ANCIENT ASTRONOMY

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ANCIENT ASTRONOMY
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• Stretches back over 6000 years, making it the
  oldest science by far.
• The development of astronomy has been intertwined
  with the development of civilization.
• timekeeping, navigation, religion and curiosity

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Time Keeping

• the 24hour day is based on the time it takes the
  sun to circle the sky
• length of a month is from the lunar cycle
• calendar year is the cycle of the seasons.
• Days of the week are named after the seven
  naked-eye objects that appear to move among the
  constellations the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Jupiter,
  Venus, Saturn

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Navigation

• Seafaring Polynesians 1000BC
• Use the Sun during the day.
• Use the Stars during night.
• In the Northern Hemisphere Ursa Major used to
  find Polaris (the North Star)
• In the Southern Hemisphere No bright star in the
  Southern Hemisphere equivalent to Polaris. The
  Southern Cross constellations can be used to find
  South.

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Religion

• Babylonians thought that celestial gods ruled the
  sky
• Greeks and Romans adopted those gods.
• Egyptian deity Ra, the Sun God, was swallowed
  every evening by Nut, the Sky Goddess.
• Sumerians thought every evening the Sun was
  captured by a magical boatman.
• African tribes had a variety of beliefs
• Mayans worshiped the god of Sun, Moon, etc

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