People have looked to the skies for thousands of years.
They have looked at the movement of the stars and the changes of the Sun and Moon.
Using what was known about the positions of stars, eclipses, and Moon phases star maps were made.
This information was used to make calendars and measure time..
Considered the world's first-known astronomers, the ancient Babylonians were avid stargazers.
Some 6,000 years ago, they erected watch towers to scan the night sky, mapped the stars and visible planets and recorded their observations on clay tablets.Mar 7, 2022.
Considered the world's first-known astronomers, the ancient Babylonians were avid stargazers.
Some 6,000 years ago, they erected watch towers to scan the night sky, mapped the stars and visible planets and recorded their observations on clay tablets.Mar 7, 2022.
The word Planet is derived from the Greek word Planan, which means 'wander'.
They didn't really know what they were, but they knew these dots on the sky moved in an irregular pattern (e.x.
Mars looked like it went backwards at times as our orbit overtook Mars)..
Babylonian Astronomy
Dating back to 1800 B.C., the Babylonians were among the first civilization to document the movements of the sun and the moon.
They maintained a very detailed record of these motions including a daily, monthly, and yearly position of the celestial bodies..
The Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians established the zodiac system, tracked planetary movements, and recorded eclipses and other celestial events on clay tablets.
Their astronomical records are considered the earliest known, dating back to the 2nd millennium BCE.Jun 22, 2023.
The Chaldeans thought the stars to be little lamps suspended by strings and managed by the angels.
Even in 350 B.C.
Xenophanes taught that the stars were lighted each evening and blown out in the morning by the gods..
If we talk about Astronomy, the Greeks definitely first come to mind.
They are popularly known as the fathers of ancient astronomy; formulating theories and mathematical equations in an attempt to explain the universe.
One of the most notable Greek scholars is Eratosthenes..
People used this intricate knowledge of celestial objects and events to tell time and navigate, but they also used the stars and planets to tell stories, build societies, and most remarkably understand their own human relationship to the universe surrounding them.Feb 10, 2021.
Throughout history civilizations have developed unique systems for ordering and understanding the heavens.
Babylonian and Egyptian astronomers developed systems that became the basis for Greek astronomy, while societies in the Americas, China and India developed their own.
Many other ancient civilizations also developed sophisticated systems for observing and interpreting the cosmos, using this knowledge to enhance their lives.
Ancient Polynesians learned to use the stars to navigate thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean, enabling them to colonize distant islands, including:
That’s not to say that ancient cosmologies were anything like our modern scientific theories of the cosmos.
Many were more like creation myths or legends.
However, in ancient Greece, thinkers like Anaximander, Aristotle, and Ptolemy, to name just a few, developed fairly sophisticated theories about the cosmos based on empirical observations.
