In ancient times, people watched the sky and used its changing patterns throughout the year to regulate their planting and hunting. The Sun seemed to move against the background of stars. A few bright objects (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn)...

The development of photography and spectroscopy in the nineteenth century allowed astronomers to record and analyze the light coming from stars and other celestial objects. This transformed astronomy from a purely descriptive science to a systematic...

Medieval astronomers were frequently called upon to resolve practical questions pertaining to social or religious matters. This was especially true in the Islamic world, where the motions of heavenly bodies were, and still are, closely tied to...

Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, and astrological practices of pre-history: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with...