Celestial sphere

Eighteenth and 19th century technologies transformed the way in which the night sky was observed and led to the discovery of celestial wonders, from stars, galaxies, meteors, moons, planets, comets to nebula. The result was, in part, the creation of celestial maps that showed an exponential number of stars in the heavens, adding to the awe of a sphere that is millions of miles away and beautiful beyond compare. Star atlases became a way of conveying information about the heavens, and Elijah H.…

Critique; The school of Athens by Raphael There is this very distinct and most interesting piece of art that Raphael created this piece of art is called “The school of Athens.” This painting presents to us four design principles of the art. Given that he uses unity, rhythm, proportion and emphasis, he clarifies many ideas presented in this particular piece of art. However, the school of Athens has many things going on at once. The painting not only is focused on the people but in the place…

some point our energy demand will outstrip the energy resources available on Earth. Once we’ve maxed out the energy available here on Earth, where will humanity turn to find more energy? One potential answer is that humanity could construct a Dyson Sphere, a hypothetical megastructure…

Greeks may have been known about Scorpius for 3000 years before Ptolemy and Scorpius was also known as “the creature with a burning sting” by Babylonians. The coordinates of Scorpius in the sky is 16h53m15s, -30°44′12″in the celestial coordinate system- a system to specify celestial…

of the sciences. Ancient civilizations observed heavenly events such as the passage of days and nights and the phases of the moon. From ancient times until the Renaissance, astronomy was orientated on the most accurate description of motions of celestial bodies observed with the naked eye: stars, and mainly planets including the Sun and the Moon. One aspect of the sky which does not appear to change is the pattern of the stars. The first nomads may have used the stars for directions findings…

not reconcile with Islamic teachings such as the influence of the heavenly bodies on humans and prediction of future events. Astrology dates back to the ancient Arab days as they had interest in the study of heavenly bodies, as they considered celestial bodies to be divine. Travelers at that time relied on the knowledge of the stars to guide them around. Later on Muslims adopted…

goes by you begin noticing the sun changes its exact paths. The sun’s path through the sky is farther north in June and farther south in December (the sun and the seasons, 2010). Around the end of March and September the sun’s path goes along the celestial equator. Then it rises east and sets in the west. After that the sun’s path constantly shifts to the north. At the time of the June solstice the sun rises to the north of the east and sets to the north of the west. After this the sun continues…

Astrolabes, an analysis in Islamic context Astronomical instruments from the ancient world were generally built upon various mathematical principles and hold much sophistication in their use and form. Back then, these instruments held much significance and were countlessly used in day-to-day life, since much of day-to-day life revolved around the sky and cosmos. One such instrument is the astrolabe. The astrolabe is an astronomical instrument that is considered to have originated from Ancient…

the geometric sense. 4. Ecliptic The ecliptic is the path the sun appears to take through the heavens as a result of earth’s orbit. As we spin on our path around the sun, the position the sun occupies against the backdrop of the celestial sphere…

away from geocentrism and in the eventual explanation of the mechanisms behind planetary motion are the topics of interest. The paper concludes that the Ptolemaic planetary model exhibited a sane and incredibly precise mathematical description of celestial motion given the limitations imposed by precision of the available tools. It could have easily been expanded further to…