Questions tagged [archaeoastronomy]
Questions regarding how in former times, people used and understood celestial phenomena.
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How did Hipparchus measure the length of the tropical year?
My understanding is that he counted the number of days between every other equinox. The first year he would have counted 365 days, but after 4 years the tally would have reached 1461 days. Dividing ...
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Is it possible to narrow down possible dates for the following eclipse pattern?
I am searching for an year which satisfies the following criteria.
Dates are in Gregorian calendar.
Criteria
Year range 3800 BC to 500 BC
Solar Eclipse of any kind between October 14 and October 22 ...
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Was lunar libration first observed or first predicted? In either case, who was the responsible party?
How old is the idea of the far side of the Moon? got me thinking that as soon as we see the moon librate we have to come to terms with there being even more of it we can't see.
The Moon's libration is ...
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How do scientists know that Earth used to spin much more rapidly?
News has just been released all over my news feeds about how paleontologists now believe that early photosynthetic organisms became much more efficient at producing oxygen after the Earth started to ...
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What is meant by "revolution of Sun's apogee"?
While reading Translation of the Surya Siddhanta and of the Siddhanta Siromani(1861) - Bapu Deva Shastri, I stuck in the follwing.
Chapter I, verse 41 & 42
In a KALPA (4.32 billion years), there ...
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Accuracy of calculating the vernal equinox?
Calculating the exact time of the vernal equinox is essential for many ephemeris calculations. NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies uses (at least for some purposes) the following, rather short ...
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Who discovered Wolf 359?
I always assumed that Wolf 359's discoverer had been Max Wolf, but I just found out that he simply measured its high proper movement and included it in his star catalog.
Since Wolf 359 is a very ...
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How do I find the signs that planets are in during any given date?
Say for example I wanted to know where the planets were on December 19th, 1664, at 1am; how do I figure that out?
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Relationship between precession and dating ancient alignments
Perusing the topics here. I am convinced that this is the right place to get some answers. Although it does appear that my question should be relegated to the "childrens table".
I am curious to ...
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