Steven R. Gullberg. Astronomy of the Inca Empire: Use and Significance of the Sun and Night Sky. (Historical and Cultural Astronomy.) 370 pp., figs., bibl., index. Cham: Springer International, 2020. €137.79 (cloth); ISBN 9783030483654. E-book available.

Isis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 112 (4) ◽  
pp. 826-827
Author(s):  
Christopher Heaney
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
Inca Empire ◽  
Night Sky

scholarly journals Steven R. Gullberg, Astronomy of the Inca Empire: Use and Significance of the Sun and the Night Sky

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian S. Bauer
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
Inca Empire ◽  
Night Sky

Steven R. Gullberg, Astronomy of the Inca Empire: Use and Significance of the Sun and the Night Sky Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2020. Hardback, 370 pp., 42 b/w illus., 275 colour illus. ISBN 978-3-030-48365. €135.19.

scholarly journals Lunar

JOGED ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dewi Sinta Fajawati
Keyword(s):  
Full Moon ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Big Bang Theory ◽  
Essential Idea ◽  
Visual Reaction ◽  
Night Sky ◽  
The One

Bulan merupakan sumber inspiratif dalam penggarapan karya tari ini. Secara ilmu pengetahuan, Bulan adalah benda langit yang disebut satelit, satelit satu-satunya yang dimiliki Bumi dan tercipta secara alami. Banyak teori yang mengatakan tentang terbentuknya Bulan, salah satunya adalah teori Big bang atau dentuman besar. Pada dasarnya Bulan hanyalah sebuah Benda besar berbentuk bulat yang tidak bisa bercahaya, cahaya yang kita lihat pada malam hari merupakan refleksi dari cahaya matahari. Akan tetapi keindahannya memang tidak bisa dipungkiri, karena dia paling bercahaya diantara hamparan langit yang gelap. Cahayanya tidak selalu terang, bahkan tidak selalu bulat, terkadang hanya terlihat setengah atau terlihat seperti sabit..            Penata tari memetaforakan objek bulan yang berada di tempat yang sangat tinggi sebagai sebuah cita-cita yang ingin dicapai. Seringkali lagu anak-anak yang menjadi pengalaman auditif penata tari, menjadikan bulan sebagai objek yang ingin digapai, misal lagu ‘Ambilkan Bulan Bu’. Namun intisari yang akan dipakai dalam penggarapan koregrafinya adalah tentang fase bulan yang tercipta. Bersumber dari rangsang awal melihat bulan atau rangsang visual, penata tari menginterpretasikan fase-fase bulan yang terjadi sebagai fase kehidupan yang dijalani untuk menggapai sebuah cita-cita tersebut.            Koreografi diwujudkan dalam bentuk kelompok dengan membagi dua karate penari. Delapan penari merupakan simbolisasi Bulan, dan satu penari sebagai manusia yang bercita-cita. Dengan bentuk tari dramatik, penyajiannya dibagi menjadi 5 adegan, yaitu Introduksi Big bang, Adegan 1 Moon happen, Adegan 2 Mengejar Impian, Adegan 3 Dancing with Moon, dan Ending ‘Catch Your Dream’. The moon is the essential inspirations of this choreograph. Theoretically, the moon is a sky object which is called as satellite. The one and only naturally created satellite belongs to the planet Earth. There are many theories that explain how the moon was created. One of those theories is Big Bang theory or massive crash. Basically, the moon is just a huge circle thing which is unable to shine its glow. The light that we experience in the evening is the reflection of the sun. However, thebeauty of the moonlight is undeniable as it has the significant light within the darkest night sky. Its light is not always the strongest, even it’s not always circle (full), every so often it is seemed only the half part of it or crescent moon.            The choreographer interpreted the moon that belongs in the highest as the goals that she wants to reach. Most of the time, the children songs (lullaby) that pick the moon as the main object that is desired to be reached, for example the song “Ambilkan Bulan, Bu”. The essential idea that is explored in this choreograph is the creational phase of the moon itself. It was started by way of visual reaction when the choreographer observed the moon, she interpret the moon’s phases as the phases in human’s life which are gone through to reaching their goals. Fall and recovery, passionate, and even sometimes they give it in, are interpreted from the moonlight. The full moon which has the brightest and the most perfect light is likened as the strong spirit. The crescent moon with its soft light is interpreted as low spirit and unconfident.             This in-group-choreograph is separated into two characters with 8 female dancers that are the symbolization of the moon and the other one female dancer symbolizes a human with aspire. With dramatic dance form, this choreograph is presented into five parts, including introduction part of Big Bang, Moon Happen in part one, Chasing Dream is part two, Dancing With The Moon in part three, Catch Your Dream in the ending part.

The Planets in Aztec Culture

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Milbrath
Keyword(s):  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Total Solar Eclipse ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Creation Myths ◽  
Morning Star ◽  
Night Sky ◽  
Solar Rays

The Spanish chronicles do not mention planets other than Venus, although they compare certain Aztec gods with classical gods such as Jupiter and Mars. Creation myths recorded by the Spanish chroniclers frequently name Venus gods, most notably Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. The focus on Venus seen in these texts is also mirrored in colonial period Aztec codices, which feature several Venus gods as rulers of calendar periods associated with the 260-day calendar. The famous Aztec Calendar Stone represents Venus symbols prominently in an image showing the predicted demise of the Sun in an eternal solar eclipse, to be accompanied by earthquakes. Venus is apparently seen as the cause of a total solar eclipse in the Codex Borgia, a pre-conquest codex from Tlaxcala, a community neighboring the Aztecs in central Mexico. Although no pre-conquest Aztec codices survive, the painted screenfold books attributed to neighboring communities in central Mexico provide evidence of the kinds of almanacs that were probably also found in Preconquest Aztec screenfold books. The Codex Borgia has two Venus almanacs associated with heliacal rise events and another focusing on dates that coordinate with events involving Venus and possibly other planets. A unique narrative in the Codex Borgia traces Venus over the course of a year, representing different aspects of the synodical cycle. The transformation of Venus in the narrative is evidenced by subtle changes in the Venus god, Quetzalcoatl, who represents the planet Venus throughout the synodical cycle. Another god, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli (“lord of dawn”), appears in the narrative associated with Venus as the morning star and also is represented in a death aspect during superior conjunction. This is in keeping with Aztec legends that tell how the Sun killed Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli with his solar rays. The Borgia narrative also helps identify Xolotl as the planet Mercury and provides hints about other planets that may be linked with different aspects of Tezcatlipoca, an Aztec god who ruled the night sky.

The Planets in Ancient Egypt

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Friedrich Quack
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Maximum Power ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Late Period ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Religious Associations ◽  
Night Sky

The five visible planets are certainly attested to in Egyptian sources from about 2000 bce. The three outer ones are religiously connected with the falcon-headed god Horus, Venus with his father Osiris, and Mercury with Seth, the brother and murderer of Osiris. Clear attestations of the planets are largely limited to decoration programs covering the whole night sky. There are a number of passages in religious texts where planets may be mentioned, but many of them are uncertain because the names given to the planets are for most of them not specific enough to exclude other interpretations. There may have been a few treatises giving a more detailed religious interpretation of the planets and their behavior, but they are badly preserved and hardly understandable in the details. In the Late Period, probably under Mesopotamian influence, the sequence of the planets as well as their religious associations could change; at least one source links Saturn with the Sun god, Mars with Miysis, Mercury with Thot, Venus with Horus, son of Isis, and Jupiter with Amun, arranging the planets with those considered negative in astrology first, separated from the positive ones by the vacillating Mercury. Late monuments depicting the zodiac place the planets in positions which are considered important in astrology, especially the houses or the place of maximum power (hypsoma; i.e., “exaltation”). Probably under Babylonian influence, in the Greco-Roman Period mathematical models for calculating the positions and phases of the planets arose. These were used for calculating horoscopes, of which a number in demotic Egyptian are attested. There are also astrological treatises (most still unpublished) in the Egyptian language which indicate the relevance of planets for forecasts, especially for the fate of individuals born under a certain constellation, but also for events important for the king and the country in general; they could be relevant also for enterprises begun at a certain date. There is some reception of supposedly or actually specific Egyptian planet sequences, names and religious associations in Greek sources.

scholarly journals On the action of ultra-violet sunlight upon the upper atmosphere

1937 ◽  
Vol 160 (901) ◽  
pp. 155-173 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Wave Length ◽  
Charged Particles ◽  
Solar Spectrum ◽  
Ultra Violet ◽  
Magnetic Storms ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Polar Aurora ◽  
Night Sky ◽  
Photochemical Action

The ordinary solar spectrum extends, as is well known, to about λ2913, the more ultra-violet parts being cut off by ozone absorption in the upper atmosphere. We have thus no direct knowledge of the distribution of intensity in the solar spectrum beyond λ2913, as it will appear to an observer situated outside the atmosphere of the earth. But it is now recognized that a number of physical phenomena is directly caused by the photochemical action of this part of sunlight on the constituents of the upper atmosphere. Such phenomena are (1) the luminous spectrum of the night sky and of the sunlit aurora, (2) the ionization in the E, F and other layers which is now being intensely studied by radio-researchers all over the world, (3) the formation and equilibrium of ozone (see Ladenburg 1935), (4) magnetic storms and generally the electrical state of the atmosphere. Formerly it was a debatable point whether some of these phenomena were not to be ascribed to the action of streams of charged particles emanating from the sun. There seems to be no doubt that the polar aurora and certain classes of magnetic storms are to be ascribed to the bombardment of molecules of N 2 and O 2 by such charged particles, for these phenomena show a period which is identical with the eleven year period of the sun, and are found in greater abundance, the nearer we approach the magnetic poles. But there now exists no doubt that the ionization observed by means of radio-methods in the E and F 1 regions, their variation throughout day and night, and at different seasons is due to the action of ultra-violet sunlight. This was decisively proved by observations during several total solar eclipses since 1932 (Appleton and Chapman 1935). The luminous night-sky spectrum, though it has certain points of similarity to the polar aurora, is on the whole widely different, and is found on nights free from electrical disturbances. The prevailing opinion is that it is mainly due to the ultra-violet solar rays, i. e. in the course of the day sunlight is stored up by absorption by the molecules in the upper atmosphere, and again given up during the night, in one or several steps, as a fluorescence spectrum. According to S. Chapman (1930) the formation of the ozone layer and its equilibrium under different seasonal conditions is also to be mainly ascribed to the action of ultra-violet sunlight. In the following paper an attempt will be made to discuss some of these questions in as rigorous a way as is possible with our present knowledge. It is evident that an adequate discussion is possible only if we have a good knowledge of (1) the distribution of intensity in the solar spectrum beyond λ2900, (2) the photochemical action of light of shorter wave-length than λ2900 on the constituent molecules of the upper atmosphere, which are mainly oxygen and nitrogen. We shall first consider (1).

scholarly journals Stars and Cultural Astronomy

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-133
Author(s):  
Bernadette Brady
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Relationship ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Night Sky

Stars are ubiquitous; the Sun and Moon are singletons. The Sun and the Moon visually dominate the sky. They change in the amount of light they produce, either monthly or yearly. They also rhythmically change how they embrace the horizon, creating a measure of time and seasons. In contrast, the stars are many and their light is small. Their place in the sky is fixed and, ignoring precession, their relationship to the horizon is constant, always rising or setting at the same point. They are different in almost every way to the luminaries, in their multiplicity, light, fixed spatial relationship to each other and fixity in a landscape. These distinct characteristics mean that the stars are a catalyst for sky narratives quite different from those of the luminaries. The most easily recognisable stellar sky narratives are the constellation stories. The multiplicity of the stars produces a scattering of lights across the night sky according to a fixed pattern which, to the human mind - with its apophenia, the tendency to see patterns - results in the heavens becoming a vast storyboard of constellations and clusters. These stories are placed on bright stars, dim stars, coloured stars, dark gaps or voids, and milky hazes. Every spot of the dome of the heavens holds some culture's myth, some culture's cosmic narrative, and every visible place in the dome of the heavens has been claimed by most cultures. Their consistency of movement and fixedness in orientation to each other, however, also offer humanity something quite unique: a view of eternity.

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.

Diamonds in the Sky!

2019 ◽  
pp. 101-109
Author(s):  
Nicholas Mee
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
White Dwarf ◽  
White Dwarfs ◽  
Star Trek ◽  
The Sun ◽  
New Class ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Night Sky

After consuming their nuclear fuel, most stars lose their outer envelopes and all that remains is the collapsed core of the star, an object known as a white dwarf. Ever since Galileo pointed a telescope at the night sky, each advance in telescope making has resulted in sensational discoveries. Alvan Clark & Sons ground some of the biggest telescope lenses ever made. Alvan Graham Clark discovered Sirius B while testing one of these lenses. Eddington deduced that Sirius B has a size similar to that of the Earth, but with the mass of the Sun, and was an example of a new class of stars—white dwarfs. The easiest white dwarf to see with a telescope orbits the star Keid. In Star Trek, the planet Vulcan orbits the star Keid A.

scholarly journals Communicating ALMA with the Public in Japan

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (H16) ◽  
pp. 639-639
Author(s):  
M. Hiramatsu
Keyword(s):  
Radio Astronomy ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Public Outreach ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
The Public ◽  
Night Sky ◽  
Human Side

AbstractI present the strategy and activities of the public outreach and communication of ALMA in Japan. Since most of the public is not familiar with the radio astronomy, we present the human side of ALMA to attract the public interest, as well as by showing the science results. To evoke the public interest on the radio astronomy, it is also effective to show the radio astronomy research topics on the planets, the Sun, and bright stars so that they can connect the daily night sky with the radio universe explored by ALMA.

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