What is Astronomy
Astronomy is the science of the heavens. It is the study of the universe and all it’s components beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Astronomers investigate the physics, chemistry, mathematics and creation of the Earth, the Sun, the Moon and the planets, as well as all of the galaxies and other phenomena in space. Astronomy also explores the reaction between all of the bodies in the Solar System.
Ancient Astronomy
Ever since man settled on the land and started to grow his own food, there was the need to be able to predict when the seasons changed, and when rain and droughts occurred so that they could plant and harvest crops at the best time. Calendars were created by ancient civilisations that were able to mark the changes in time by the observed movements in the planets and the stars. The patterns of the stars could also be used as a navigational tool to help people in their travels.
The Earth’s axis is a line that goes through the Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole. The axis is not completely vertical, but tilted slightly at a 23.5° angle. The Earth takes a year to travel around the sun. This is called the Earth’s orbit. As the Earth orbits around the sun, the tilt of the axis means that part of the Earth, either the northern hemisphere or the southern hemisphere, is further away from the light and warmth of the sun. This results in changes in temperature, causing the different seasons to occur, summer, autumn, winter and spring.
Daylight Hours in Egypt and the Netherlands
This graph compares the daylight hours on June 1st 2013 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and Cairo in Egypt. The sunrise in Amsterdam is ½ an hour earlier than in Cairo and the sunset is nearly two hours later. This means that the total daylight hours in Amsterdam in the Netherlands is 16 ½ hours long, and nearly 14 hours long in Cairo in Egypt, making a difference of 2 ½ hours.
This difference is because the Netherlands is further north on the Earth than Egypt, and at this time of the year, is closer to the sun than Egypt. This means that the Netherlands gets more sunlight at this time of year.
Sunrise, sunset, dawn and dusk times, table
The word “eclipse” comes from the Greek language meaning “the darkening of a heavenly body”. It is an event where an astronomical body is hidden temporarily by when it passes into the shadow of another body, or when another body passes between it and someone viewing it.
The two main types of eclipses are Solar eclipse and Lunar eclipse, but an eclipse can occur when a planet passes into the shadow of its moon, a moon passing into the shadow of a planet, or a moon massing into the shadow of another moon.
Geometry of the Sun, Earth and Moon during an eclipse of the Sun
When viewed from Earth a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun.
Geometry of the Sun, Earth and Moon during an eclipse of the Sun
A Lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow.
2006 Total Solar eclipse
For the official NASA website containing information, maps and tables on 7000 years (past, present and future) of eclipses, go to;
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html
A burial mound in Magdalenenberg, Germany was created in 618 BC for a Celtic prince. This mound contained the body of the prince and 130 warriors. But it was not just a grave. In 2011 when the mound was being reevaluated, Dr Allard Mees, a researcher at the Romisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseum discovered that the bodies buried in the mound were in a pattern, and that this pattern had an astronomical significance. Also in the mound were long wooden posts in a row.
By comparing the positions of the bodies and the wooden posts against data from NASA showing the constellations in the sky at that time over Germany, Dr Mees realised that they matched and that the Celts who had built the mound had built it according to the night sky at that time. The posts were positioned to be able to focus on the position of the moon, and the bodies were laid out according to the constellation pattern at that time of midwinter and midsummer.
This meant that the burial mound was a huge astronomical chronometer. A chronometer measures time. The Celts would have been able to use the calendar to predict the start of the seasons and also the Lunar standstills which occur every 18.6 years,
This calendar is considered to be the earliest and most complete Celtic calendar based on the moon to have been found so far.
Astronomy
The Orbit of the Earth and it's Effect on the Seasons
Eclipses
Solar Eclipse
Lunar Eclipse
Time Elapsed Photos of Eclipses
2006 Total Solar Eclipse
Total Lunar Eclipse of 2004
October 27th - 28th
The Greeks and the Romans considered the Celts to be barbarians. They were not considered to have any intellectual knowledge and therefore not much knowledge of astronomy. Even today, websites on ancient astronomy often mention only the Egyptians, Babylonians, Chinese and the Maya, and not Celtic astronomy. The Celts actually built calendars to predict the seasons and keep time, but they used the moon as their guide, not the sun like most other cultures
Celtic Astronomical Invention
Posts at the Glauberg Mound, similar to how they would have been at Magdalenenberg
The plan of the Hallstatt Prince’s burial mound, mapped against the constellations.
Sunrise, sunset, dawn and dusk times, graph for the Netherlands
Sunrise, sunset, dawn and dusk times, table for the Netherlands
Sunrise, sunset, dawn and dusk times, graph for Egypt
Sunrise, sunset, dawn and dusk times, table for Egypt