Ancient Greek Astronomy

Ptolemy, a Roman astronomer came up with the theory that the universe revolved around Earth and all the creatures inhabiting it (Doc. C). This theory, The Geocentric Universe of Ptolemy, was adjusted by most of the people during The Middle Ages. However, much later on, Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, disagreed with Ptolemy’s theory. With his use of math and reason, he came up with a new theory called The Heliocentric Universe of Copernicus (Doc. C). He said that the universe & Earth itself revolves around the sun. The Church denied this theory because they did not want to be proven wrong. If the Church was wrong about this part of the universe, this would then cause man to wonder what else they could be wrong about, or even lied to them about. This new theory taught men to think for themselves and not to rely on the Church for

In the Scientific In concordance with Christian doctrines, this system implies that heaven and the throne of God lie beyond the tenth sphere. On the other hand, during the first half of the 16th century, Polish cleric Copernicus developed an astronomical model which positions the motionless Sun at the center of the universe, with the Earth, the moon, and six other planets revolving at a constant speed around it. He argues that all stars were at rest and that their nightly movements are simply indications of the earth’s rotation. However, members of the Church, especially Protestants, who interpreted the Bible literally, refused to grant Copernicus credit for his theory. Nevertheless, once released among the population, the Copernican theory raised support from various scholars, a few of whom, such as Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo, went on to dedicate their career to solidify its legitimacy. With their use of mathematical reasoning, instead of antic philosophy, the Copernican theory finally became justified among the population. Pertaining to its influence among laypeople, the Copernican theory raised various questions against the

Ancient Greek Astronomy Since the first Egyptian farmers discovered the annual reappearance of Sirius just before dawn a few days before the yearly rising of the Nile, ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean have sought to explain the movements of the heavens as a sort of calendar to help guide them conduct earthly activities. Counting phases of the moon or observing the annual variations of day length could, after many years' collection of observations, serve as vital indicators for planting and harvesting times, safe or stormy season for sailing, or time to bring the flocks from winter to summer pastures. With our millennia of such observation behind us, we sometimes forget that seeing and recording anything less obvious than

Among these people were Copernicus who believed the sun was at the center of the world and the earth, stars and planets revolved around it. Danish astronomer Brahe helped contribute to this idea by contributing a large mass of data about the universe that he was able to discover. His student Kepler kept his ideas going, as he formulated many laws of planetary motion. He said the orbits around the sun were elliptical, planets don’t move in a uniform speed and the time a planet completes its orbit is related to its distance from the sun. Meanwhile, Florentine Galileo decided to use experiments to find out what happened and not what should happen, and discovered that a uniform force makes a uniform acceleration as well as inertia laws, that an object will be in motion forever unless stopped by another force.

A Astronomy Mesopotamians started studying astronomy, which is the science of stars, planets and space as early as 7,985 BC. As Mesopotamians studied astronomy they started forming beliefs about astrological culture. They started the belief of creationism, the belief that a divine being(s) created the universe and everything in it.

Ancient Greece's summers were hot and dry. Temperatures averaged about 24° in summer. The Mediterranean sea and its  northwesterly breeze, known as the Etesian, kept temperatures at a comfortable level.  Greece is on a peninsula, as pictured in source 3, which is land that is almost completely surrounded by water.

The scientific revolution was a significant period for scientific discovery and growth, which started in the 1500’s and ended in the 1700’s. For thousands of years, people have observed and tracked the “heavenly bodies” to find some insight into how the universe functions. The planets are probably named after Greek and Roman gods because of the pagan belief that the heavenly bodies were gods and goddesses. The age old theory that the earth was the center of the universe was argued by Copernicus and eventually disproved by Galileo. Galileo was a firm believer in Copernicus’ theory that the earth was not the center of the universe and worked to prove him right despite the fact that no one believed in Copernicus’ theory. If he had not done

Since the times of ancient Greece the stars have been looked at with wonder. It was in the stars that they told stories and in the stars that they found their gods. And still today, it would seem,the stars shine awfully bright. Today the stars blind

In the future NASA is looking forward to sending four astronauts to mars. They will be traveling on the Orion spacecraft. They will be launching from the Space Launch System in Florida. The Space Launch System when finished will be NASA’s most powerful rocket they have ever created.The rocket needs

Like men in other civilizations, ancient Greeks also looked into the night sky and saw those thousands of twinkling lights. They could see that most of the tiny lights are fixed relative to each other, but a few wonder (move) about. They called those wandering lights "Planets" (in Greek, planet means wanderer); the rest fixed tiny lights were called, “Stars”. With their naked eyes, they could see only five planets. The English names by which we now know these five planets; Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, were derived from the names of mythological Roman Gods. In Roman mythology; Mercurius, son of Jupiter, is the patron god of financial gain and supposed to move fast. Planet mercury was named after him. The name was appropriate

Claudius Ptolemy and Nicholas Copernicus were two famous astronomers known for their opposing views of the universe. Ptolemy founded the Ptolemaic system, which stated that the Earth was at the center of the universe. His idea was also known as the geocentric theory. The geocentric theory stated that the Earth was in the center of the universe, standing still, while all the other planets and stars revolved around it. The lack of scientific knowledge led his theory to be widely accepted. The Copernican theory, which revolved around a heliocentric idea, claimed that the sun was at the center of the universe, while the planets, including Earth, circled around it. His idea was not widely popular because of the already accepted propositions with

Nicholas Copernicus is considered one of the founders of modern astronomy. His discovery's led him to the conclusion that the Earth rotates on its axis and that it, like the other planets, revolves around the sun. His discovery's influenced scientists and astrologers that came after him, such as Galileo, Newton and Kepler.

The Greeks make significant advances in the fields of both astronomy and astrology. In astronomy their analytical approach to the heavens leads to early insights of great brilliance, even though they eventually blind European astronomers for more than a millennium with the elaborately observed but entirely false Ptolemaic system.

Ancient civilizations used astronomy to count the passage of time. First just days, then they made a whole calendar based on the sky. Not only did they keep track of days, months, and years, they kept track of seasons by watching and observing the sky. They also named several of the planets after their gods and goddesses because the believed that space had a connection with (or were ruled by) the gods and goddesses of their beliefs. The Sun, Moon, and stars were what many civilizations (such as the Egyptians) used to determine when to plant and harvest crops.

It had motivated people to question the wisdom, especially of the Catholic Church. Humanism had also made people want to use experimentation and observation to solve earthly problems. As noted earlier, people studied different areas of science, biology, and astronomy. During the Middle Ages, people believed that each zodiac, or a group of 12 constellations that stretch across the sky, sign each controlled different parts of the body. But, during the Renaissance, people used cadavers to better explain the human body. Astronomy was an area that people began to study in the Renaissance. In the Middle Ages, Ptolemy developed a theory that the Earth was the center of the universe. The Catholic Church accepted his idea. However, Copernicus, who lived during the Renaissance, thought that Ptolemy’s statement was incorrect and developed a different understanding of the universe using mathematics. He realized that the Sun was the center of the universe (Document C) (Document D)