PDF COPY - Manuel berberian

We have forgotten and ignored our old traditions and by being passiveobservers, failed to anticipate the seriousness of the environmentil probLms. Wemust control and correct our behaviour, remember that during the time of theTeacher Zoroaster, Earth, Water, and Air were sacred and people tiveO in harmonywith nature, and that there is a need to respecthe nature's delicate balance."But whoso fosfers not our Mother-Earth,Behaves far worse than any of the bad,-He meets- his retribution atthe end',(Gatha Spenfa Mainu; yasna 50/6)Xl. Astronomy"That gaze with clear eyes on Earth and Sun,,(Gatha AhunavaitiV, yasna 32/10)Astronomy (the science that deals with the origin, evolution, composition,distance, and motion of all bodies and scattered matteiin the universe) is the mostancient sciences, having existed since the dawn of recorded civilization.Systematic observation of the celestial bodies was based on the magicians andastrologers practice in ancient Persia. lt was the duty of tie ancientpriesUastrologers to watch the seven wandering bodies so thaithey might predictand warn the king of any disasters the gods might be preparing ior the nation.Such observations promoted knowledge of occurrences in the heavens; theinterpretation of these observations required familiarity with constellations,particularly the constellations of the zodiac through which the planetary bodiesmoved. A second incentive for acquaintance with the heavens was the usefulnessof celestial bodies in serving as guides to travelers through the desert and over thesea, in telling the.time of day or night and in regulating a calendar. As long as2000 BC the Persian, Egyptians, and Babylonianl were using calendars based onthe regularity of certain astronomical events.The first recorded conclusions about the solar system were set down by theSumerians of the Middle East about 5ooo years ago. To them Earth was flat,motionless-and clearly the centre of the universe. The heavens appeared as athin dome within which the gods moved the stars, the sun and moon, and the fiveclosest planets- Though the sizes of these glowing, supernatural bodies varied,they all seemed to move at about the same distance from Earth. Beyond thedome there was nothing. Other early civilizations-such as the Chinese, Babylonianand Egyptian- had much the same view of Earth as the hub of things. The movingheavens, including the faintly luminous band of Milky way, were the realm of godiand demons who caused the seasons to change, wars to be won and rost, andwho otherwise influenced the currents of life on Earth.People in Mesopotamiare believed to have recognized a number ofprominent constellations as early as 3000 BC and to have named them after19