View a FREE sample

Chapter 1: The Dome of Heaven

• The ancient Sumerian, Chinese and Korean astronomers would climb to high elevations to get a better look at the stars.

• While ancient cultures didn't understand the depth of space, they were aware of the motion of the stars and planets.

• Practical reasons for learning about the stars and their movement included timekeeping and navigation.

• Stonehenge had its foundation in the skies; the Great Pyramid of Giza was aligned to a star.
• But early astronomers found that the more they learned about the movement of stars and planets, the more complicated they realized the universe was.

• Some celestial objects stopped in their tracks and moved backward in retrograde; they weren't aware that the earth was also moving.

• One of the early astronomers was Eudoxus; in 385 BC, he attended Plato's Academy in Athens.

• Plato felt that "abstract geometrical forms were the universe" and wrote about...

(read more Chapter Abstracts)

This section contains 2,527 words (approx. 9 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample