step toward scientific actions, aided in no small measure by nature. This is how it all began.

Gradually, after many thousand years of trials and tribulations, or maybe three million years in all, we have at last come to the point today where we can spot the farthest of all galaxies — at the time when they had just about come into existence. When they were only proto-galaxies, more popularly called quasars, over 12 billion light years into the deep recession of space.

The enchanting thing is that we can yet see them through a large telescope, or a radio telescope; then their pictures are enlivened on the paper or the plate for all of us to see and marvel at them. Yet more astounding is the fact that many of these galaxies, or quasars could have long met their end. Yet, their light has been travelling towards us ever since they left their mother source so many billion years ago. Irrespective of the fact that they could have ‘died’ eons ago, their light nevertheless keeps on racing in all directions, as a ghost from the grave, a remnant of sort.

In fact, if the quasars have actually died, and their light has still been reaching us, which means that they did not die or become diffused such a long time back but only somewhat later. Few, if any, other examples can match their propensity and colossal power; besides being the oldest objects in the universe. Their power can at best be equated with the nucleus of a great galaxy, may be like Andromeda. That too is a poor comparison. In a way the quasars are characters in the cosmic history, like other cosmic beings.

No middle age can come into being without infancy first. The same is true for astronomy, as anything else.

In the old times, astronomy was regarded differently as compared to now. The interpretation varied from place to place and from one epoch to another. Poeple’s opinions differed, and most of it was a fig of their imagination. If there were some who held well-grounded beliefs (like the Chinese, Mayans, Greeks, some Arabs etc.,) these weren’t many. Also, they could not propagate, nor proliferate, neither exchange or diffuse the acquired knowledge except through the word of mouth. It awaited the know-how that could be accumulated, and diffused across teaching institutions as well as multiple branches of studies in modern times (from 15th century on) until our very own present times.

In short, all-round knowledge was waiting to be gathered, and rules and laws had to be worked out before more and more discoveries and inventions appeared on the horizon to supplant the available wisdom. Knowledge gathered, tabulated and passed down to us over the past centuries is now easily available to us thanks to the cheap printing industry as well as the modern technological gadgetry universally available.

Our continuing astronomical parlance is an evidence of effort on these lines. Let us carry on from where we left of in the last issue.

Fluoride: Often we have dealt with items that did not relate directly to astronomy. In one way or another they indeed do. Take for instance fluoride, it is a trace mineral that occurs naturally and is confirmed to fight tooth decay. Much of the water available to urban residents in the world over is fluoridated. This chemical is, however, added to make water usable to obtain various medical properties for consumers. It has been found to be very useful for children, particularly to fight tooth decay.

In some water, it occurs naturally which in earlier times led to its utility as a mild but medicine essential for human consumption. Often you can taste its presence in water when it is added to water in greater quantity. This might appear distasteful. But more often than not, fluoride is absolutely essential to drinking water.

Food chains: Humans depend on two kinds of foods to obtain energy. One starts with microscopic ocean plants and weeds that animals feed on and those that feed on those animals. The second food chain begins with land plants and includes the animals that feed on them and again animals that feed on those animals. This intricate interdependence among species leads to stabilise the food chains.

Disruption of population, or their environment may cause irreversible change in food chain in the long run, leading to complete annihilation or extinction of a group of species. For instance, reduction in global ozone may lead to reduction in the oceanic phytoplankton and so up through the food chain, to a major disruption to the total fish harvest. Such is the importance of global or local food chain, and the importance of various foods, and their absolute dependence on the animals that feed on them. Eventually it relate to their survival, and to our own.

Force: there are four types of forces that control the ways in which all objects interact in the universe. Of them, the two main forces are, gravitational and electromagnetic. Gravitational force, for instance, holds planets in orbit and, gathers cosmic dust to form new stars and planets. Electromagnetic forces acting within and between atoms are much stronger than gravitational forces between them. Much of astronomy and cosmology deals with these forces.

This should be enough for now although the debate on force is much elaborate and longer and should continue. So, more about it in the future just like many other issues have been put off for the morrow.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 28th, 2016