Category Archives: Historical

History of Constellations

Posted on March 12, 2019 by richardtli

Long before history has been recorded, humans have studied the stars in the night sky. Although we have looked at stars for thousands of years, it wasn’t until 1930 that the 88 constellations were officially named by the International Astronomical Union. 48 of these constellations were named by Ptolemy in his book The Almagest in … Continue reading History of Constellations → Continue reading →

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Retrieving Voyager 1 – A Rescue Mission

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Jonathan Roberts

In 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1 to study the far reaches of our solar system. The program was a tremendous success: not only did the probe gather useful information about Jupiter and Saturn, it also captured the first detailed images of their moons (including a flyby of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon). Even now, after Voyager … Continue reading Retrieving Voyager 1 – A Rescue Mission → Continue reading →

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Is There Life on Mars?

Posted on March 8, 2019 by epiphany9

Mars, our red-tinted planetary neighbor, has long attracted human curiosity. Due to its unusual color, it was named after the Roman god of war. Although it is so much smaller than our planet (only about half Earth’s diameter and one-tenth its mass), it shares certain Earth-like features, particularly volcanoes and a great canyon. These structures, […] Continue reading →

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Venera, or the Soviets’ many attempts to reach Venus

Posted on March 5, 2019 by chiefkeith7

Despite being the sister planet of Earth, Venus is far from hospitable. Very far. Its atmospheric pressure at the surface is 92 times that of Earth’s, has an average surface temperature of 863 degrees Fahrenheit, and at higher latitudes sulphuric acid rains onto the surface. So what better force could there be to attempt to … Continue reading Venera, or the Soviets’ many attempts to reach Venus → Continue reading →

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Archeoastronomy and the Newgrange monument

Posted on February 17, 2019 by justinrstevens

Newgrange is a monument located in County Meath, Ireland.  This mysterious structure is estimated to be over 5,000 years old and was built by ancient inhabitants of Ireland during the Neolithic period.  Since its construction, word of the structure was passed down through generations as part of Irish folklore.  In the meantime, the mound-like shape…

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Archeoastronomy

Posted on February 11, 2019 by alexdickey18

Located in Southeast Mexico, Chichen Itza served as the home to one of the largest Mayan cities and possesses pristine examples of complex archeoastronomy. Perhaps the most interesting structure is the pyamid El Castillo which translates to “the castle.” This pyramid serves as a prime example due to its complex engineering and design that highlights … Continue reading Archeoastronomy → Continue reading →

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Shaving for Science – the Principle of Occam’s Razor

Posted on February 10, 2019 by epiphany9

One of the most crucial aspects of the Scientific Method is finding a model that fits observational data. However, what happens when multiple models fit our observations equally well? Which one do we choose? Here is where Occam’s Razor comes in. This principle states that we should generally choose the simplest model in such situations. […] Continue reading →

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Ancient Achievements

Posted on February 10, 2019 by reallyroyalqueen

In other religions, there was no need for astronomy except for the creation of the calendar. Ancient Pagans used Stonehenge to determine their calendar. In Early Judaism, they created their calendar. For Christianity, although it helped dictate holidays, it had pushback from philosophy and scientific observations. Astronomy played a major role in early Islam. Besides … Continue reading Ancient Achievements → Continue reading →

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Ancient African Astronomy

Posted on February 8, 2019 by wermanmd

We’ve all heard that Stonehenge was a type of calendar or observatory that has been around longer than civilization. I did some digging to find other examples of ancient astronomy practices and I came across the following video: Nabta Playa video source. More information. This is an example of ancient people demonstrating an understanding of astronomy … Continue reading Ancient African Astronomy → Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on January 30, 2019 by justinrstevens

Tycho Brahe (Dec. 14, 1546 – Oct. 24,1601) Perhaps Tycho Brahe’s most significant contribution to astronomy was his ability to disprove an accepted belief regarding the ability of celestial objects to change.  At the time, the accepted idea was that stars, planets, etc. were “unchangeable.”  However, Tycho Brahe’s observation of a 1572 supernova shattered this…

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