Favourite periods in the history of astronomy?

[jambouk]

This is just a bit of fun. Which periods in the history of astronomy interest you the most? The survey will allow you to tick every option, but please restrict yourself to just three choices. I apologise if the classifications below annoy anyone or appear too Euro-centric or are just wrong - all errors are solely mine. Thanks. James.

[ollypenrice]

I have a special affection for astronomy in the first half of the twentieth century, the age of the big photographic telescopes and the arrival of astrophysics on the back of the understanding of spacetime and the nature of the atom. Barnard, Slipher, Shapley, Hubble, Baader... Most of the discovery was done in America where they had the telescopes.

Olly

[Alien 13]

I am fond of the ancient astronomers who gave us the calendar, the 24 hour day and the first examples of prolonged detailed observation.

Alan

[Stub Mandrel]

I always fancied a grandstand view of the late heavy bombardment ;-)

[laudropb]

Enjoy reading about the pioneers of the telescope.

[jambouk]

Interesting spread of results so far, thanks guys.

I suspect our individual interests are also influenced by media coverage and books etc; I suspect the distribution of numbers books covering the various periods may be in some sort of proportion of what we are interested in. No one has selected Middle Ages, 500 AD to 1500 AD, though I have no idea what was happening then and will have to Google it later.

Good stuff.

James

 

[Stub Mandrel]

I said prehistory, slightly tongue in cheek, although to see a massive asteroid plunge into a red-hot planet would be quite a sight...

That said, being seven when men landed on the moon, and standing outside looking up at it knowing they were there was a pretty awe-inspiring experience. i hope youngsters who see the ISS feel something of the same excitement, but I doubt it when exposed to even the 25-year old special effects of star wars.

It's also pretty amazing to be here, now at a time when even someone on a budget can produce imagery that rivals the sort of things being taken with the world's largest telescopes fifty years ago and robot probes are making amazing discoveries.

I just hope I last long enough to see people back on the Moon or Mars (why don't they set up a semi-permanent Moonbase to test the tech for a Mars base?)

[Putaendo Patrick]

I wanted to go with Medieval but in the end went with Ancient, 16th Century and 19th Century.

The truth is that in the Dark Ages, there was nothing new going on in astronomy in Western Europe. Surviving manuscripts are for the most part copies of late Classical originals (now lost) or compilations and glosses based on them. Things in Europe got a little better in the 12th century onward with contact with the Islamic world through the Crusades and Arab/Jewish culture in the Mediterranean (especially Spain, Sicily and Malta).

The Islamic contribution to astronomy, however, was enormous. Most of today's named stars derive from Arabic, for example. Their culture preserved much material, including Ptolomy, from the Greeks (via the Byzantine empire) which was advanced by some really first rate Islamic astronomers.

[DeepSkyBagger]

I'm a firm fan of the golden age of observational astronomy - Messier, the Herschels etc., simply because that's what I do. I feel a certain closeness to these people when I look at the things that they looked at. I know that my view of one of William Herschel's discoveries is very much what he saw, back in the 1780s. There's a connection there.

I also feel very privileged to have lived through the first great robotic exploration of the Solar System. I saw the first images from Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto more or less as they arrived on Earth. Not to mention various asteroids and comets.

I would have loved to observe under the pristine skies enjoyed by pre-light pollution astronomers, but I feel I would miss my electric drive and computerised GoTo system, not to mention a million other things - and that includes two centuries of research which lets me know exactly what it is that I'm looking at!

[DHEB]

On 3/20/2016 at 18:16, Alien 13 said:

I am fond of the ancient astronomers who gave us the calendar, the 24 hour day and the first examples of prolonged detailed observation.

Alan

I agree! It is also astonsihing how many clever things the ancient and Babylonian astronomers figured out without any electronic calculators or any of the advanced instruments we have now, and to what precision! Just think of the Babylonian astronomers figuring out the unequal movement of the Sun which allowed Ptolemy to tabulate the equation of time. Just that leaves me speechless!

[DHEB]

On 3/20/2016 at 17:42, ollypenrice said:

I have a special affection for astronomy in the first half of the twentieth century, the age of the big photographic telescopes and the arrival of astrophysics on the back of the understanding of spacetime and the nature of the atom. Barnard, Slipher, Shapley, Hubble, Baader... Most of the discovery was done in America where they had the telescopes.

Olly

And also, may be, because during that time Europe was very busy at war :-/

[DHEB]

On 3/20/2016 at 21:22, jambouk said:

Interesting spread of results so far, thanks guys.

I suspect our individual interests are also influenced by media coverage and books etc; I suspect the distribution of numbers books covering the various periods may be in some sort of proportion of what we are interested in. No one has selected Middle Ages, 500 AD to 1500 AD, though I have no idea what was happening then and will have to Google it later.

Good stuff.

James

 

As have been said, things did happen but not in Europe at that time, but the Islamic world did a lot of progress, and astronomy was also well and alive in China and India. The Mayans in Central America also cultivated their, for thr time, very advanced brand of astronomy.