Humans, by nature, are curious beings. Find a mountain, people will climb it. Discover an ocean, and people will sail it. We have an almost insatiable thirst to learn about our environment for survival, control, understanding, and curiosity. Space is not an exception. I know of no one who hasn't looked up to the sky at one point in their life and contemplated the mystery of the cosmos. Modern humans have extended themselves to the point where they can now physically visit other worlds, see farther than any past generation, contemplate ways to discover whether we are alone in this universe (and possibly communicate with them), and learn how it was possible for us to come into existence. Do we have all the answers? Not even close! ... but it's this ingrained drive for knowledge and understanding that pushes us further. Of course, there are many practical reasons for investing in this subject matter. Mastery of space has made global communications possible. A military gains a distinct advantage if they can "control" the space over their adversaries. Knowledge about potential dangers from space (solar activity, asteroid impacts, climatic changes due to astronomical events) give us the ability to prepare for and possibly avoid events that can range from minor inconveniences to extinction of our species. Your modern desktop computer would not be a reality if we had not entered a "space race" with Russia in the 1960's. This is one of the many bonuses you get when research and development money was funneled into a single endeavor.
One thing stands out when scholars study ancient cultures. These early people also studied astronomy ... and it doesn't matter where you look. Mayans, Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese and many other industrious civilizations made great efforts to master this one subject. One could even argue that these cultures invested a much greater percentage of their resources toward the pursuit of astronomy than we do today (if you look at manpower and finances). Of course, they were driven by the same need to understand the world around them ... but there were several practical reasons why this subject became important. Let's look at a few of these reasons.
If you live in Wisconsin (or anywhere in the northern hemisphere), you can use the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) to find the North Star (Polaris). This name of this star should be enough to convince you that if you can find it, you can also identify all the cardinal directions (North, South, East and West).
This could be very helpful if lost (without a compass or phone) in the woods in northern Wisconsin. Just imagine the problems early explorers encountered as they discovered new lands. The magnetic compass was not used for navigation at sea until 1117 A.D. so the only other way to find your way around was to use clues found in the sky. With a good background in astronomy (and some necessary equipment like a sextant), it is possible to determine your exact location on Earth (your latitude and longitude). To early explorers, determining your exact location became a matter of life or death (or fame or failure). Later in this project we will show you in greater detail how this is done.
If you need to have order, you need to master time. You keep track of time on the short term with a watch and long term with a calendar. Just think how hectic your life would be if you didn't have these two devices. Older civilizations were presented with that same dilemma ... so they were forced to invent their own clocks and calendars. As you might guess, the motion of the sun across the sky would take the place of your modern wristwatch and you would build sundials to keep track of daily time. Calendars were also needed to let people know (and prepare for) things like annual floods (Egyptians), when to plant and harvest but mostly to know when to party! More specifically, celebrate religious events which often meant a day of rest, feast, and/or homage to a deity - God(s).
Think we have changed much? We still celebrate our religious holidays based on observations in the sky. Christians celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the sun crosses the vernal equinox. You may not understand all those terms yet, but I hope you realize that they involve astronomy. Christmas? No one knows the year Jesus was born let alone the day. Christians simply "borrowed" an ancient pagan day of celebration when astronomers would notice the days are starting to get longer (the shortest day is typically December 21 or 22 in the northern hemisphere but it takes a few days to notice the change). The Islamic month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar (which Muslims consider the most blessed month) begins on a crescent moon (in fact all of them do). The Jewish celebration of Passover was originally set by actual observations of the full moon and of the vernal equinox (the rules have been since altered slightly).
Early civilizations looked at the grandeur of the universe and tried to determine their role in the whole scheme of things (and we still do today). In almost all cases, the sun, moon and planets, were granted status as gods. What better way to pay homage to your god(s) than to study their every motion and patterns. The study of astrology was actually a religion which was based on the idea that your fate was pre-determined by your time of birth. If you visited an astrologer, the first question they would ask was "when were you born?". They would then consult a huge book called an ephemeris which would indicate where all the planets were in the sky on that date. This, then, would have a profound effect on your personality, behavior, and fate. The ruler (king or emperor) would consult their astrologers prior major battles to see if victory was assured ... guess who was an early casualty if things didn't work out well? Those astrologers were actually astronomers because studying the sky was part of their job.
ŠJim Mihal 2004, 2014- permission to copy for
any non-profit educational purpose