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Astronomy - Wikipedia-4

The document discusses the history of astronomy from the pre-colonial Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, highlighting the significant contributions of various astronomers and the support of the Roman Catholic Church. It details the transition from medieval astronomical practices to the heliocentric model proposed by Copernicus, which was further developed by Galileo and Kepler, culminating in Newton's laws of gravitation. The advancements in telescopic technology and the study of celestial mechanics in the 18th and 19th centuries are also noted for improving the understanding of planetary motions.

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Engr. Md. Abdul Kader Atik
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3 views

Astronomy - Wikipedia-4

The document discusses the history of astronomy from the pre-colonial Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, highlighting the significant contributions of various astronomers and the support of the Roman Catholic Church. It details the transition from medieval astronomical practices to the heliocentric model proposed by Copernicus, which was further developed by Galileo and Kepler, culminating in Newton's laws of gravitation. The advancements in telescopic technology and the study of celestial mechanics in the 18th and 19th centuries are also noted for improving the understanding of planetary motions.

Uploaded by

Engr. Md. Abdul Kader Atik
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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documented a meteor shower in August 1583.

[33][34]
Europeans had previously believed that there had been no
astronomical observation in sub-Saharan Africa during the pre-
colonial Middle Ages, but modern discoveries show
otherwise.[35][36][37][38]

For over six centuries (from the recovery of ancient learning


during the late Middle Ages into the Enlightenment), the
Roman Catholic Church gave more financial and social support
to the study of astronomy than probably all other institutions.
Among the Church's motives was finding the date for
Easter.[39]

Medieval Europe housed a number of important astronomers.


Richard of Wallingford (1292–1336) made major contributions Portrait of Alfraganus in the
to astronomy and horology, including the invention of the first Compilatio astronomica, 1493.
astronomical clock, the Rectangulus which allowed for the Islamic astronomers began just
measurement of angles between planets and other before the 9th century to collect and
astronomical bodies, as well as an equatorium called the Albion translate Indian, Persian and Greek
which could be used for astronomical calculations such as astronomical texts, adding their own
astronomy and enabling later,
lunar, solar and planetary longitudes and could predict
particularly European astronomy to
eclipses. Nicole Oresme (1320–1382) and Jean Buridan (1300–
build on.[23]
1361) first discussed evidence for the rotation of the Earth,
furthermore, Buridan also developed the theory of impetus
(predecessor of the modern scientific theory of inertia) which was able to show planets were
capable of motion without the intervention of angels.[40] Georg von Peuerbach (1423–1461) and
Regiomontanus (1436–1476) helped make astronomical progress instrumental to Copernicus's
development of the heliocentric model decades later.

Early telescopic astronomy


During the Renaissance, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model of the solar system.
His work was defended by Galileo Galilei and expanded upon by Johannes Kepler. Kepler was the
first to devise a system that correctly described the details of the motion of the planets around the
Sun. However, Kepler did not succeed in formulating a theory behind the laws he wrote down.[41]
It was Isaac Newton, with his invention of celestial dynamics and his law of gravitation, who finally
explained the motions of the planets. Newton also developed the reflecting telescope.[42]

Improvements in the size and quality of the telescope led to further discoveries. The English
astronomer John Flamsteed catalogued over 3000 stars.[43] More extensive star catalogues were
produced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. The astronomer William Herschel made a detailed catalog
of nebulosity and clusters, and in 1781 discovered the planet Uranus, the first new planet found.[44]

During the 18–19th centuries, the study of the three-body problem by Leonhard Euler, Alexis
Claude Clairaut, and Jean le Rond d'Alembert led to more accurate predictions about the motions
of the Moon and planets. This work was further refined by Joseph-Louis Lagrange and Pierre
Simon Laplace, allowing the masses of the planets and moons to be estimated from their
perturbations.[45]

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