10/31/2022 0 Comments Ancient space wreck![]() ![]() Here we explore what they got right-and wrong-about the cosmos. How did ancient civilizations accomplish these feats of knowledge without the benefit of telescopes, satellites or computer technology? The old-fashioned way: through careful observation, generational record-keeping, pattern recognition and early mathematics. And-like the ancient Egyptians-they successfully calculated the length of a year. They could track and predict the relative movements of the sun, the moon, Mercury and Venus. They were the first-known people to predict eclipses. Their meticulously compiled data provided the foundation to create the first calendars, used to organize the growing and harvesting of crops and the timing of religious ceremonies.Īlthough their vision of the universe was based on mythological beliefs, the Babylonians' astronomical observations and predictions were astoundingly accurate. ![]() Some 6,000 years ago, they erected watch towers to scan the night sky, mapped the stars and visible planets and recorded their observations on clay tablets. "The device exemplifies a terrific achievement of synthesis in incorporating complex bodies of observational and theoretical knowledge, much of it deriving ultimately from the Babylonian tradition, and long preceding Greek interests in astronomy," says USC Dornsife's Lucas Herchenroeder, associate professor (teaching) of classics.Ĭonsidered the world's first-known astronomers, the ancient Babylonians were avid stargazers. However, researchers believe this highly sophisticated device originally included at least 69 intricately engineered meshing gears that enabled the ancient Greeks to track the phases of the moon and the positions of the planets, and even to predict the timing of lunar eclipses decades in advance.īut if the Antikythera mechanism can be considered a stunning embodiment of the ancient Greeks' impressive grasp of astronomy, it drew heavily upon the learning of a much earlier civilization in its use of the 19-year lunisolar cycle. Now fractured into 82 known fragments, there is surviving evidence of 30 bronze gears. The world's oldest analog computer and one of the most remarkable scientific objects of antiquity ever found, the mechanical model of the solar system is thought to date to between the third and first centuries B.C. Among them were bronze and marble statues, fine jewelry and glassware, and-most exciting of all-a startlingly complex cosmological calculator: the Antikythera mechanism. ![]()
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