For centuries whether our ancestor, ancient astronomers or experts have been observing the sky with a naked eye, and there were also many archaeological relics or sites used to help people to observe the celestial sphere until the invention of the telescope. This essay will divide into three sections, and this essay will first state a selected ancient astronomy historical development, describes the history of astronomical observations of the moon and relative instruments in pre-medieval Europe. While it also references some scholarly supplements such as McCluskey to provide a better and proper understanding of observations of the sky. Then, this essay will interpret how to use moon-related materials to observe the sky, for example how to apply the phase or position of the moon to determine celestial phenomenon. Afterwards, this essay will discuss the moon-related cultural background and mythological story in pre-medieval Europe, to show the relationship between folk and the moon at that time. Overall, this essay concludes the article by explaining that discovering the mysterious universe by using many instruments or technique, humans observe the sky from still do not understand the constitute of the astronomical phenomenon, or the movement of planets and universe, to understand how the …show more content…
It means man-wolf transformations at full moon night. In particular, according to the description of Windows to the Universe, "full moon in January is called the Wolf Moon. It is named after the hungry packs of wolves that howled at night" (Windows to the Universe, 2016). In addition, another mythological story about the moon is also from the explanation of Windows to the Universe, "the Algonquian tribes of Native Americans had many different names for the Full Moon through the year, reflecting their connection with nature and the seasons, hunting, fishing, and farming" (Windows to the Universe,
Ancient Pueblo Indians had a great understanding of astronomy. All of the pueblos in the canyon were aligned to match the movements of the sun and moon. Also, they marked their complexes with daggers and spirals to keep up with the moon cycles and sun movements. The film explains that the moon moves north for nearly ten years and then south for about ten years. To fully understand this cycle of the moon, Pueblo people had to study it for years in order to build their Pueblos in relations to it. The sun however, was different because it set and rose in the same position. The concept of building structures in an astronomical pattern this complex cannot be found anywhere else.
Before reading What the Moon Saw by Laura Resau, I would of described an immigrant as someone who came from a different country to the United States for employment, freedom, education, or in hopes of achieving the “American Dream.” To begin with, I believed that immigrants came to America from many parts of the world and shared physical features and fashion choices that are native to their nationality. Additionally, their health and fitness depends on the situation that they come from and the conditions they face during transportation to the United States. Similarly, the type of religion that they practice varies greatly on their beliefs and the place where they come from. The type of work that immigrants preform before they come to America
For many years astronomers and people alike have constantly heard about the observations and records of the Chinese and Europeans. No other culture can provide as much information as that gathered by the Chinese and Europeans, but there are many other cultures that observed and recorded the night sky, one of those being the Native Americans. During the last fifteen to twenty years archaeoastronomers have uncovered much concerning the beliefs and records of Native Americans. Unfortunately, the methods of keeping records of astronomical events were not as straight forward as the Chinese and Europeans. The Native Americans had to use what they could to record what they observed. Their records were found on rock and cave drawings, stick notching, beadwork, pictures on animal skins and story telling. One of the few dateable events among the various records of Native Americans was the 1833 appearance of the Leonid meteor shower.
There was a time when religion was entirely compatible with the science of the age. For instance, the Mesopotamia city of Babylon used astronomy, and mathematics to track the movement of the stars. These movements helped them predict change in seasons, telling them when to plant, or reap the fields and it was the Priests of the age who preformed this duty. Not only was this a practice of function, but one of a particular importance in regards to their views on religion. In fact, certain celestial movements signaled the end of era, and when the King’s passed his entire court would trail him into the grave. (Campbell 345)
I know that astronomy is getting more popular by the day since the comet came and all those people got killed. But that really did not have anything to do with astronomy, so I am not going to get into that. To me astronomy is really cool. If you have a telescope and it is a clear night you can see different constellations such as: Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Hercules, Pegasus, Perseus there are many more that is so cool. But it is even cooler to look up and see them in the sky. To do all of that you first have to be in the correct place. What you can do first is look for the north star, when you find that then you are all set. If you cannot find it just simply face north and look for the brightest star in that direction. If you still cannot find it buy a compass then hopefully you will find it. If you still cannot find it ask somebody, I made no grantee that you would find it these ways. That is really all I know about astronomy, but after this paper I bet you I will know a whole lot more.
Fifteen years before Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon, one of Belgium’s most successful bande dessine´e which is a specific type of artist named, Herge, sent his “hero” named Tintin to the moon in his book called Destination Moon (Beauvais,PClementine 252). In the human mind the moon can be interpreted as many different things. For example, some may think the moon is a god, Heaven, Hell, or sometimes even as a whole other Earth (Springer 252). When Herge was born at the beginning of the twenty century a piece of literature called From the Earth to the Moon written by Jules Verne’s was possible where the ideas of the moon stem from (Goddin 100). NASA is planning on sending humans back to the moon in a mission called “solid beginnings” in the future. For the past three decades the moon hasn’t been the main focus with all of the other planets such as: Venus and Mars (Lawer 612).Some people believe that the core of the moons material raised up and went to the sur...
During the 1500's Aristotle, an ancient philosopher believed that the Sun moved around the Earth. He believed the center of the universe was a static Earth, the home of man and that the Sun was one of many heavenly bodies that circled endlessly around the Earth. This philosophy was widely accepted by the Catholic Church. The Vatican believed that astronomy was an investigation of God’s work. The sky was used as a calendar to give spiritual significance to Aristotle’s Earth centered astronomy. Another philosopher of the time Ptolemy believed the Earth was solid and unmoving and developed the Ptolemaic system filled with geometrical devices.
The Hubble Telescope is the world’s first space-based optical telescope. The Hubble telescope received its name from American astronomer Dr. Edwin P. Hubble. Dr. Hubble confirmed an ever expanding universe which provided the basic foundation of the Big Bang theory. The first concept of the Hubble telescope came from Lyman Spitzer in 1946 who at that time was a professor and researcher at Yale University, Professor Spitzer believed that Earth’s atmosphere blurs and distorts light and a space orbited telescope would be able to surpass this problem. He spent nearly all of his life dedicated to making this concept into a reality. (http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/hubble_essentials/)
3 In Book VIII of Paradise Lost, Raphael discusses the source of the moon’s light (140-58).
Upon its first mention the moon is used as a marker for the passage of time. In the opening lines of the play Theseus, the duke of Athens, laments to his fiancée Hippolyta that time is passing too slow and blames this on the moon:
Since the first Egyptian farmers discovered the annual reappearance of Sirius just before dawn a few days before the yearly rising of the Nile, ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean have sought to explain the movements of the heavens as a sort of calendar to help guide them conduct earthly activities. Counting phases of the moon or observing the annual variations of day length could, after many years' collection of observations, serve as vital indicators for planting and harvesting times, safe or stormy season for sailing, or time to bring the flocks from winter to summer pastures. With our millennia of such observation behind us, we sometimes forget that seeing and recording anything less obvious than the rough position of sun or nightly change of moon phase requires inventing both accurate observation tools (a stone circle, a gnomon used to indicate the sun's shadow, a means to measure the position of stars in the sky) and a system of recording that could be understood by others. The ancient Greeks struggled with these problems too, using both native technology and inquiry, and drawing upon the large body of observations and theories gradually gleaned from their older neighbors across the sea, Egypt and Babylonia. Gradually moving from a system of gods and divine powers ordering the world to a system of elements, mathematics, and physical laws, the Greeks slowly adapted old ideas to fit into a less supernatural, hyper-rational universe.
Where did astronomy originate? According to the Department of Astronomy, the earliest people to keep astronomical records where the Akkadians (they lived in what is later known as the northern part of Babylon). The earliest date is from around 2,500 B.C. The ancient Akkadian priests were the first to record these astronomical records. They recorded these records because it helped them predict some of the Sun’s motions, and the Earth’s moons, and the stars. These records included observations of the daily, monthly, and yearly positions of the stars and planets. These records explained the geographical locations of the planets. The records also helped with them being able to judge when to plant and harvest crops and with religious ceremonies.
Astronomy dates back to ancient times when peoples such as the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Chinese kept written records of astronomical events and occurrences. Today’s seven day week originates from the Babylonians’ seven important bodies in the night sky: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The ancient Egyptians used the stars to align their pyramids and many of their corridors in almost perfect north-south or east-west directions. The Chinese were experts at predicting solar eclipses. They believed that a solar eclipse was a dangerous warning. Chinese astronomers were executed if they failed to predict an eclipse.
Since the beginning of astronomy, astronomers had a unanimous goal: to see farther, better and in greater details.