Download Ancient Astronomers

Ancient Astronomers
•Ancient civilizations have observed the
heavens for years and have surprisingly
discovered an amazing amount of
information without the help of a telescope,
modern mathematics or physics!
•The primary focus for
ancient civilizations to
study astronomy was to
make important predictions.
•Most ancient astronomers were also priests
who were in some cases only kept alive as
long as their predictions were correct!
•Astronomical bodies were seen as gods and
goddesses and predicting planetary positions
were a way of predicting the way of the gods
and could for tell events like a good harvest
or the end of a war!
•Eclipses and comets were two of the most
important phenomena to ancient people. They
believed they were the bringers of anything from
the plague, victory of a war to the death of a ruler!
Babylonians
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The Akkadians are among the first people
credited to have kept astronomical
records. (2500 B.C.)
Living in the northern part of what was
later called Babylon, the astronomerpriests were able to predict some of the
motions of the sun, moon and stars.
Egyptians
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Were the first to create an accurate
calendar.
Based on the sun and stars not the moon.
Used Sirius (Dog star) to predict annual
flooding of the Nile River so they could
make accurate estimates of when to plant
crops.
•The first calendars had 7 days of the week to match
the quarter cycles of the Moon and always 12 months
in a year to match the twelve complete cycles of the
Moon per year.
•The Egyptians used astronomy to build some of the
most impressive architecture on Earth.
•Their knowledge of the sun and constellations
allowed them to align the pyramids and shafts within
them to the cardinal directions as well as with star
groupings that had spiritual significance.
Chinese
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The oldest civilization with a continuous
astronomical record.
Documented an eclipse over 4000 years
ago in 2136 B.C.
Made the “Book of Silk” in 400 B.C. which
is the earliest known
atlas of comets.
This was discovered in a
tomb in 1973!
Polynesians
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First to navigate the oceans using the
stars.
Create mythologies about stars like the
Greeks.
The Pleiades (an open cluster), Jupiter and
Aldebaran ( a bright red star) are central
to the founding story of the Polynesian
culture.
•Sailors memorized hundreds of stars and used this to
determine latitude and longitude to an impressive
accuracy!
•Memorizing positions, brightness, colours and time of
year allowed them to navigate at any time of the year.
Greeks
Most famous contribution was the
geocentric model based on the teachings
of Aristotle.
 Ancient Greeks believed
that the circle is the perfect
form.
Since the heavens were perfect,
everything must move in a
circle with the Earth
at the center.
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