Constellations Thesis Book by Nesrin Zidan
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The 48 constellations originally
listed by Ptolemy were expanded upon by
European astronomers and celestial cartographers
throughout the 16th and 17th
centuries AD; these additional constellations
were mostly “new discoveries” made
by the Europeans who first discovered
the southern hemisphere (The Constellations).
Because of the rise of the religious
influence of the church, in Europe, at this
time, the Middle Ages are typically seen
as a dark era for scientific knowledge and
advancement. The Middle East, however,
was the region that surpassed Greek advancements.
From the ninth through the
sixteenth centuries A.D., astronomy flourished
all over the Muslim world, including
the Arab states of the period, Persia, and
Central Asia.
As a result, during ancient astronomy’s
Golden Age, impressive astronomical
observatories were constructed in what
is now known as Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran,
and Uzbekistan. Hundreds of stars and
constellations, including Altair, Deneb,
Vega, and Rigel, and lunar craters bearing
Muslim astronomers’ names, such as Alfraganus,
Albategnius, and Azophi, show
that Arabic astronomy is still influential
today (The History of Astronomy: A Timeline,
2019).
Modern astronomy in Europe
started to truly emerge during the Renaissance
period, with Copernicus’ publication
of his book “De Revolutionibus
Orbium Coelestium” in 1543 A.D., which
revived Aristrachus’ heliocentric theory
of the universe using actual backed data.
Moreover, Tycho Brahe made precise and
thorough observations of the locations of
the planets in 1576 AD to further support
the Copernican system’s superiority to the
Ptolemaic one.
After learning that the planets
orbit the Sun in an elliptical, rather than
a circular, manner, Johannes Kepler later
established his three laws of planetary
motion in 1605 A.D. The invention of the
refractor telescope by Dutch eyeglasses
manufacturer Hans Lippershey in 1608
A.D. marks the beginning of observational
equipment designed for astronomical
purposes.