An application on the app store called “Sky Guide: View Stars Night or Day” allows its users to “study thousands of stars, comets, and satellites” (according to the App Store). Created by Fifth Star Labs LLC, the app turns the iPhone into a telescope of sorts, highlighting interesting constellations, planets, and stars. The application also gives notifications when satellites pass overhead. Clicking on a constellation, planet, or star, will give information on rise and set times, magnitude, declination and azimuth. One of the most striking features of this app is that it allows the user to explore the sky both at night and during the day. The user sees the current patch of sky through his or her phone screen in real time and can even look into future and past dates; this is a useful tool for, say, moon-watchers that need to know at what time the moon will be at its peak on some future date. The application features a beautiful design and calming music to accentuate the sky-exploring experience.
An unnamed stone circle outside of our rental home in the South of Ireland. Photo credit goes to my mother.
On the Center for Archaeoastrony’s website, they differentiate their science as “the anthropology of astronomy” rather than “the history of astronomy.” By studying the influences that astronomy has had (frequently, it seems, through the study of archaeological sites) on the humans and cultures who were studying the stars and attempting to reason with that which they did not understand through that which they could see. This has such an invaluable place in our understanding of not only the history of science and beliefs, but our own history as a race (someday maybe I will write a blog post which does not relate back to history, but it’s not today). Having visited Stonehenge myself, as well as many other astronomical and religious sites around the greater British Isles, I was struck by the grandiose size, structural complexity, and technological maturity of the sites. Aside from wondering how on Earth people (without a crane) could have constructed such a site out of rocks of that sheer size, weight, and stature, it does leave one wondering why they would have been so driven to put such time and energy into the erection of something of that kind. I try to imagine how the sky must have looked, so many thousands of years ago, when light pollution was just from the torches burning around the town, rather than the constant leakage of the cities onto the blackness of our nights. I imagine, looking at Stonehenge, looking at the endless and infinite seeming number of stars above them, their many beliefs which to some now may seem inane and unbelievable, would seem understandable and correct.
In 1977, Charles and Ray Eames produced a documentary about the scale of the universe. This documentary, Powers of Ten: A Film Dealing with the Relative Size of Things in the Universe and the Effect of Adding Another Zero, compared the relative sizes of people, locations, planets, and galaxies in our universe. The film achieved this comparison by starting from a one meter square area (m²), showing a lovely picnic, and zooming-out the camera for every ten seconds and ten times the distance, hence the “powers of ten.” While ten seconds may not seem like much at face value, it surprisingly only takes 60 seconds to see the entire Earth at 10 million m². The camera quickly reveals the vastness of the universe as the Earth becomes nearly invisible among the stars and black expanse of space. And the film invites the viewer to see everything unfold before them, quite literally.
Aside from scale, the documentary touches on other aspects of the universe as well. At 100 million m², a rapidly expanding line represents the speed of light, which crosses halfway through the Moon’s orbit in one second. One light year equals roughly the enormous distance of 1016 m², yet the narrator calmly informs us the camera has not even reached the nearest star at this point. Indeed, there are recognizable constellations, whose stars are so far away that they do not even move onscreen until reaching ten light years. It is fascinating to see specks of light move from stars to entire galaxies, going from the Milky Way Galaxy to the Local Group to the Virgo Supercluster. This makes the final image of outer space more jarring with its dark emptiness. While the narrator reassures the viewer this emptiness is normal, the transition to zoom-in back to Earth provides no small amount of relief.
Though the final scenes conclude with the zooming-in of the human body’s genetic makeup, the film clearly illustrated the magnitude of the universe. The simple technique of zooming-out a camera created a visual journey through our planets, stars, and galaxies. Although the film quickly left the Earth behind in the beginning, it leaves a hopeful suggestion that our planet forms a small yet important puzzle piece into a larger scheme.
Many ancient cultures built structures to tell time (like sundials) or mark the passing of seasons by placing them in the direction of the sunrise on solstices or where the Sun would create a shadow on a particular day. The study of the astronomical knowledge and achievements of these prehistoric cultures is called archaeoastronomy.
One of the most famous structures built to mark seasons is Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. Stonehenge served as a social and religious gathering place, but also as an astronomical device. Archaeologists have created reconstructions of what Stonehenge originally looked like; on the summer solstice, the Sun rises directly over the Heel Stone. In New Mexico, USA, the Pueblo People made a structure called the Sun Dagger in Chaco Canyon. On noon at the summer solstice, a single “dagger” of sunlight pierced the center of a stone spiral, while at the winter solstice, two daggers of light appeared on either side of the spiral. Unfortunately, due to a shift in the rocks, this effect no longer occurs.
Another famous example is the lines and patterns of the Nazca desert in Peru, although archaeoastronomers are unsure as to what astronomical significance they might hold. For example, many patterns are large figures of animals that may be representations of constellation, but nothing is none for sure. Other cultures, such as the Inca Empire, believed their rulers were descendants of the Sun. The World Heritage Site in Machu Picchu has different structures aligned with the sunrise on both the winter and the summer solstices.
These ancient cultures show us just how important celestial objects were and that the study of the stars is an ancient tradition going back thousands of years. While in modern times we use fancy observatories, telescopes on Earth and in space, and probes sent out into the Solar System, ancient civilizations built simple structures to study and observe phenomena created by the Sun, the Moon, and the stars.
Sources:
The Cosmic Perspective: The Solar System by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, and Voit
When considering the greater span of history, starting with my first Astronomy class taught by Professor Weintraub “How Old Is the Universe?” the concept of the nature of time in space has fascinated me. I think part of this relates to the fact that I am a history major and a history buff, and therefore inherently fascinated by time in general. I am drawn to astronomy particularly because of its relationship to the ultimate history, being the history of everything which can and does exist. It was when I was initially approached by the Cosmic Calendar, and the ways in which it helps truly conceptualize the incredible vastness of the past in such a manifold way, that I began to connect with the universal spectrum.
Cosmos’ Portrayal of the Cosmic Calendar – To view this image, click here. I do not claim to own or have edited/altered this image in any way.
January 1, 00:00, the Big Bang. From there, days span nearly 40 million years each, which each month representing nearly a billion years in total. In this way, we can understand even slightly more clearly the complexity of the universal history. It is hard to conceptualize a scale in which our entire recorded history takes up nothing but the last fifteen seconds. And yet, that is all the space that we take up in the temporal history of the universe. In this way, I find the Cosmic Calendar the most effective way to truly understand the amount of weight that Earth has in the greater span of everything. It seems to me to be the most compelling argument for life outside of Earth. Our Milky Way, a massive galaxy out of which we have never travelled, was only beginning its formation on May 11, and summer passed before our Sun and Solar System was made on September 1. I have a hard time believing that in this vast history of the universe, with our human race having taken up less than an hour of it in this yearlong calendar, we are the only ones around.
I would love to hear about other people’s takes on the Cosmic Calendar, and the ways in which it seems to confirm/deny the presence of other life in the universe and why?
Although light travels through space at the fastest speed physically possible (no object with mass can reach the speed of light), that speed is still finite. Combine this fact with the vastness of the universe, and the result is that light can take millions of years to reach us from galaxies and stars that are far away us, despite how quickly light travels. A consequence of this is that luminous objects we can observe in the night sky (or using space telescopes) appear to us as they were not at the present, but at the time the light left them. It is quite interesting to consider that what we see in the cosmos is effectively a window into the past. Astronomers and astrophysicists use this fact to study different aspects of the universe at different ages, such as the structure and formation of early galaxies. The picture below shows how a space telescope can be used to look at far away objects to learn above different eras of the universe. I’ll write more about how we figure out which objects are older and farther away in a future post.
This is a completely new stuff to me. Before this, I only knew 12 zodiacs, the result of early astronomers dividing the celestial sphere into 12 divisions and calling them 12 signs of zodiacs based on the brightest constellations in the sky at that particular time. Nowadays, people always associate zodiacs to astrology, the field of study that involves beliefs and movement of celestial bodies which interpretations are influenced by the perspectives of humans. Thus the predictions of one’s future and behavior based on his/her zodiac – this is what we call as horoscopes. Some other cultures also interpret zodiacs in their own way – the Chinese having zodiacs associated with 12 animals and Greeks also bringing along the meaning of zoidiakos, meaning ‘little animals’- and many more!
the zodiacs based on the constellations on certain times in a year. Picture taken in OUROBOROS PONDEROSA (go visit! their blog is awesome!)
Contrary to popular belief, there are actually 13 zodiacal constellations (Yes! That’s so exciting! At least, to me.) One named OPHIUCHUS is now sandwiched between Scorpio Sagittarius. Now, this is an exciting news – the ancients already knew about this 13th zodiac but they thought that it was insignificant thus its disappearance from the daily horoscopes. Moving on to the astronomy part of the discussion, ophiuchus is located at the celestial equator. It is more prominent during winter in Northern Hemisphere (that’s where I live) and summer in Southern Hemisphere around November to January. It was formerly referred as Serpentarius due to its outline that looked like a man clasping a serpent.
The sudden hype about ophiuchus started when NASA reported that there has always been a 13th constellation – it is still one of the 88 modern constellations – and that caused many astrology followers to go berserk (talk about the hassle in astrological dates). However, constellations and astronomy has nothing to do with astrology. One must not let bunches of stars to dictate his/her daily actions and future, but still the decision on whether or not to follow the signs is up to you – that goes without saying – you decide who you want to be.
You can read more about the controversial sign here or you can also check the “newly updated” astrological dates here.
Hi friends, I’m Akrimi Fauzi or Kimi for short. I came all the way from Malaysia to pursue my study in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in Vanderbilt University and now I am already in my sophomore year. Yayyyy.
Ever wonder where the picture below was taken??? It was taken when I was on my way to Crater Lake, Oregon but me and my friends stopped somewhere in the middle of our journey to capture this magnificent view.
One of my short term goals is to visit all states in United States before graduating because I want to explore this world as much as possible and travelling can only be done during a break. During the semester, I decided to take classes about the vast universe that has not been completely explored by human beings. I took ASTR 1210 class during Maymester last summer and I went to Vanderbilt’s observatory center. As for this semester, I’m looking forward to learn more about it from ASTR 2110 class.
My favorite movie about the space is Interstellar and if you haven’t seen this movie, here’s the TRAILER.
Most people have heard about the 12 signs of the zodiac, probably in relation to horoscopes and astrology. What people may not know is that the signs are changing – while you may have been an Aquarius before, you could be a Capricorn now. In fact, there is even a new zodiacal constellation, Ophiuchus, between Scorpio and Sagittarius. What are the origins of the zodiac and why are the signs different now?
Astronomers believe that the zodiac developed in ancient Egypt and was most likely adopted by the Babylonians. By studying the night sky, astrologers knew that the Sun took twelve lunar cycles (or months) to return to its original position. They also noticed certain constellations that correlated to the progression of the seasons. Ancient astrologers gave names to these 12 constellations based on when they occurred. There were four categories of signs: fire signs (Aries, Sagittarius, Leo), water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces), air signs (Libra, Aquarius, Gemini), and earth signs (Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo). For example, Aquarius is thus named because it was near the Sun during the Babylonian’s rainy season.
Some believe that the Babylonians purposefully left out a 13th constellation because they only wanted 12. In any case, there is a 13th zodiacal constellation, now called Ophiuchus, which occurs between Scorpio and Sagittarius. This means that there is a shift of dates, changing people’s zodiac sign. However, there is another reason why the dates of the zodiacal signs have changed: precession. Earth’s precession is the change in orientation of Earth’s rotational axis on a 26,000-year cycle. This causes the zodiacal signs to appear at different times of the year than they did when the zodiac was first created. It also means that at some point in the future, the zodiac signs will eventually appear in the sky at the same time they did for the Babylonians.
Since it first introduction, telescopes have served mankind a vast deals of researches experiences and discoveries of planets, moons and other intergalactic contents. As we all know telescopes help us to see stars beyond our naked eyes. It becomes a defense mechanism to predict the fall of asteroids or predict movements of celestial bodies.
One powerful telescope that has done many many great things is The Hubble Space telescope. Since it’s launch in 1990, the Hubble Telescope was marked as the most significant advancement of the astronomy field since Galileo’s Telescope. It has been said to cost NASA $2.1 billion to make the telescope. More than 14,000 scientific papers was published using the data from this telescope, thus making it the most productive scientific instrument ever exist. Also, I find it interesting that this telescope has travelled more than 3 billion miles along the circular orbit of the Earth.
This year, Hubble is turning 27 years old and some says that Hubble telescope will eventually die due to the pulling gravity force by the Earth. The sun is also baking at high temperature and degrading the telescope over times. Hubble Telescope had its last servicing mission in 2009 which was done by spacewalks. It will allow a robotic spacecraft to attach itself on the telescope and guide itself back down into the Earth’s atmosphere at the end of its life.
