scholarly journals Cultural Astronomy with Reference to the Mishing Community of Assam

2018 ◽  
Vol 0222 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-40
Author(s):  
Saurabh Kumar Nath
Keyword(s):  
Religious Life ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
The Way

For humans, the sky has always been enigmatic and embedded with riddles. Cultural Astronomy offers an interdisciplinary approach which facilitates the understanding of the beliefs and practices concerning the sky and the celestial bodies and the way people use their understanding of the sky. This paper presents the folk expressions, narratives and oral traditions of the Mishing community of Assam which suggest that this community believes the celestial bodies, mainly the Sun and the Moon, have immense importance in their social and religious life and perceptions of the cosmos.

scholarly journals The Antikythera Mechanism: The oldest mechanical universe in its scientific milieu

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S260) ◽  
pp. 135-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xenophon Moussas
Keyword(s):  
Main Part ◽  
Accurate Prediction ◽  
The Other ◽  
Stationary Points ◽  
Analogue Computer ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
Celestial Sphere ◽  
Astronomical Instrument

AbstractIn this review the oldest known advanced astronomical instrument and dedicated analogue computer is presented, in context. The Antikythera Mechanism a mysterious device, assumed to be ahead of its time, probably made around 150 to 100 BCE, has been found in a 1st century BCE shipwreck near the island of Antikythera in a huge ship full of Greek treasures that were on their way to Rome. The Antikythera Mechanism is a clock-like device made of bronze gears, which looks much more advanced than its contemporary technological achievements. It is based on mathematics attributed to the Hipparchus and possibly carries knowledge and tradition that goes back to Archimedes, who according to ancient texts constructed several automata, including astronomical devices, a mechanical planetarium and a celestial sphere. The Antikythera Mechanism probably had a beautiful and expensive box; looking possibly like a very elaborate miniature Greek Temple, perhaps decorated with golden ornaments, of an elegant Hellenistic style, even perhaps with automatic statuettes, ‘daemons’, functioning as pointers that performed some of its operations. Made out of appropriately tailored trains of gears that enable to perform specialised calculations, the mechanism carries concentric scales and pointers, in one side showing the position of the Sun in the ecliptic and the sky, possibly giving the time, hour of the day or night, like a clock. The position of the Moon and its phase is also shown during the month. On the other side of the Mechanism, having probably the size of a box (main part 32×20×6 cm), are two large spiral scales with two pointers showing the time in two different very long calendars, the first one concerning the eclipses, and lasting 18 years 11 days and 8 hours, the Saros period, repeating the solar and lunar eclipses, and enabling their prediction, and the 19 year cycle of Meton, that is the period the Moon reappears in the same place of the sky, with the same phase. An additional four-year dial shows the year of all Greek Festivities, the so-called ‘games’ (Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian etc). Two additional dials give the Exeligmos, the 54 year and 34 day cycle, which provides a more accurate prediction of eclipses. It is possible that the Mechanism was also equipped with a planetary show display, as three of the planets and their motion (stationary points) are mentioned many times in the manual of the instrument, so it was also a planetarium. From the manual we have hints that the mechanism was probably also an observational instrument, as having instructions concerning a viewfinder and possibly how to orient the viewfinder to pass a sunbeam through it, probably measuring the altitude of the Sun. There are fragmented sentences that probably give instructions on how to move the pointers to set the position of the Sun, the Moon and the planets in their initial places in the ecliptic, on a specific day, or how to measure angular distances between two celestial bodies or their coordinates. This mechanism is definitely not the first one of its kind. The fact that it is accompanied with instructions means that the constructor had in its mind to be used by somebody else and one posits that he made at least another similar instrument.

scholarly journals Gudernes rum og menneskenes univers. I de mayatalende lakandoneres verdenssyn

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Odile Marion
Keyword(s):  
Rain Forest ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Symbolic Representations ◽  
Social Forms ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cosmic Space ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
The One

In their mythology, the Lacandons - Indians living in the rain forest of Chiapas, Mexico - conceptualise a tripartite space of heaven, earth, and the underworld. The Lacandons perceive themselves as placed by the gods in the middle of a cosmic space that is created, delimitated and controlled by the two great celestial bodies: the couple of sun and moon. Through a detailed analysis of the symbolic representations of the sun and the gods of wind and rain, it is shown how all the most important features of the Lacandon universe is thought of as the outcome of complex interactions between solar and lunar principles. On the one hand, the workings of the sun (male) and the moon (female) create and recreate the essential qualities of the meteorological, climatic, and ecological spaces that constrain the forms of productive life. On the other hand, the Indians conceptualise the opposition, the alternation, and the complimentarity that characterise the relations between sun and moon as homological to the social forms of Lacandon reproduction. The ambivalent, complex, and multifacetted dialectics of lunar and solar principles reveal that cosmic equilibrium centres round the male-female bipolarity. It is argued that although the male qualities of the sun are considered higher and dominant, it is in faet the mythic image of the moon that metaphorises stability, completeness and totality.

scholarly journals Archaeoastronomical Aspects of the Archaeological Monuments of Siberia

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1 and 2) ◽  
pp. 109-117
Author(s):  
Leonid Marsadolov
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Astronomical Observations ◽  
The North ◽  
Ancient People ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
Night Sky

The necessity of astronomical observations for nomadic peoples of Eurasia was based on the sacral meaning of time. The celestial bodies, the Sun and the Moon were parts of cult of the Sky. During annual migrations, in particular those where there were no reliable landmarks, nomads navigated with the North Star and the main constellations of the night sky. Remains left by these nomads, including rock pictures, barrows and observation posts are the legacy of a complex, organised system reflecting the relations of ancient people with the cosmos.

scholarly journals ATTRIBUTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF CELESTIAL BODIES IN THE MIDDLE POLISIAN BELIEFS

2021 ◽  
pp. 104-110
Author(s):  
Antonina Plechko
Keyword(s):  
Local Population ◽  
Field Research ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
The World ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
Bad Weather ◽  
Diverse Groups

The article analyzes the attributive characteristics of celestial bodies: the sun, the moon and the stars in the Middle Polisian beliefs on the basis of dialect texts, which are valuable authentic material for the reconstruction of traditional spiritual culture. The research material was the texts of field research on inanimate objects collected in the territory of the Middle Polissia of Ukraine in 55 settlements of Zhytomyr and Rivne regions during 2010–2019 years. The purpose of our research is to describe tokens that are means of reflecting the attributive characteristics of the nomination of celestial bodies in the Middle Polisian dialects as one of the components of the linguistic picture of the world of a separate dialect space. The subject of analysis is the lexical and syntactic expression of the attributes of the sun, the moon and the stars in the beliefs of Polishchuks (local population of Polisian region. In the research the method of expeditionary collection of material, audio recordings with subsequent decoding and transcription of field material, the method of systematic description of the studied phenomenon for systematizing the collected material were used. The classification of attributes is given and the analysis of meteorological, color, sacred, temporal meanings, on external signs (on the size, on the form) is carried out. The results of the study indicate that the most filled and diverse groups of attributes that make up the Middle Polisian linguistic portrait of the characteristics of celestial bodies are meteorological and color definitions. Meteorological, temporal, external attributes enter into antonymous relations, as they contain in their semantic structure the corresponding positive / negative evaluative element (weather / bad weather). The color attributes, associated with the sun and the moon, are represented only by light and bright colors, there are no dark colors. While describing celestial bodies, we note a group of sacred meanings and adjectives with a gentle color, the suffix of diminution, which indicate a special perception of celestial bodies by Polishchuks. The collected material only partially reflects the characteristics of celestial bodies in the Middle Polisian dialects as one of the components of the linguistic picture of the world, so other means of reflecting the nomination of the sun, moon and stars require detailed study.

scholarly journals The sky movement and Tamil thinking in Pattupattu

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-14
Author(s):  
Muthulakshmi A
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
The Law

We could see the rise and set of the planets starting with the Sun. Tamil had many thoughts and opinions on the rise and set of those planets. They had calculated not only Sun’s orbit but also various other stars, planets and their orbital relations as well. Through Sangam literature, one could know that there were experts in calculating the celestial bodies. Subbu Reddiyar explains the poem from  ‘puRanaanuuRu’  that there were people who had mastered for years and could tell the everyday measures of ‘the law of the sun and its movement, the orbit surrounding by its movement, the direction of the wind and the sky without an axile’ (puRam 30). Thus, it could be understood that the ancient Tamils were capable of measuring not only the sky but also the movements of Sun and the celestial bodies. That is how he poem mention details about the moon, stars and the movement of the Sun.

Hazards from comets and asteroids

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Napier
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Meteor Storm ◽  
Hot Blast

The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea . . . The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers . . . a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark . . . and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss . . .. The Revelation of St John was probably written around 100 ad, but is part of a very much older ‘Star Wars’ literature, going back to the very earliest writings and probably based on pre-literate oral traditions. Common threads in these tales are often hot blast, hurricane winds, flattened forests, tsunami and cataclysmic floods, associated with blazing thunderbolts from the sky, a darkened sun, a great, red-tailed comet and what appears to be a meteor storm. Even without benefit of the twentieth century Tunguska impact, which destroyed 2000 square kilometres of Siberian forest in 1908, classical scholars have long regarded the stories as descriptions of a cosmic impact. Myth was a vehicle for transmitting astronomical and cosmological information through the generations, and it is surely a seductive proposition to see these tales of celestial catastrophe – which are found worldwide – as prehistoric descriptions of cosmic cataclysm, one-off or recurrent, local or global. Inevitably, this is a contentious area – only qualitative statements can be made, and one individual’s unifying hypothesis is another’s Velikovskian fantasy.

scholarly journals A New Look at the Sun

1974 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Wild
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Planetary System ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Atomic Spectra ◽  
Solar Astronomy ◽  
The Way ◽  
New Look

I have the feeling that to most astronomers the Sun is rather a nuisance. The reasons are quite complex. In the first place the Sun at once halves the astronomer’s observing time from 24 to 12 hours, and then during most of the rest of the time it continues its perversity by illuminating the Moon. Furthermore I have met numerous astronomers who regard solar astronomy to be now, as always before, in a permanent state of decline - rather like Viennese music or English cricket. Nevertheless those who study the Sun and its planetary system occasionally make significant contributions. There were, for instance, Galileo and Newton who gave us mechanics and gravitation; Fraunhofer who gave us atomic spectra; Eddington and Bethe who pointed the way to nuclear energy; and Alfvén who gave us magneto-hydrodynamics. Perhaps the point to be recognized is that the Sun has more immediately to offer to physics rather than to astronomy. That is why it is quite rare that a solar man finds himself with a large captive audience of mainline astronomers: and so the responsibility weighs heavily on my shoulders tonight.

scholarly journals BENDA ASTRONOMI DALAM AL-QURAN DARI PERSPEKTIF SAINS

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Hasan
Keyword(s):  
Full Moon ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Imperfect Form ◽  
Celestial Bodies

Abstract: The objects in the sky in an astronomical perspective is very much the type and amount, but in the perspective of The Quran consists only of the sun, moon, and stars. The Quran gives cues and clues about the movement of the heavenly bodies. Sky objects in the perspective of the Koran already set his destiny, and had been subdued, so consistently and definitely outstanding. According to The Quran cue each celestial bodies, circulation and no silent, including the sun are also outstanding. In the circulation of the month, has its own characteristics, because only months in circulation set manzilah-manzilah, so the moon when seen from Earth show different form, sometimes the perfect (full moon), and sometimes show an imperfect form. Thus, it can be well known, when the month of the date of 1,2,3, and so on, so that people can practice their religion is based on the moon trip. Abstrak: Benda-benda di langit dalam perspektif astronomi sangat banyak jenis dan jumlahnya, namun dalam perspektif al-Quran hanya terdiri dari matahari, bulan, dan bintang. Al-Quran memberikan isyarat dan petunjuk mengenai pergerakan benda-benda langit tersebut. Benda-benda langit dalam perspektif al-Quran sudah ditetapkan takdir-Nya, dan telah ditundukkan, sehingga beredar secara konsisten dan pasti. Menurut isyarat al-Quran masing-masing benda langit, beredar dan tidak ada yang diam, termasuk matahari juga beredar. Dalam peredaran bulan, memiliki ciri tersendiri, karena hanya bulan yang dalam peredarannya ditetapkan manzilah-manzilah, sehingga bulan ketika dilihat dari bumi menunjukkan wujud yang berbeda-beda, kadang sempurna (bulan purnama), dan terkadang menunjuk-kan wujud yang tidak sempurna. Dengan demikian, dapat dikenal dengan baik, kapan bulan tanggal 1,2,3, dan seterusnya, sehingga manusia dapat melaksanakan ibadah berdasarkan perjalanan bulan tersebut. Keywords: matahari, bulan, bintang, al-Quran, astronomi

Anaximander's Rings

1988 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
István M. Bodnár
Keyword(s):  
Compressed Air ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Celestial Bodies

Anaximander is the first philosopher whose theory of the heavens is preserved in broad outlines. According to the sources the celestial bodies are huge rings of compressed air around the earth, each visible only where it is perforated by a tubular vent through which the fire contained in it can shine. Greatest and farthest of them is the sun, next comes the moon and under them there is the ring (or possibly rings) of the stars. It is a common practice to put and answer the following questions:(i) ‘…why he should have placed the stellar circles or rings closer to the earth than are the sun and the moon.’(ii) ‘…why these lower rings of stellar ρ do not obscure the brighter but more distant bodies.’

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