A Brief History of Astronomy

Paul Bergeron

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City

March 29, 2018 Course Plan

Objective To come away with an understanding of

I how astronomy developed,

I what contemporary astronomy studies,

I and what’s in the winter sky. 3. The Night Sky – Sky Orientation & Constellations 4. The Night Sky – Earth, Moon, Sun, and other Phenomena 5. Contemporary Astronomy – Cosmology 6. Contemporary Astronomy – Current Experiments What would you like to have covered?

Course Plan

Discussion Schedule

1. History of Astronomy – Ancient Astronomy 2. History of Astronomy – Scientific Era 5. Contemporary Astronomy – Cosmology 6. Contemporary Astronomy – Current Experiments What would you like to have covered?

Course Plan

Discussion Schedule

1. History of Astronomy – Ancient Astronomy 2. History of Astronomy – Scientific Era 3. The Night Sky – Sky Orientation & Constellations 4. The Night Sky – Earth, Moon, Sun, and other Phenomena What would you like to have covered?

Course Plan

Discussion Schedule

1. History of Astronomy – Ancient Astronomy 2. History of Astronomy – Scientific Era 3. The Night Sky – Sky Orientation & Constellations 4. The Night Sky – Earth, Moon, Sun, and other Phenomena 5. Contemporary Astronomy – Cosmology 6. Contemporary Astronomy – Current Experiments Course Plan

Discussion Schedule

1. History of Astronomy – Ancient Astronomy 2. History of Astronomy – Scientific Era 3. The Night Sky – Sky Orientation & Constellations 4. The Night Sky – Earth, Moon, Sun, and other Phenomena 5. Contemporary Astronomy – Cosmology 6. Contemporary Astronomy – Current Experiments What would you like to have covered? Today’s Plan

History of Astronomy – Ancient Astronomy

I A historical perspective

I What is science?

I Purpose of initial astronomy

I Astronomy in different cultures Disclaimer

I am a physicist, not a historian

We will discuss history, science, and mythology.

But telling stories is mythologizing, too Did he really...... run naked through Syracuse after discovering his eponymous buoyancy principle? ...pull a ship with his little finger, using pulleys to multiply the force?

Parables 6= History

Archimedes (ca. 287-212 BCE)

I Renowned inventor, scientist, and mathematician

I Came close to inventing calculus 2 I Proved Acirlce = πr , determined π to ∼ 1 : 1000 I Famously engineered defensive machines that thwarted the Romans

I Studied and explained levers; created block-and-tackle pulley systems Parables 6= History

Archimedes (ca. 287-212 BCE)

I Renowned inventor, scientist, and mathematician

I Came close to inventing calculus 2 I Proved Acirlce = πr , determined π to ∼ 1 : 1000 I Famously engineered defensive machines that thwarted the Romans

I Studied and explained levers; created block-and-tackle pulley systems

Did he really...... run naked through Syracuse after discovering his eponymous buoyancy principle? ...pull a ship with his little finger, using pulleys to multiply the force? Timeline Mediterranean Mesopotamia Invention of Writing 3200 BCE

Bronze Age Begins 3000 BCE

2800 BCE

Minoan Civilization Begins Giza Pyramids Constructed 2400 BCE

2000 BCE Temple of Karnak

1600 BCE Deir el-Bahari

Minoan Eruption Armana Period Iron Age Begins 1200 BCE

800 BCE

400 BCE Timeline Mediterranean Mesopotamia Uruk Period Ends Invention of Writing 3200 BCE Sumerian Civilization Begins

Bronze Age Begins 3000 BCE

2800 BCE Gilgamesh(?) Minoan Civilization Begins Giza Pyramids Constructed 2400 BCE Akkadian Empire Begins

Neo-Sumerian Empire Begins 2000 BCE Code of Ur-Nammu Temple of Karnak Babylonian Empire Begins

Code of Hammurabi 1600 BCE Deir el-Bahari Assyrian Empire Begins

Minoan Eruption Armana Period Iron Age Begins 1200 BCE

800 BCE Library of Ashurbanipal Medes-Persian Revolution Neo-Babylonian Empire Persia defeats Babylon 400 BCE Battle of Issus (Alexander vs Darius) Timeline Mediterranean Mesopotamia Uruk Period Ends Invention of Writing 3200 BCE Sumerian Civilization Begins

Bronze Age Begins 3000 BCE

2800 BCE Gilgamesh(?) Minoan Civilization Begins Giza Pyramids Constructed 2400 BCE Akkadian Empire Begins

Neo-Sumerian Empire Begins 2000 BCE Code of Ur-Nammu Temple of Karnak Babylonian Empire Begins

Code of Hammurabi 1600 BCE Deir el-Bahari Assyrian Empire Begins

Minoan Eruption Armana Period Iron Age Begins 1200 BCE Trojan War(?) Early ‘Rome’?

Archaic Period 800 BCE Roman ‘Regal’ Period Library of Ashurbanipal Medes-Persian Revolution Classical Period Neo-Babylonian Empire Roman Republic Persia defeats Babylon 400 BCE Hellenistic Period Battle of Issus (Alexander vs Darius) Timeline Mediterranean Mesopotamia Uruk Period Ends Invention of Writing 3200 BCE Sumerian Civilization Begins

Bronze Age Begins 3000 BCE

2800 BCE Gilgamesh(?) Minoan Civilization Begins Giza Pyramids Constructed 2400 BCE Akkadian Empire Begins

Neo-Sumerian Empire Begins 2000 BCE Code of Ur-Nammu Temple of Karnak Babylonian Empire Begins

Code of Hammurabi 1600 BCE Deir el-Bahari Assyrian Empire Begins

Minoan Eruption Armana Period Iron Age Begins 1200 BCE Trojan War(?) Early ‘Rome’?

Archaic Period 800 BCE Roman ‘Regal’ Period Library of Ashurbanipal Pythagoras: Spherical Earth Medes-Persian Revolution Classical Period Neo-Babylonian Empire Roman Republic Persia defeats Babylon 400 BCE Aristarchus: Heliocentrism Hellenistic Period Battle of Issus (Alexander vs Darius) Erastosthenes: REarth Hipparchus getchemistryhelp.com

What is Science?

I Process of testing and explaining the natural world

I tests are reproducible

I hypothesis make falsifiable predictions

I limited by experimental accuracy

Astronomy is the study of... “...the origins, physics, and evolution of plan- ets, stars, galaxies, and the universe as a whole.” –Department of Astronomy, OSU

What is Astronomy? Astronomy is the study of... “...the origins, physics, and evolution of plan- ets, stars, galaxies, and the universe as a whole.” –Department of Astronomy, OSU

What is Astronomy?

What is Science?

I Process of testing and explaining the natural world

I tests are reproducible

I hypothesis make falsifiable predictions

I limited by experimental accuracy

getchemistryhelp.com Astronomy is the study of... “...the origins, physics, and evolution of plan- ets, stars, galaxies, and the universe as a whole.” –Department of Astronomy, OSU

What is Astronomy?

What is Science?

I Process of testing and explaining the natural world

I tests are reproducible

I hypothesis make falsifiable predictions

I limited by experimental accuracy

getchemistryhelp.com What is Astronomy?

What is Science?

I Process of testing and explaining the natural world

I tests are reproducible

I hypothesis make falsifiable predictions

I limited by experimental accuracy

Astronomy is the study of... “...the origins, physics, and evolution of plan- ets, stars, galaxies, and the universe as a whole.” –Department of Astronomy, OSU

getchemistryhelp.com Early Astronomy Purely observational – focused on cataloguing Applied for

I Marking the seasons

I Aligning lunisolar calendars

I Telling time at night

I Navigation I Setting Religious events

I astrology: divination/prognostication Venus Tablet, ca. 1500 BCE I religious/philosophical cosmologies K.160, The British Museum

Etruscan Liver Chart, ca 400-300 BCE Antikythera Mechanism, ca 150-100 BCE Wikipedia Commons (Museo Civico) National Archeological Museum of Athens Egypt

Lunisolar Calendar (Luxor) Star Clock/Decan Chart Image Credit: hudsonvalleygeologist, blogspot Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons

I Solar Calendar:

I 36, 10-day weeks Lunar Calendar: ca 1200 BCE ca 1473 BCE I Decans: I 12 months, new moon I Syncrhonized: heliacal rising of I specific 36 star groups Sirius I ∼ 36 groups in a year I 5 day intercallary month

I 1 group every 10 days I month of rest I spiritually dangerous Mesoamerica (Maya)

Uxmal Image Credit: James Q. Jacobs

I Codices show Venus synodic cycle

I Govenors Palace: Venus built aligned not with Uxmal but with Venus’s Northern extreme

Chitzen Itza Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons

I Caracol: built observatory with line-of-sights for 20+ events I Temple of Kukulkan

I Corners align with sunrise/set for solar culmination at zenith I Kukulkan slithers at the equinox Anasazi

Chaco Canyon (ca 900 - 1150 CE) Alignments Great Houses:

I Pueblo Bonito & Chetro Ketl on the East-West geodesic

I Pueblo Alto & Tsin Kletsin North-South aligned

I Penasco Blanco & Una Vida lunar azimuthal maximum

I Pueblo Pintado & Kin Bineola Image Credit: James Q. Jacobs lunar azimuthal minimum

Piedra del Sol

I Observation point: Sun ‘balances’ two weeks before the summer solstice

I eclipse of 1097 with corona? China

Taosi Observatory ca 2200-2100 BCE

I 21-m wall forming an arc

I columns set into the wall foundation

I pit aligned with pillar gaps

Image Credit: He Nu, UNESCO/IAU I 2 gaps aligned with solstices

Astronomy

I bi (gnomon) for measurements

I experimental mixed with philosophical Taoism, Confuscianism, & Buddhism

I 6 flat Earth schools (3 major)

I zenith culmination ⇒ Earth-Sun Image Credit: Marilyn Shea, UMF distance