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Ancient Astronomy 1.1

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33 views25 pages

Ancient Astronomy 1.1

Uploaded by

cadisetramadraizel71
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A N C I E N T

AS T R O N O M Y
NORTH STAR
•THE NORTH STAR WAS BELIEVED TO BE AT
A FIXED POSITION IN THE SKY. HOWEVER,
WHEN THE GREEKS TRAVELED TO PLACES
NEARER THE EQUATOR, LIKE EGYPT, THEY
NOTICED THAT THE NORTH STAR IS
CLOSER TO THE HORIZON
NORTH STAR

•THE STAR OF THE


NORTHERN
HEMISPHERE TOWARD
WHICH THE AXIS OF
THE EARTH POINTS. —
CALLED ALSO POLESTAR.
THE SHAPE OF THE SUN AND
THE MOON
•ARISTOTLE ARGUED THAT IF THE
MOON AND THE SUN WERE BOTH
SPHERICAL, THEN PERHAPS, THE
EARTH WAS ALSO SPHERICAL.
•IFDISAPPEARING
THE EARTH WAS FLAT,SHIPS
THEN A SHIP
TRAVELING AWAY FROM AN OBSERVER SHOULD
BECOME SMALLER AND SMALLER UNTIL IT
DISAPPEARED. HOWEVER, THE GREEKS
OBSERVED THAT THE SHIP BECAME SMALLER
AND THEN ITS HULL DISAPPEARED FIRST
BEFORE THE SAIL AS IF IT WAS BEING
ENVELOPED BY THE WATER UNTIL IT
COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED.
THE SIZE OF THE SPHERICAL
•ANCIENT SCHOLARS TRIED TO PROVIDE PROOF
EARTH
OF A SPHERICAL EARTH AND ITS CIRCUMFERENCE
THROUGH CALCULATIONS. IT WAS
ERATOSTHENES WHO GAVE THE MOST ACCURATE
SIZE DURING THEIR TIME. WHILE HE WAS
WORKING AT THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA IN
NORTHERN EGYPT, HE RECEIVED
CORRESPONDENCE FROM SYENE IN SOUTHERN
EGYPT WHICH STATED THAT A VERTICAL OBJECT
DID NOT CAST ANY SHADOW AT NOONTIME
THE SIZE OF THE SPHERICAL EARTH
•BUT THIS WAS NOT THE CASE IN
ALEXANDRIA WHERE, AT NOON TIME
DURING THE SUMMER SOLSTICE, A
VERTICAL OBJECT STILL CASTS A
SHADOW. THESE OBSERVATIONS COULD
ONLY MEAN THAT THE SUN, DURING
THIS TIME IN ALEXANDRIA, WAS NOT
DIRECTLY OVERHEAD.
•ERATOSTHENES THEN DETERMINED THE ANGLE
THE SUN MADE WITH THE VERTICAL DIRECTION
BY MEASURING THE SHADOW THAT A VERTICAL
STICK CAST. HE FOUND OUT THAT IN
ALEXANDRIA, THE SUN MAKES AN ANGLE OF
7.2° FROM THE VERTICAL WHILE 0° IN SYENE.
TO EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE, HE
HYPOTHESIZED THAT THE LIGHT RAYS COMING
FROM THE SUN ARE PARALLEL, AND THE EARTH
IS CURVED.
•FROM HIS MEASUREMENTS, HE COMPUTED
THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE EARTH TO BE
APPROXIMATELY 250 000 STADIA (A STADIUM IS
A UNIT OF MEASUREMENT USED TO DESCRIBE
THE SIZE OF A TYPICAL STADIUM AT THE TIME),
ABOUT 40 000 KILOMETERS. OUR
UNDERSTANDING ABOUT THE DIFFERENT
HEAVENLY BODIES CAN BE CREDITED TO THE
IMPORTANT FINDINGS OF THE FOLLOWING
GREEK ASTRONOMERS:
•ANAXAGORAS WAS ABLE TO EXPLAIN
WHAT CAUSES THE PHASES OF THE
MOON. ACCORDING TO HIM, THE MOON
SHONE ONLY BY REFLECTED SUNLIGHT.
SINCE IT IS A SPHERE, ONLY HALF OF IT
ILLUMINATED AT A TIME. THIS
ILLUMINATED PART THAT IS VISIBLE FROM
THE EARTH CHANGES PERIODICALLY.
EUDOXUS PROPOSED A SYSTEM OF
FIXED SPHERES. HE BELIEVED THAT THE
SUN, THE MOON, THE FIVE KNOWN
PLANETS AND THE STARS WERE
ATTACHED TO THESE SPHERES WHICH
CARRIED THE HEAVENLY BODIES WHILE
THEY REVOLVED AROUND THE
STATIONARY EARTH.
PLATO. FOR HIM, THE EARTH IS
SPHERICAL IN SHAPE SINCE IT ALWAYS
CASTS A CURVED SHADOW WHEN IT
ECLIPSES THE MOON. HE ALSO
BELIEVED THAT THE EARTH WAS THE
CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE. THE
PLANETS AND STARS WERE
CONCENTRIC, CRYSTALLINE SPHERES
CENTERED ON THE EARTH.
THE HELIOCENTRIC VIEW. THE WORD HELIOS MEANS
SUN; CENTRIC MEANS CENTERED. THIS HELIOCENTRIC
VIEW CONSIDERED THE SUN AS THE CENTER OF THE
UNIVERSE. HE LEARNED THAT THE SUN WAS MANY TIME
FARTHER THAN THE MOON AND THAT IT WAS MUCH
LARGER THAN THE EARTH. HE ALSO MADE AN ATTEMPT
TO CALCULATE THE DISTANCE OF THE SUN AND THE
MOON BY USING GEOMETRIC PRINCIPLES. HE BASED HIS
CALCULATIONS ON HIS ESTIMATED DIAMETERS OF THE
EARTH AND MOON, AND EXPRESSED DISTANCE IN
TERMS OF DIAMETER. HOWEVER, THE MEASUREMENTS
HE GOT WERE VERY SMALL AND THERE WERE A LOT OF
•ERATOSTHENES THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL
ATTEMPT TO DETERMINE THE SIZE OF THE
EARTH WAS MADE BY HIM. HE DID THIS BY
APPLYING GEOMETRIC PRINCIPLES. HE
OBSERVED THE ANGLES OF THE NOONDAY
SUN IN TWO EGYPTIAN CITIES THAT WERE
ALMOST OPPOSITE EACH OTHER- SYENE
(NOW ASWAN) IN THE SOUTH AND
ALEXANDRIA IN THE NORTH. HE ASSUMED
THEY WERE IN THE SAME LONGITUDE.
GREATEST OF THE EARLY GREEK
ASTRONOMERS. HE OBSERVED AND
COMPARED THE BRIGHTNESS OF 850 STARS
AND ARRANGED THEM INTO ORDER OF
BRIGHTNESS OR MAGNITUDE. HE DEVELOPED
A METHOD FOR PREDICTING THE TIMES OF
LUNAR ECLIPSES TO WITHIN A FEW HOURS.
ASIDE FROM THIS, HE ALSO MEASURED THE
LENGTH OF THE YEAR TO WITHIN MINUTES OF
THE MODERN VALUE.
•CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY HE BELIEVED THAT
THE EARTH WAS THE CENTER OF THE
UNIVERSE. HIS PTOLEMIC MODEL
CLAIMED THAT THE PLANETS MOVED IN A
COMPLICATED SYSTEM OF CIRCLES. THIS
GEOCENTRIC MODEL ALSO BECAME
KNOWN AS THE PTOLEMIC SYSTEM.
Ptolemic Model
SUN, THE MOON, AND THE OTHER PLANETS
MOVE IN CIRCULAR ORBITS AROUND THE
EARTH. HOWEVER, IF OBSERVED NIGHT AFTER
NIGHT, THESE PLANETS MOVE SLIGHTLY
EASTWARD AMONG THE STARS. AT A CERTAIN
POINT, THE PLANET APPEARS TO STOP THEN
MOVES IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION FOR
SOME TIME; AFTER WHICH IT WILL RESUME ITS
EARTWARD MOTION. THIS WESTWARD DRIFT
OF THE PLANETS IS CALLED RETROGRADE
•TO JUSTIFY HIS EARTH-CENTERED
MODEL USING RETROGRADE
MOTION, HE FURTHER EXPLAINED
THAT THE PLANETS ORBITED ON
SMALL CIRCLES, CALLED EPICYCLES,
REVOLVING AROUND LARGE
CIRCLES CALLED DEFERENTS.
ASSIGNMENT
•IF YOU WERE GIVEN A CHANCE TO WRITE
SOMETHING FOR YOUR CHOSEN GREEK
PHILOSOPHER, WHO WILL IT BE AND
WHAT WILL YOU TELL HIM ABOUT HIS
FINDINGS ON ANCIENT HISTORY?

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