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Chapter 1: The Dome of Heaven
• The ancient Sumerian, Chinese and Korean astronomers would climb to high elevations to get a better look at the stars.
• While ancient cultures didn't understand the depth of space, they were aware of the motion of the stars and planets.
• Practical reasons for learning about the stars and their movement included timekeeping and navigation.
• Stonehenge had its foundation in the skies; the Great Pyramid of Giza was aligned to a star.
• But early astronomers found that the more they learned about the movement of stars and planets, the more complicated they realized the universe was.
• Some celestial objects stopped in their tracks and moved backward in retrograde; they weren't aware that the earth was also moving.
• One of the early astronomers was Eudoxus; in 385 BC, he attended Plato's Academy in Athens.
• Plato felt that "abstract geometrical forms were the universe" and wrote about...
This section contains 2,527 words (approx. 9 pages at 300 words per page) |
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