Greetings my Faithful Readers!
This week's topic comes to you courtesy of Apollonia Voss, who kindly shot an entire list of ideas my way. I thought it appropriate that I choose this one in the week that modern Astronomers announced they may have found an inhabitable planet similar to earth in a far-off galaxy (in the constellation Sagittarius). The title, of course, is a tip of the hat to Paul Oakenfold, and you might recognize the line of song lyrics from a certain bubbly diet beverage's commercial.
If you read on, you'll find out some fascinating things. For example, did you know that medieval star maps were most likely globes, and the constellations appeared backwards (such as they might appear to God)?
Read on, and learn more...
Cheers
Aoife
Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon
m/k/a Lisbeth Herr-Gelatt
Riverouge, Endless Hills, Aethelmearc
The Astrolabe
by Gary Agranat and Dave Delligati
http://members.aol.com/chopstcks/gca7sky/astrolabe.htm
(Site Excerpt) One purpose of the astrolabe was observational. It could be
used for finding the angle of the Sun, the Moon, the planets, or stars above
the horizon or relative to the zenith. It could be used for surveying, such
as for determining the heights of towers and mountains, or the depths of
wells. However, other observing instruments existed before the astrolabe. It
was the astrolabe's ability to compute astronomical information that made it
more important.
Starry Messenger
http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/starrymessenger.html
(Site Excerpt) By drawing on the rich collection of instruments and books in
the Whipple Collection, the University Library and the Wren Library, we have
sought to produce a history of astronomy which focuses on the uses of
astronomy and its instruments, as well as on the practitioners of astronomy.
Astronomy and Islam
http://www.ummah.net/astronomy/
(Site Excerpt) Astronomy has been called the "queen of sciences". It
incorporates many disciplines such as physics, particularly optics,
mathematics and celestial mechanics. Since ancient times, Muslim scientists
have studied astronomy, contributing greatly to human knowledge. Yaqub ibn
Tariq, al-Kwarizmi, al-Battani, al-Farghani, al-Sufi, al-Biruni, al-Tusi and
Omar Khayyam are just a few of the scholars who have left a lasting mark in
the annals of astronomy.
Rundetaarn: Oldest functioning observatory in Europe
http://www.rundetaarn.dk/engelsk/frames.htm
(Site Excerpt) Rundetaarn (The Round Tower) was built on the initiative of
King Christian IV (1588-1648) with Hans Steenwinkel the Younger as the
architect. On 7 July, the foundation stone for Rundetaarn was laid. The
tower was the first stage of the Trinitatis complex, which was to gather
three important facilities for the scholars of the seventeenth century: an
astronomical observatory, a student church and a university library.
Humboldt University: Practical Medieval Astronomy
http://www.humboldt.edu/~rap1/EarlySciInstSite/Workshops/PracMedAstro_2.htm
(Site Excerpt) Why did people care about astronomy? Curiosity of course was
important to some. But an overriding concern was the proper determination of
when to celebrate Holy days, when to plant crops, etc. Of particularly great
concern was the determination of Easter, a non trivial task. According to
the Testament the Last Supper took place on a Thursday (the Passover meal),
the Crucifixion on Friday, and the Resurrection the following Sunday.
Humboldt University: Medieval Astronomical and Timekeeping Instruments
http://www.humboldt.edu/~rap1/EarlySciInstSite/Workshops/MedAstTimeInstF...
(Site Excerpt) For this workshop I have brought instructions and materials
for you to make two different time keeping instruments typical of the
11th-13th centuries. Before we begin the projects I will show you some
instruments I have made which illustrate the operation of these instruments
in terms of astronomical observations and phenomena. I will also discuss
briefly some of the techniques I have used in making them, and relate how my
methods compare to techniques current in the late Medieval period. You will
find additional details about these instruments and techniques on my
web-site.
THE AURORA OF 1192: ITS CAUSES AND EFFECTS
by Lynn H. Nelson
http://history.eserver.org/aurora-of-1192.txt?CFID=5867065&CFTOKEN=43168938
A paper on the subject.
The Planets and Their Children
A Blockbook of Medieval Popular Astrology
by Marianne Hansen
http://www.billyandcharlie.com/planets/
(Site Excerpt) The influence of the planets on humans was a subject of
popular interest in mid-fifteenth century Europe. Addressed in many medical
and astrological manuscripts of the time, it made its mark in early printing
through the appearance of blockbooks which contained depictions of each
planet in anthropomorphic form together with an illustration of the
pasttimes, professions, and conditions of its "children" - people influenced
at birth by the planet.
Digital Mirror; Medieval manuscripts: Astronomy
http://www.llgc.org.uk/drych/drych_s060.htm
(Site Excerpt) The oldest scientific manuscript in the National Library is
NLW MS 735C, which contains various Latin texts on astronomy. The volume,
written in Caroline minuscule, consists of two sections, the first (ff.
1-26) copied c. 1000, in the Limoges area of France, probably in the milieu
of Adémar de Chabannes (989-1034), whilst the second (ff. 27-50), from a
scriptorium in the same region, may be dated c. 1150.
Aligning Earth and Sky
Ancient Astronomy in the Kinki Area of Japan
By Steve Renshaw and Saori Ihara
http://www2.gol.com/users/stever/sites.htm
(Site Excerpt) Unfortunately, the changing winds of history and modern urban
development have obliterated many of the sites and relics of ancient
astronomical activity in Japan. However, the Kinki region (which includes
not only the large metropolis of Osaka but Kyoto, Nara, and the Asuka area
to the south), can provide the traveler with some glimpse of a past in which
astronomical observation played a central role in affairs of state as well
as the day-to-day life of ordinary citizens.
Commission for the History of Ancient and Medieval Astronomy (CHAMA)
http://chama.fltr.ucl.ac.be/chama2/index.htm
See especially the Bibliography page.
A Catalog of Medieval Astronomical Instruments
http://web.uni-frankfurt.de/fb13/ign/instrument-catalogue.html
(Site Excerpt) The basic philosophy behind the preparation of the catalogue
is that it is essential to hold the instrument in one's hands, to take it
apart, to examine each part carefully - in short, to play with it for a
while - in order to begin to understand it properly. Photographs are
inadequate for this purpose, but in some cases it must suffice. One may need
to examine some details with a magnifying glass, or even a microscope. The
task for the unsigned and undated instruments is then to relate them to a
school or a period. Again it is particularly useful, but rarely possible, to
examine related instruments together.
Models and Machines in European Astronomy (13th - 15th Centuries)
by Michael H. Shank
http://www.imss.fi.it/news/mechcos/eshank.html
(Site Excerpt) Between the 13th through the 15th centuries, Robertus
Anglicus testifies to astronomers interest in the work of clockmakers, Guido
de Marchia criticizes al-Bitruji and designs an instrument intertwined with
cosmological speculations about planetary rings in a fluid heaven, and
Giovanni de Dondi constructs an astrarium that he sees as vindicating
epicycles and eccentrics.
The Galileo Project
http://galileo.rice.edu/science.html/copernican_system.html
(Site Excerpt) Here you can find records of the other scientists and
scientific institutions of Galileo's time, as well as information about
Galileo's astronomical observations and instruments. Additionally, you can
access a document from the University of Bologna's Astronomical Museum about
17th century astronomical instruments...
Some Nautical Astronomical Terms in the Western Mediterranean c1300
by Alan H. Hartley
http://www.d.umn.edu/~ahartley/Medieval_Astronomy.html
(Site Excerpt) Boötes [= the constellation and its alpha Arcturus, and
sometimes the Bear(s)]
Lat. Bootes (Cicero); (med.) Boetes Artophilax (c1200 Lambert)
Port. Bootes (1572 Camões III.71; also Appleton)
1 Sp. Bootes (1272-75 Alfonso General Estoria I)
2 It. Boöte
Some Computer Programs for Research in the History of Ancient and Medieval Astronomy
By Benno van Dalen
http://user.uni-frankfurt.de/%7Edalen/programs.htm
(Site Excerpt) Below you will find links for downloading a number of
computer programs for DOS-PC / Windows, which I hope may be useful in doing
research on the history of ancient and medieval astronomy. I wrote these
programs during my doctoral research at the Mathematical Institute of
Utrecht University (Netherlands) and a postdoctoral fellowship of the
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation which enabled me to work at the Institute
for History of Science in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). Except for the
database of parameter values occurring in Islamic astronomy, the programs
are keyboard-driven DOS programs.
Star Maps
http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/startales2a.htm
(Site Excerpt) The earliest representations of the sky were actually globes,
on which the constellations were shown as though viewed from a God-like
position beyond the stars; this meant that the constellation shapes were
represented back to front by comparison with the way we see them from Earth.
In the Museo Nazionale, Naples, is a marble statue of Atlas holding on his
shoulders not the Earth but a globe of the heavens on which the
constellations are depicted in this mirror-image way (see picture at right).
