Welcome to our
2600 years journey, that we’re going to take together,
a journey from us, being the center of the universe and all we know to the pale blue dot, the grain of sand
we’re living on, in the middle of nowhere!
Due to the fact that I don’t want to squeeze all that information into one, short episode
We’ll meet up for the next two weeks for our Storytime at Wonders of the Universe.
Jump into the looking glass into the past and stay with me until we arrive, in our present!
It all started in Greece, on a warm summer evening, circa 600BC.
You’ve finished your shopping at the local Agora, and you look up at the night sky
and notice, that some of the stars seem to move. So, you name them,
plantares or wonderer. In the middle of the Agora stands an old man, named Thales of Miletus,
talking about the sun, predicting its disappearance in some days, on 28th of May 585
BC. Marking this event as the first, ever known predicted solar eclipse in human history. And sparking the
curiosity for Space, again, after the disappearance of the Mayan culture with all its astronomers
and all their knowledge.
Welcome to Babylon! The Kassites are ruling here and their curiosity is turning their view to the stars.
Soon,
astronomers start to map their discoveries and catalogue stars,
dividing the fixed stars into three groups. Anu, Enlil and Ea,
containing lists of constellations, individual stars and planets.
Listing 18 constellations in the zodiac, from which 12 are still surviving among our modern constellations.
Among other countries, the Greek borrowed the Babylonian Zodiacs
and Plato might have gotten a hold of it. While searching further, to get more answers, he founded the school,
Platonic Academy in Athens.
The first University in the entire world and without a fee to pay. It was promoting the idea of a universe,
moving in harmony and the Sun, Moon and other planets moving around Earth in perfect circles.
What a beautiful picture! But it didn’t take them too long, until another Greek stepped into the spotlight.
And maybe, he got the chance before to visit Plato's Academy and walked underneath the entrance with the phrase:
"Let none but geometers enter through this door.”
His name was Aristarchus of Samos and for his time, he had quite the unusual idea.
He placed our Sun in the middle of his model
and promoted the idea of Earth and other planets moving around the sun. Again, we are talking about 2300
years ago!!!
He even went so far to provide first
estimation of Earth-Sun distance with being 18 to 20 times farther away than the Moon
(While it actually is about 400 times that of the Moon) BUT!
This man didn’t even have a telescope, and still, he suspected the stars were other suns
that are very far away! Still, as so often with great minds,
he wasn’t taken seriously.
We are staying in Greece, a little longer. Only 40 years after Aristarchus death, another great
personality got born.
Make way for Hipparchus of Nicaea, the founder of
trigonometry, the greatest astronomical observer or even all astronomer of the antique!
He was one of the creators of the Armillary sphere,
the model of the sky. (This will even play another role, later in another episode
as even Kepler used this apparatus to measure the Sky)
And so, did Hipparchus himself
He wrote down the accurate position over
850 of the brightest stars in a map and star catalogue. It's pretty incredible!
Almost around the same time in China, 4th century BC,
Shi Shenfu created a Celestial Map of his own and cataloged
809 Stars in
122 constellations.
Human curiosity seems to be unstoppable and the thirst for space, as many of us might know, is insatiable!
Okay, it is still BC and humanity already started very successfully to measure the stars and to
grasp an idea on how our solar system might be working.
And all, even without having a telescope or having other, big,
technological inventions!
And then..... this happened...
It is around
140 we’re moving from Greece to Egypt now to find a man, named Ptolemy.
While some of his studies might have had a huge impact on medical studies,
literary works and music, well,
his
Astrological impact was quite huge, as well. At the age of 40, he presented, well,
the Babylonian
arithmetical techniques,
Hipparchus geometric models YES!
… Back to the geocentrical view again! I assume, that is what can happen, when
Urania, the muse of Astronomy
guides you and people believe, that you are a Ptolemaic Pharao, ruling Egypt.
Call me, King Ptolemy, the pro-astrological
authority of the highest magnitude!
I am sorry, if I offended someone, I didn’t get to know this man it’s just...
well...
back to the disc as the center of the universe for the next
1500 years!!!!!
Yeah
Well... let us just jump 2000 years forward real quick, to glimpse at how far we got and brace
ourselves for the dark age of
astronomy. And while taking a deep breath, click the thumbs up, subscribe and continue this journey with me!
Okay, from here on, nothing really happened for the next 700 years! But after a long period of stagnation,
in
813, they founded a school of astronomy in Baghdad. And finally, around 830,
Arabia had their first breakthrough with a major work of astronomy by
Al-Khwarizmi, a Persian polymath!
His work marked the turning point in Arabic astronomy
and the beginning of
nontraditional methods of studies and calculations!
His work contained approximately 37 chapters on calendrical and astronomical
calculations AND
116 tables,
including the movements of the Sun, the Moon and the, at the time, five known planets.
Only around 100 years later, the first analog computer was built! No!
Yeah,
kind of!! It was called Astrolabe and got constructed by mathematician-astronomer Mohammad
al-Fazari. It was used to precisely measure the positions of stars and planets!
This Astrolabe allowed the Islamic astronomers to compile
the back then, most detailed almanacs and star atlases.
I watched some videos and pictures about Astrolabes, read some articles and the instructions aaaaaand
yes, I would really love to have one, this thing definitely made it on to my Christmas wish list for this year!
We finally reached the year 1030 when Astronomers started to discuss
heliocentric theories, again.
Well, for a short time,
the mathematician and astronomer al-Biruni, who was studying the moving of the earth stated,
you know, very casual,
that the Earth as center wouldn’t cause any mathematical problems....
Case dismissed. Let’s quickly head back to India to a man, called Bhaskara II!
Of course a mathematician
astronomer,
calculating
longitudes and latitudes of planets, lunar and solar eclipses,
rising and settings, Moons lunar crescent, syzygies and conjunctions of the planets with each other AND with the fixed stars!
Wow!
PLUS!
Explaining the three problems of diurnal rotation, the apparent motion of celestial objects.
Then he just continued to calculate the planetary mean motion, ellipses, first
visibility of the planets, the lunar crescent, the seasons, and the length of the Earth’s revolution around the Sun to 9 decimal places,
being 23 hours, 56 minutes!
This was the beginning of our journey; I hope you liked it!
And if you didn’t get what I just said, remember to tune in next week, for some easier to understand
explanation! So.
Would you like to know more?
What about Copernicus, Newton and Messier?
And when do I finally present and explain everything we know about our position in the Universe?
Tune in next week to further explore with me, the deep space of our Universe!