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Ancient astronomy

This image shows the sky goddess Nut, covered in stars, held aloft by her father, Shu, and towering over her brother with her back to the earth. On the left the rising sun (the falcon-headed god Re) sails up Nut's leg. On the right the setting sun sails down its arms to the outstretched arms of Osiris, who will recreate the sun in the underworld during the night. Credit: EA Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. 2 (Methuen & Co., 1904).

Secrets of the stars: Scientists reveal the hidden role of the Milky Way in ancient Egyptian mythology

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New research reveals how the Milky Way emphasized the role of Nut, the Egyptian sky goddess
An illustration of Columbus predicting a lunar eclipse to trick the Taino people into providing his crew with food and supplies. Credit: Popular Astronomy (1879) by Camille Palmerion, via Wikimedia

"The spirit of the ghost took the spirit of the moon": this is how the residents of the Torres Strait anticipate eclipses.

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Early in the morning a lunar eclipse is visible from Israel. In two weeks, a total solar eclipse will be visible from the US. As eclipse season begins, researchers explain the use of knowledge about them in ancient cultures
Winter solstice versus summer solstice. Illustration: depositphotos.com

The winter solstice - the shortest day of the year

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On Friday, 22/12/23 at 05:26 viewers from Jerusalem will have the point of time where the length of the day reverses, winter ends and spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere. The length of the day - ten hours and four minutes
Dr. Ashbel Retzon. How did the people of Qumran during the Second Temple period decipher the state of the stars? Photo: Tel Aviv University Spokesperson

It's written in the stars

Dr. Ashbel Retzon combines digital tools for the study of the ancient world and is working on new digital editions of all the astronomical scrolls and the tablet scrolls from Qumran
Ancient Babylon site in Iraq. Illustration: depositphotos.com

What does the future of the universe hold?

Star observations made in Babylon teach about the past and may hint at the future
Visitors look at a fragment of the 2,100-year-old Antikythera Mechanism, believed to be the earliest surviving mechanical computing device. The photo was taken in a museum in Athens, Greece. Photo: shutterstock

Four amazing astronomical discoveries from ancient Greece

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An illustration of the movement of the earth around the sun which causes differences in the length of the day and of course also the change of seasons. Photo: shutterstock

Two astronomical events are happening today - the vernal equinox and the SUPER MOON

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John Harrison, British watchmaker. From Wikipedia

John Harrison, the watchmaker who brought about the accurate measurement of longitude, a task that astronomers had failed at

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Astronomical events in ancient writings. Illustration: Kyoto University

Evidence of strong solar storms in documents and poems from Japan and China

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Comparison between the moon at its closest point and at its farthest point. Photo:

Tonight: the biggest moon since 1948

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The Pleiades cluster, from a digital sky survey. Photo: Credit: NASA/ESA/AURA/Caltech

Astronomers have revealed the date a poem was written in ancient Greece

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"Snake of light" on the day of the equinox at the Chichen Itza pyramid in Mexico. Photo: shutterstock

The vernal equinox will occur this morning

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The orbits of the planets in the solar system. Infographic - shutterstock

2016 - leap year - the astronomical explanation

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The lower part of the astronomical clock in Prague and two of the figures that come out during the show that takes place every hour between nine in the morning and nine in the evening. Photo: shutterstock

The astronomy behind the Astronomical Clock in Prague, which began operating 605 years ago today

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An illustration of the movement of the earth around the sun which causes differences in the length of the day and of course also the change of seasons. Photo: shutterstock

Fall is upon us: Yom Kippur falls on Equinox this year

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Sunset at the ancient site of Stonehenge in England. Photo: shutterstock

The summer solstice is the day when the sun is at its northernmost point

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The moon hides the sun during a solar eclipse and what you see is only a small part of the sun's halo. Illustration: shutterstock

2,600 years since the first successful scientific prediction - the solar eclipse of Thales that caused a truce

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The inclination of the earth compared to the sun in each of the months of the year. Illustration: shutterstock

Spring starts tomorrow, a solar eclipse today, and a new moon is also close at birth - Equinox 2015

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A statue of Pharaoh Yahamas (Amosis) I. Photo: Wikimedia

The forecast: extreme weather in ancient Egypt

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On the first day of winter, the tilt of the earth means that the sun directly illuminates the latitude 23.5 degrees south, so less radiation reaches the northern hemisphere - the north pole is in total darkness.

December 21: the first day of winter - the shortest day of the year

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Full moon on a particularly clear night. shutterstock photo

22.6.2013: The moon tonight and tomorrow will be especially big - super moon

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Nicolaus Copernicus. From Wikipedia

540th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus: "The fool wants to turn the whole idea of ​​astronomy upside down!"

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A chart of the seasons as they appear in the Northern Hemisphere. Right: the winter solstice in December. From Wikipedia

Today is the autumnal equinox and why, although technically this is true, there is really no equinox between day and night

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This year the exact time of the autumnal equinox is September 22 at 14:49 GMT
Full moon in Phrygia. NASA illustration

Tomorrow the moon will appear bigger and brighter due to the combination of its proximity to the earth and its fullness with a difference of one minute

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The Great Pyramid at Chichen Itzat in Mexico on the Vernal Equinox. From Wikipedia

Today is the first day of spring

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