10 Reasons Why the World Needs Astronomy

10 Reasons Why the World Needs Astronomy


The impact of astronomy on the world is immense, somewhat surprising really when you consider that astronomers make up such a small population of the Earth. Here are 10 (possibly humorous) reasons why the world needs astronomy.


10. We need astronomy to explain why the world doesn’t end in 2012 as some people think because of the Mayan calendar. (However, if the world actually ends, please feel free to say I told you so).

9. To freak people out by demoting Pluto from a planet to a minor planet.

8. No astronomy means no astrology and then how would a libra know whether to date that cancer.

7. To make up funky-strange names that have no real meaning other than we don’t know what this is, such dark matter, dark energy, and my favorite, dark stars, although dark stars may be about 100,000 times more luminous than the Sun.

6. To let you know the multitude of ways the Universe is out to get us, just read Death From the Skies by Phil Platt.


5. To find out where in the Universe there are other habitable planets.

4. We need astronomy so that governments around the world can hide all that overwhelming evidence of UFOs behind the flimsy mask of physics.

3. No astronomy means we would never have seen canals on Mars and thought up the concept of Martians and aliens, and thus no Star Trek, and Star Wars… although there is the benefit of no Star Wars Episodes

1-2.

1. But worse, if there were no astronomy then people would not have been able to measure the time of the Winter Solstice and hence could not have created celebrations and festivals for the Winter Solstice and early Christians would not have had a ready-made holiday to usurp and replace with Christmas… and thus no Christmas gifts.

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