AST 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Eudoxus Of Cnidus, Almagest, Star Catalogue
6 Jun 2020
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Document Summary
E. g. planets, stars, galaxies and the universe. It encompasses the study of everything outside the earth"s atmosphere. The name comes from the greek work astron (star) and nomos (law) Astrology idea that positions of celestial bodies provide information on personality, human affairs. Astrophysics the study of the physics of celestial objects. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe. Astrometry the science of measuring the positions of celestial objects such as stars and planets. Astronautics the study of space flight. Goes back to ancient civilizations of mesopotamia. Sumerians developed first form of writing before 3000bc. Studies motion of celestial bodies and developed practice of divided circle into. Many ancients cultures left structures with astronomical alignments. E. g. pointing to the rising or setting sun on specific dates. Hard to know what roles these structures performed. Philosophers of ancient greece developed ideas about structure of the universe.
