ANCIENT ASTRONOMY

• 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

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

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.

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