Journal for the History of Astronomy最新文献

{"title":"The heliocentric path of the Moon","authors":"J. Gapaillard","doi":"10.1177/00218286211049618","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286211049618","url":null,"abstract":"In his Astronomie populaire, Camille Flammarion points out that the heliocentric path of the Moon, which, according to him, has generally been represented as a sinuous curve, is actually concave everywhere towards the Sun. Flammarion’s observation is the starting point of this study which goes backwards in time, via often misinformed authors, to the mathematician who first established this counterintuitive property by means of a purely geometrical proof. The story also includes a heated debate between readers of a British periodical. Beginning in France at the end of the 19th century, the journey finishes in Scotland in the first half of the previous century.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"52 1","pages":"462 - 490"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47728653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Amici’s double star observations","authors":"S. Case","doi":"10.1177/00218286211032417","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286211032417","url":null,"abstract":"In April 1824, as part of an extended tour through Europe following the death of his father William, the British astronomer and polymath John Herschel (1792–1871) met the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Amici (1786–1863) at the latter’s observatory in Modena. At the time, along with Herschel and Wilhelm Struve (1793–1864) in Dorpat, Amici was among the few astronomers measuring double stars. Their study, pioneered by Herschel’s father, was of interest because (in the case of optical doubles) they provided opportunity for measuring parallax or (in the case of true binaries) a chance to derive orbital parameters from observational data, as Felix Savary (1797–1841) would do for the first time in 1827. Measuring double stars was at the edge of observational precision, and determining orbital parameters depended on high-quality optics, precise micrometers, and data from as many different observers as possible. The younger Herschel encouraged a network of double star observers wherever he went, and much of his later work in astronomy involved synthesizing and publishing this data. Unlike Struve and Herschel, however, Amici never published his own extensive double star observations. Amici’s double star observations, stretching from 1815 to 1851 (although most are from 1824–1826), are now available in a handsome edition by Edizioni Tassinari as the second volume of Edizione Nazionale delle Opere e della Corrispondenza di Giovanni Battista Amici. The volume includes a 23-page introduction in Italian and English providing context on double star research in the 19th century as well as a discussion of Amici’s instruments and a survey of his correspondence related to double stars. The introduction explains why Amici and his instruments were important to double star research but not, however, why double star research was important to Amici. No doubt other volumes in the series contain Amici’s biographical details, but without a sketch of his life and career a reader of this volume alone will not know what role double stars played in Amici’s work, his institutional affiliations, or why he moved from Modena to Florence in 1831. The bulk of the volume (200 pp) is devoted to a high-quality, page-by-page reproduction of Amici’s six unpublished double star notebooks. The first notebook forms what would have been the introduction to Amici’s catalogue, showing the influence of William Herschel’s double star classes. The other notebooks contain his observations, organized roughly chronologically. 1032417 JHA0010.1177/00218286211032417Journal for the History of AstronomyBook Reviews book-review2021","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"52 1","pages":"491 - 492"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49328270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Late Byzantine astronomy","authors":"A. Tihon","doi":"10.1177/00218286211043318","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286211043318","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"52 1","pages":"496 - 498"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42056973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On the chronology of the Anonymous Commentary to Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos: Analysis of the astronomical evidence","authors":"Raúl Caballero-Sánchez","doi":"10.1177/00218286211052186","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286211052186","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, a proposal is made that the Anonymous Commentary to Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos (Anon. in Ptol.) was composed not before 467 and not after 575 AD. In establishing the terminus post quem and the terminus ante quem, the Author relies on astronomical data provided by the Anonymous himself in his commentary to Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos (=Ptol. Tetr.) II.10 (p. 76, ll. 16-29 Wolf). In this passage, he reports that his master completely succeeded in interpreting the appearance of a celestial beam (δοκός) as a sign of a great loss of trunks, after which a naval battle took place where many ships were sunk; moreover, the master of the anonymous commentator predicted that the comet would remain visible until the end of Mercury’s retrogradation, and so it happened. As will be seen below, it is possible to crosscheck all this data to obtain a precise date of the comet’s appearance: 467 AD, 1 year before the naval battle of Cape Bon (468 AD). These years are also consistent with the dating that can be obtained from one of the horoscopes transmitted by the anonymous commentary (p. 98 Wolf), which corresponds to a birth that actually took place in Lower Egypt on 25 June 448 AD.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"52 1","pages":"442 - 461"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45820356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"‘El Capri Kylex’: A Franciscan astronomical mnemonic:","authors":"S. Falk","doi":"10.17863/CAM.74131","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.74131","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the role of memory techniques in medieval astronomy. Using a mnemonic written by a Franciscan friar c. 1330 as a case study, it shows how astronomers and astrologers simplifie...","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"52 1","pages":"267-288"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47211153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Twentieth-century milestones in the history of the Russian ephemeris service: Marking 100 years of the Calculation Institute and astronomical yearbook","authors":"V. Shor","doi":"10.1177/00218286211035537","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286211035537","url":null,"abstract":"This is the history of how the Russian ephemeris service for major and minor bodies of the solar system was created and developed to provide necessary data for the needs of astronomy, as well as ground-based, sea, and space navigation. The background of this presentation is various astronomical events described, as well as the life events of the institutions where the service was carried out.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"52 1","pages":"325 - 351"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42783198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The astronomy of Tawantinsuyu","authors":"G. Urton","doi":"10.1177/00218286211020938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286211020938","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"52 1","pages":"373 - 374"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48700534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"More ancient Greek sundials","authors":"R. Hannah","doi":"10.1177/00218286211011272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286211011272","url":null,"abstract":"31 sites in the Cuzco region of the following horizon event(s): calculated azimuth to solar rising/setting event (i.e. solstice or equinox), measured azimuth, magnetic declination, corrected azimuth, and measured inclination. To put his astronomical data in historical and cultural contexts, Gullberg begins with an overview of Inca history (Chapter 2), followed by a broad and fairly general discussion of some of the major elements of Inca culture (Chapter 3). Chapter 4 is an introduction to the system for the organization of social, political, and ritual life in the Inca capital, known as the “ceque system.” This is followed, in Chapter 5, by a sort of “user’s guide” to archaeoastronomical field techniques and a brief overview of past archaeoastronomical studies in the Cuzco region. Chapter 6 is a summary/overview of Inca astronomy and cosmology, including discussions of Inca solar worship, festivals, the calendar, and what is known about Inca interest in and knowledge of the Moon, Milky Way, and their constellations. These introductory chapters are followed by Gullberg and his team’s measurements and findings at sites near to Cuzco (Chapter 7), within the so-called “sacred valley” to the east of Cuzco (Chapter 8), and orientations of sites and structures in and around Machu Picchu (Chapter 9). The book ends with a discussion of his findings and conclusions (Chapter 10). The book is astonishingly well illustrated, with a total of 312 figures (an average of almost one figure/page!). The illustrations include both black-and-white and color photographs of archaeological sites and other items of cultural interest, as well as many original pencil drawings and watercolor paintings of sites and cultural miscellanea by the author’s spouse, Jessica Gullberg. In sum, this is a highly informed and informative book. It raises the standard of the study of Inca astronomy and archaeoastronomy to a whole new level.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"52 1","pages":"374 - 376"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41884778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Machines for representing the cosmos","authors":"Hsiang-fu Huang","doi":"10.1177/00218286211020937","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286211020937","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"52 1","pages":"371 - 372"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45952039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"East or Easter? Keys to the orientation of Romanesque churches along the Way of Saint James","authors":"Maitane Urrutia-Aparicio, A. C. González-García, J. Belmonte","doi":"10.1177/00218286211026209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286211026209","url":null,"abstract":"The pilgrimage along the Way of Saint James constituted the principal mechanism for the introduction of new currents of thought into the Iberian Peninsula, such as Romanesque architecture. Taking this into account, we examined whether the standard tradition on the orientation of Christian churches was followed. We measured the orientation of 108 churches built between the end of the 10th and 13th centuries near the French Way, in the ancient kingdoms of Leon and Castile. The statistical analysis shows a clear tendency to orientate the apse of the church eastwards, specifically slightly to the north of due east. Furthermore, we found that the orientation patterns differ from one kingdom to the other. In Leon, there seems to be a predilection for the local tradition of aligning the apse toward the ecclesiastical equinox. Castile, in contrast, built their churches orientated to Easter, one of the most important feast days of Christianity.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"52 1","pages":"289 - 310"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48606215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}