Astronomy Eyewitness Companions

[...]... books of astronomy Between the 10th and 13th centuries, the ancient Greek works were reintroduced to Europe via Arabdominated Spain turkish astronomers This 16th-century illustration of an observatory founded by Suleyman the Magnificent shows the great traditions of Arab astronomy being carried on by their successors, the Ottoman Turks 18 histo ry the rebirth of western astronomy European astronomy. .. those remote galaxies, glowing with subtle starlight, we can only wonder if there is someone on a planet orbiting one of its stars looking back at us IAN RIDPATH history 16 histo ry The beginnings of astronomy Astronomy has been called the oldest of the sciences, and rightly so Since the dawn of civilization, humans have struggled to make sense of the complex motions of celestial objects, and countless... The Babylonians made another lasting contribution to astronomy: having measured the length of the year as approximately 360 days, they divided the circle of the sky into 360 degrees, subdivided each degree into 60 parts, and introduced the 24-hour day, with each hour also divided into 60 parts the greek view of the heavens Knowledge of Babylonian astronomy spread to Greece around 500 bc Unlike the Babylonians,... observing 136 Binoculars 138 Telescope astronomy 140 Astrophotography 144 THE CONSTELLATIONS 146 Mapping the sky 148 Understanding the charts 150 Guide to the Constellations 152–227 MONTHLY SKY GUIDE 228 ALMANAC 278 Glossary 290 Index 293 Acknowledgments 299 10 astro n o m y From the study of the smallest members of the Solar System to the most distant galaxies, astronomy is a science that knows no bounds... regarded as the ultimate authorities on scientific matters, as demonstrated by this 15th-century German painting of astronomers on Mount Athos th e begi n n i ng s o f a s t ro n om y 17 far eastern astronomy Other cultures developed constellations quite different from those of the Greeks The Chinese, for example, recognized a total of 283 constellations, many of them small and faint Whereas the Greeks... each body consisted of a large circle, called the deferent, with its center offset from Earth As each object moved along the deferent, it also traced out a smaller circle, known as an epicycle arabic astronomy After the decline of Greek and Roman civilization, the center of astronomical research moved east to Baghdad, where Ptolemy’s work was translated into Arabic Shortly before ad 1000, an Arab astronomer... babylonian tradition Stonehenge in England and the Pyramids of Egypt, both dating from around 2500 bc, embody astronomically significant alignments based on knowledge of the skies, but the true birthplace of astronomy was in the Middle East Two baked clay tablets produced around 700 bc by the Babylonians of present-day Iraq summarize information on the motions of stars and planets The list of stars and constellations... Saturn, although he did not recognize what they were understanding of the cosmos, another revolution was taking This new view of the heavens, coming hard place in observational on the heels of Kepler’s astronomy Unimagined theoretical breakthrough, wonders were coming into swept away the old Earthview as the first telescopes galileo galilei Condemned by the Roman centered view of the were turned toward... the Catholic Church in 1633 for universe for good But a heavens The greatest declaring that Earth moved more fundamental problem pioneer of telescopic round the Sun, Galileo was remained What was the astronomy was an Italian, placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life force that made planets Galileo Galilei (1564– 1642) Wherever Galileo orbit the Sun as they do? looked, he found innumerable... from the object This law newton’s principia The laws of motion demonstrated by Newton in his Principia Mathematica of 1687 provided a sound mathematical basis for all subsequent students of physics and astronomy explained for the first time why the planets orbited the Sun as they did and why the Moon raised tides in Earth’s oceans In due course, it would apply also to the motions of artificial satellites . shows the great traditions of Arab astronomy being carried on by their successors, the Ottoman Turks. 18 HI STORY the rebirth of western astronomy European astronomy was awoken from its dormancy. Kinsey Tish Jones Ferdie McDonald Amanda Lebentz Louise Thomas Introduction 10 HISTORY The beginnings of astronomy 16 The rise of astrophysics 22 Our place in the universe 24 Into orbit 26 The race to. 293 Acknowledgments 299 Finding your way 134 Starting observing 136 Binoculars 138 Telescope astronomy 140 Astrophotography 144 THE CONSTELLATIONS 146 Mapping the sky 148 Understanding