The Nine Planets and their impact on our lives

86 0

Anupama Nair

www.mediaeyenews.com

However, when we think of astronomy, the Greeks definitely first come to our mind. They are popularly known as the ‘fathers of ancient astronomy’ as they formulated theories and mathematical equations in an attempt to explain the mysteries of the universe.

One of the greatest and famous Greek scholars was  Eratosthenes. He has excelled not only in the field of astronomy but also in the field of geography, mathematics, poetry, and music as well. He is also renowned for several astronomical breakthroughs. He calculated the area earth’s circumference, and what is surprising, is his calculation was inaccurate by only a few hundred or thousand miles. He is also responsible for calculating the tilt of the earth’s axis and the leap day in a leap year.

Pythagoras is not only a Greek philosopher who is famous for mathematical theories, but also had contributions in Astronomy too. He assumed that the earth is spherical in shape as other celestial bodies are and he came up with this idea when he saw ships disappear past the horizon as they sail. He was the first to suggest that the movement of the planets, sun, moon, and stars could be equated in numbers.

The ancient Mayan astronomers always sought guidance from the sky. They were particularly interested in studying the motion of the stars, sun, and other planets. The ancient Mayans had managed to observe and document these movements through shadow-casting devices they invented. It is through these observations that they developed the Mayan Calendar to keep track of the passage of time.

Ancient Egypt also had significant contributions to astronomy. Just like any other ancient civilization, the movements and patterns of the stars and planets kindled the creation of myths to explain astronomical events. The pyramids and temples were built based on astronomical positions. The example is the Great Pyramid of Giza which was built to align with the North Star Thuban. The Nabta Playa is one of the most fascinating astronomical locations in Egypt where a circular stone structure can be found that is believed to be a giant calendar to identify the summer solstice.

They used the movements of the stars and planets to predict and this helped them be alert when there was flooding in the Nile River. The Egyptians are credited to have developed a calendar system similar to the one we use — “it has 30 days in one month and 365 days divided into 12 months, the only difference is that they have 10-day week and a three-week month.

Astronomy was very popular in Persia too. Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi commonly known as Azophi was one of the most intelligent astronomers of all time. The Andromeda galaxy was first described in his work: “The Book of Fixed Stars”. He had only made some corrections and revisions on the original concept of constellations discovered by Ptolemy. Abu Mahmud Hamid ibn Khidr al-Khujandi was also a brilliant astronomer who built a giant sextant with the purpose of calculating the earth’s axis. It was his own invention that made it possible to come up with a lot of accurate calculation. His measurement was incorrect only by two minutes i.e., a level of accuracy that has never been attained till now.

(to be continued…)

 

 

Related Post

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *