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Ancient Astronomy Notes
Date
2800 BC -1200 BC
~569 BC - 475 BC
~429 BC - 347 BC
~387 BC – 312 BC
~384 BC – 322 BC
~310 BC – 230 BC
~275 BC
190 BC – 120 BC
~85 AD -165 AD
1200 AD -1700 AD
Topic
Importance
Stonehenge England; thought used as a calendar
Pythagoras Spherical Earth; geometry;
proposed Venus is both evening and morning star;
orbit of moon inclined
Plato
Idea that circles are perfect;
orbits of celestial objects were circular
Heraclides Daily motion of stars due to rotation of Earth on
axis once a day
Aristotle
Reasons why Earth is round; ship on horizon,
curved shadow during lunar eclipse
Aristarchus Relative sizes and distances of Earth, Moon, and
Sun; proposed heliocentric universe (not accepted)
Eratosthenes Estimated size of Earth using trigonometry
(circumference)
Hipparchus Precession; 1st catalogue of stellar magnitude
(brightness of stars)
Ptolemy
Planetary motion; published Almagest (idea of
epicycles); geocentric
Big Horn Wyoming; 28 spokes; used by Plains Indians;
Med Wheel summer solstice; star markings
Aztecs
-Observers of nature; stars and seasons
-unpredictable astro events linked to omens and
portents
Mayans
Egyptians
Native
Americans
-solar year 365 days (18 months of 20 days)
-260 day cycle (20 day signs and 13 #s)
-Calendar stone (Sunstone); Mexico City
-Zenial passage observatories (sun directly
overhead; cast no shadow at noon)
-Earth flat with 4 corners
-Milky Way= “World Tree”
-Ecliptic depicted by double headed serpent
-Caracol Temple; Yucatan Peninsula; alignment of
Sun and Venus
-Invented Simple solar calendar- 365 days; 12
months of 30 days (month 3 weeks of 10 days)
-aligned pyramids/Tombs with star alignments
-astronomers calculated time of flood; around
summer solstice
-5 constellations
-36 groups of stars called decans
-Nabta Stone Circle (only stone circle in Egypt)
-Drawings of Supernova Explosions
-Solar Observatories
-Knotted cord to track solar cycles
-Big Horn Medicine Wheel
-Villages laid out like important stars in sky
-Based religious ceremonies around celestial events
-Identified many celestial objects
Chinese
Europeans
-Astronomers/Astrologers separate
-12 lunar months=1 year=365.25 days
-divided sky
-Scandinavia; Vikings/Norse Mythology
-Most famous ancient astronomers were Greek
Astronomers
-Stones of Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, etc
-simple celestial cycle spheres
(calendars/calculators) located throughout Northern
Europe (none later than 1500 BC)