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E-book
Author Penprase, Bryan E

Title The power of stars : how celestial observations have shaped civilization / Bryan E. Penprase
Published New York : Springer, ©2011

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 347 pages) : color illustrations
Contents Note continued: Hsuan Yeh ("Empty Space") Cosmology -- Mayan Cosmology -- Quiche Classical Maya Cosmology -- Incan Cosmology -- Native American Cosmology -- Hopi and Pueblo Cosmology -- Navajo Cosmology -- Chumash Native American Cosmology -- Inuit Cosmology -- African Cosmologies -- Dogon Cosmology -- 5. Stars That Bind: Civilization, Calendars, and the Sky -- Lunar Calendars and Timekeeping -- Neolithic Calendars -- Solar/Lunar Calendars -- Babylonian Calendar -- Egyptian Timekeeping -- Ancient Hebrew Calendar -- Islamic Calendar -- Hawaiian Calendar -- Zuni Calendar -- Native American and Tribal Seasonal Calendars -- Development of the Greek Calendar -- Roman Timekeeping -- Sidereal Lunar and Planetary Calendars -- Incan Sidereal Year -- Hindu Naksatras and Lunar calendars -- Chinese Calendar and Zodiac -- Long Run: Cosmic Celestial Timekeeping of the Eons -- Mayan Calendars and the Cycles of the Universe -- Kin -- Tzolkin -- Haab -- Katun and Baktun -- Hindu Calendars and the Mahayugas -- 6. Modern Timekeeping and the Development of the Science of Time -- Shadow Clocks and Sundials -- Earliest 24-h Clocks -- The Clepsydra -- Antikythera Mechanism -- Mechanical Clocks from Europe -- Pendulum Clocks -- Clocks for Navigation -- Modern Science of Time -- Electronic and Atomic Clocks -- Solar Time or Atomic Time? -- Leap Seconds -- Calendar Reform -- Metric Time and the World Calendar -- French Revolutionary Calendar -- World Calendar -- 7. Celestial Architecture: Monuments of the Sky -- Megalithic Alignments -- Stonehenge -- Callanish -- Newgrange -- Native American Alignments and Monuments -- Anasazi, Hopi, and Pueblo Kiva -- Navajo Hogan and Pawnee Lodge -- Solstice Viewing: Shadow and Light in California -- Mounds and Stone Circles in Native American Architecture -- Cahokia Mounds -- Chaco Canyon Lunar and Solar Alignments
Note continued: Celestial Cities from Ancient Civilizations and Their Alignments -- Ziggurats in Mesopotamia -- Egyptian Pyramids -- Kaaba in Mecca -- Teotihuacan -- Mayan Celestial Cities -- Aztec City of Tenochtitlan and Its Temple Alignment -- Forbidden City of China -- Angkor Wat -- Temples and the Embodiment of Cosmic Order -- Pantheon of Rome -- Parthenon of Athens -- Cologne Cathedral -- Limits of Alignment -- Linear Geometry in Britain -- Star Maps from the Pyramids-The Orion Mystery -- Nazca Lines -- 8. Archaeoastronomy of Modern Civilization -- Archaeoastronomy of Modern Cities -- Astronomy of Skyscrapers -- Alignments of Modern Cities -- Celestial Structures of Today's Civilization -- James Turrell -- Skyspace and the Rodin Crater Project -- Carhenge -- Modem Stonehenges -- Modem Sundials -- Survival of Ancient Beliefs in Modern Times -- Brief History of Western Astrology -- Indian Astrology -- Chinese Astrology -- Why Do People Believe Astrology in the Twenty-First Century? -- 9. Development of Modern Cosmology -- Scientific Cosmology -- History of Scientific Cosmology -- Nicholas Copernicus -- Tycho Brahe -- Johannes Kepler -- Galileo Galilei -- Isaac Newton -- Dawn of Astrophysics -- William Herschel -- Astronomical Spectroscopy -- George Ellery Hale and the Modern Observatory -- Edwin Hubble and the Expanding Universe -- Census of the Modern Universe -- Stars -- Star Clusters -- "Normal" Galaxies -- Irregular and Active galaxies -- Clusters of Galaxies -- Very Brief History of Time-Big Bang to the Present -- 10. Concluding Thoughts
Summary What are some of the connections that bind us to the stars? How have these connections been established? And how have people all around the world and throughout time reacted to the night sky, the sun and moon, in their poetry, mythology, rituals, and temples? This book explores the influence of the sky on both ancient and modern civilization, by providing a clear overview of the many ways in which humans have used the stars as an ordering principle in their cultures, and which today still inspire us intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. The book explores constellation lore from around the world, celestial alignments of monuments and temples, both from ancient and modern civilizations, and the role the sky has played in the cultures of the Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, Native American, Chinese, Mayan, Aztec, and Inca. Models of the universe from each of these cultures are described clearly, and each culture's explanation of the stars, planets, and other celestial objects are described. The roots of astronomy and astrology are presented with original imagery and reproductions of ancient manuscripts that portray the structure of the physical universe as conceived by a diverse array of human cultures over the centuries. Our own scientific Big Bang cosmology and the origin of stars and elements are discussed in a philosophical context, to explore how we as modern people learn about the Universe, and incorporate the findings of science into our world views. A concluding chapter provides a summary of modern science's effort to unlock the celestial secrets from the sky and from past civilizations, and what these answers mean for us today
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and indexes
Notes Print version record
In Springer eBooks
Subject Cosmology.
Stars -- Observations.
cosmology.
BODY, MIND & SPIRIT -- Astrology -- General.
Physique.
Astronomie.
Cosmology
Stars
Genre/Form Observations
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781441968036
1441968032