From Cave Art to Hubble: A History of Astronomical Record Keeping (Astronomers' Universe)

Since ancient times, humans have been engaged in a continual quest to find meaning in and make sense of sights and events in the night sky. Cultures spread around the world recorded their earliest efforts in artwork made directly on the natural landscapes around them, and from there they developed more and more sophisticated techniques for observing and documenting astronomy. This book brings readers on an astronomical journey through the ages, offering a history of how our species has recorded and interpreted the night sky over time. From cave art to parchment scribe to modern X-ray mapping of the sky, it chronicles the ever-quickening development of tools that informed and at times entirely toppled our understanding of the natural world. Our documentation and recording techniques formed the bedrock for increasingly complex forays into astronomy and celestial mechanics, which are addressed within these chapters. Additionally, the book explores how nature itself has recorded the skies in its own way, which can be unraveled through ongoing geological and archaeological studies. This tale of human discovery and ingenuity over the ages will appeal to anybody interested in the field of astronomy and its rich cultural history. Since ancient times, humans have engaged in a continual quest to make sense of the night sky. Cultures across the world recorded their earliest efforts in artwork made directly on the natural landscapes around them, and from there developed increasingly sophisticated techniques for observing and documenting astronomy. This book brings readers on an astronomical journey through the ages, offering a history of how our species has recorded and interpreted the night sky. From cave art to parchment scribe to modern X-ray mapping of the sky,it chronicles the development of tools that informed and at times entirely toppled our understanding of the natural world. Our recording techniques formed the bedrock for increasingly complex forays into astronomy and celestial mechanics. In addition to these topics,the book explores how nature itself has recorded the skies in its own way, which we can unravel through geological and archaeological studies. This tale of human discovery and ingenuity over the ages will appeal to anybody interested in astronomy and its rich cultural history Front Matter ....Pages i-vii Introduction (Jonathan Powell)....Pages 1-7 Cave Paintings That Recorded the Night Sky (Jonathan Powell)....Pages 9-16 Other Ways the Ancients Kept Astronomical Records (Jonathan Powell)....Pages 17-28 The Astrolabe (Jonathan Powell)....Pages 29-38 Supernovae (Jonathan Powell)....Pages 39-79 Mercury Transitions (Jonathan Powell)....Pages 81-92 Mapping the Sky, From Shi Shen to Charles Messier (Jonathan Powell)....Pages 93-120 The 1639 Transit of Venus (Jonathan Powell)....Pages 121-133 Comets (Jonathan Powell)....Pages 135-162 Astronomical Observatories (Jonathan Powell)....Pages 163-214 Fossils, Tree Rings, and Ice (Jonathan Powell)....Pages 215-231 Back Matter ....Pages 233-265