ancient astronomy - stempire · pdf filebabylonians •astronomy closely tied to religion...
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Ancient Astronomy
Kickin’ it old school…
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Ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egyptians
• Only basic nocturnal timekeeping
• Yearly calendar secondary to Nile River Floods
• Sometimes needed a 13th “leap month”
• Regulated by the star Sirius
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Ancient Egyptians
• Construction guides for the pyramids
• Related to some religious characters
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Ancient Babylon
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Babylonians
• Astronomy closely tied to religion
• Extensive catalogues and star charts meticulously kept for centuries!
• Earliest and most accurate calendars
• As far back as 1800 BCE
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Babylonians• 19 solar years = 235 lunar months
…to within +/- 2 HOURS!
• The star Sirius was most sacred
(brightest star in the sky)
• Very influential on Greek astronomy
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Babylonians
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Babylonians
Astronomer priests (Tupsar Enuma Enlil) tracked social and astronomical phenomena together, eventually created…
The Zodiac!
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INSANE base 60 system!
“Sexagesimal” numerical system still haunts us today
60 seconds per minute
60 minutes per hour
360 degrees per circle
12 divisions of a year
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Ancient China
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Ancient Chinese• By 2300 BCE, they
already had observatories!
• Very detailed records starting around the 4th
Century, BCE
• Influenced by Indian and Islamic astronomers
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Ancient Chinese
• By the 4th Century BCE, astronomers already knew the nature of…
- solar and lunar eclipses
- the Moon reflected light from the Sun
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Ancient Chinese
• Calendars were very important
• Different ones signified unique dynasties and periods of history
Tang Dynasty Calendar
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Fabulous “Guest Star”!•1054 CE
•Chinese astronomers notice a new “guest star” in the sky
•A supernova, now the Crab Nebula
•Few records anywhere else in the world!
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Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greeks
• Heavily influenced by the Babylonians
• Later, the Romans stole everything...
• Although steeped in Greek mythology, astronomy becomes more scientific than religious
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Ancient Greeks
Planet -> Planetes -> “Wanderer”
The Greeks were annoyed that the planets did not follow perfect paths along the sky – they seemed to “wander” aimlessly.
Here’s what was actually happening!
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Ancient GreeksGreek Philosophy:
-The Heavens are PERFECT-Completely different reality-Everything must move in perfect circles
…But that’s not what we see
These extra circles were
called Epicycles.
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Celestial Spheres!!!
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Ancient Greeks
• Greek stubbornness
+ “perfect spheres” idea
+ geocentric idea
= A FRUSTRATED BALL OF CRAP!!!
• 3rd Century BCE
Aristarchus gets schooled by Aristotle, science suffers for over 1,000 years.
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Ancient Greeks
• On the plus side…
They knew the Earth was round, thanks to a nifty experiment at Alexandria and Thebes…
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Ancient Mayan
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Ancient Mayans• Our calendar: 1 leap
day every 4 years
• Mayan Calendar: 1 error in 6,000 years!
• 13 day week, 260 day year
• 20, 40, 8,000, and 158,000 year periods, nested into one 3 Million year cycle!
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Ancient Mayans
• Earth was flat, held up by 4 colored jaguars (Go Jags!)
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Ancient Mayans
• Pyramids coincide with astronomical events
• Chichen Itza Pyramid: Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god
Sun illuminates the steps on equinoxes, showing a snake slithering down!
Click picture for Video
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Ancient Mayans
• Spanish Conquistadores ruined... pretty much everything.
• Luckily, the Dresden Codex was preserved, showing their records of the night sky.
• 76 pages on tree bark
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The “Long Count”
2012OMGWTF?!?!?!!1!?!1?!?!?2?!?!1
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Ancient Inca Empire
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Ancient Inca• Biggest empire in Americas before European
settlers
• Kept astronomical records on knotted cords called “quipus”
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Ancient Aztecs
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Ancient Aztecs
• 20 day month
• Each day named after a common object
(tree day, skull day, rock day, etc.)
• Sun Calendar – 12 ft. across, 3 ft. thick,
24 TONS
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European Medieval Times
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Medieval (Dark Ages, 5-15th CE)
• Science? What science?!?!?• Used mostly to decide holy days • The Sun is holy, and circled the Earth – which was the
center of the Universe (because God chose to put Man there)
• Kept crystal spheres from Greeks
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Arabia & Persia
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Arabia and Persia• Academic/Intellectual golden age during
European Dark Ages
• Mathematics – algebra, geometry
• Intricate tools (observing, navigation & travel)
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Native North Americans
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Native North Americans
• Loose timekeeping
• Basic navigation
• Sky and N S E W sacred
• Mythology and stories
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Dogon People of Mali
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Dogon People of Mali
• Claim knowledge of space given by aliens
• Sirius A & B, existence and rotation
• Jupiter’s moons
• Saturn’s rings