Category History

Astronomy in Babylon The Assyrians, Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians and, in general, all civilizations that occupied the Middle East in ancient times, studied the movements of the Sun and the Moon to perfect their calendar. They used to designate as the beginning of each month the day after the new moon, when the first lunar room appears.

Classical astronomy The Greeks related the movements of the stars to each other and devised a spherical cosmos, whose center occupied an igneous body and around it the Earth, the Moon, the Sun and the five known planets revolved; the sphere ended in the sky of the fixed spheres: To complete the number of ten, which they considered sacred, they imagined a tenth body, the Anti-Earth.

Astronomy in ancient Egypt The Egyptians observed that the stars made a complete turn in just over 365 days. In addition, this 365-day cycle of the Sun agrees with that of the seasons, and before 2500 B.C. the Egyptians used a calendar based on that cycle, so it is assumed that they used astronomical observation systematically since the fourth millennium.

Prehistoric astronomy: magic, religion, science? Heaven was magical and incomprehensible to primitive men. They looked at the sky with admiration and, convinced of its influence on human life, formed the basis of the first mystical or religious beliefs. Soon they noticed the difference between the simple stars (which they thought were fixed) and the moving stars visible to the naked eye, such as the Moon, the Sun, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Astronomy in other cultures Not only the west looked at the sky. In ancient times, astronomy also developed in other latitudes, both in the East and in the Americas. Studies conducted by paleontologists and anthropologists in different tribes seem to demonstrate the need of primitive societies to keep a record of the events of the sky, in order to obtain knowledge about events such as bird migration stations, recursion of periods menstrual, the need for guidance or influence on animals and plants.

Astronomy in Ancient Europe Ancient peoples who inhabited Europe had advanced knowledge of the movements of the stars, mathematics and geometry. They made great constructions for the practice of observational astronomy, determined solstices and equinoxes and were able to predict eclipses.

Modern astronomy Using the data collected by Brahe, his assistant, Johannes Kepler, formulated the laws of planetary motion, stating that planets revolve around the Sun and not in circular orbits with uniform motion, but in elliptical orbits at different speeds, and that their relative distances with respect to the Sun are related to their periods of revolution.

History and stories of Astronomy The history of Astronomy is linked to the history of mankind. Our ancestors already marveled at the spectacle offered by the sky and the phenomena that were presented there. Given the impossibility of finding an explanation, these wonders of heaven were associated with magic and religion, seeking in them the reason and cause of the phenomena happened on Earth.

Astronomy in the twentieth century (I) Advances in astronomy (in reality, in all sciences) during the twentieth century far exceed those of all previous centuries. Increasing reflection telescopes were built. Studies with these instruments revealed the structure of huge and distant clusters of stars, called galaxies, and clusters of galaxies.

Arab Astronomy The Arabs were the ones who, after the decline of Greek studies and the entry of Europe into a phase of obscurantism during the ninth to fifteenth centuries, continued research in astronomy. The Arab astronomers left an important legacy: they translated the Almagesto and cataloged many stars with the names that are still used today, such as Aldebaran, Rigel and Deneb.

Astronomy in the Middle Ages In the Middle Ages astronomy flourished in the Arab culture and in the kingdoms of Europe that were closer to it, especially in the Iberian Peninsula. Greek astronomy was first transmitted eastward to Syrians, Indians and Arabs after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Astronomy in the twentieth century (II) In independent works in the early twentieth century Albert Einstein proposed his Theory of General Relativity in which it follows that the universe must not be static, but is expanding, however, this It did not match what was believed to be a static universe, so Einstein introduced the cosmological constant in its formula to adapt it to current theories.

Astronomy in Rome The Roman Empire, both in its pagan and Christian times, gave little or no impetus to the study of science. Rome was a practical society that respected the technique, but considered science as unhelpful as painting and poetry. What Rome valued was economic, political and military power.

Internet and astronomy Astronomers have used the Internet since its inception, long before it reached the general public, when it was a rudimentary form of communication, more than twenty years ago. Subsequently, with the explosion of the "web", its use has been enhanced and extended in this and in all sciences.

Scientific Astronomy From the fifteenth century Europe awakens from its medieval lethargy. The era we know as "The Renaissance" begins. In astronomy, Nicolás Copernicus rejected the geocentric universe and proposed the heliocentric theory, with the Sun at the center of the Solar System and the Earth, just like the rest of the planets, revolving around it.

Astronomy in ancient Greece In Greece, what we now know as Western astronomy began to develop. In the early days of the history of Greece it was considered that the earth was a disk in whose center was Olympus and around it the Okeanos, the universal sea. The astronomical observations were primarily intended to serve as a guide for farmers, so they worked hard to design a calendar that would be useful for these activities.

Astronomy in the Renaissance The sixteenth century was a drastic turn in all areas of knowledge, literature and art. After a dark and quite uncultured millennium, Europe turned its gaze to the classics, especially of ancient Greece. It is the Renaissance. In 1492 America was discovered and navigation was greatly expanded, which began to require better naval instruments, as well as an improvement in terrestrial and stellar mapping techniques, which meant an important stimulus for the study of geography, the astronomy and mathematics.

Aztec Astronomy The Aztec civilization arose from the 10th century. Its maximum splendor was obtained between the 14th and 16th centuries, in which I occupy from the current central region of Mexico to part of Guatemala. The Aztecs not only developed astronomy and the calendar, but also studied and developed meteorology, as a logical consequence of the application of their knowledge to facilitate their agricultural work.

NASA's Mercury Project Three days after the Soviets launched their first satellite, Sputnik 1, the United States launched the Mercury Program. It was October 7, 1958, and NASA sought to break the leadership of the Soviet Union in space. American engineers designed a bullet-shaped capsule.

The Russian program Soyuz Under the name Soyuz, which in Russian means union, ships and rockets are included in a program created in the early 1960s by the former Soviet Union. Unlike the contemporary American Apollo program, Russian Soyuz ships are still operational today. The Soyuz are crewable ships that can have up to three members on board.