Astronomical Heritage Research Articles

The Barolo Palace: Medieval Astronomy in the Streets of Buenos Aires

Cultural heritage relating to the sky in the form of sundials, old observatories and the like, are commonly found in many cities in the Old World, but rarely in the New. This paper examines astronomical heritage embodied in the Barolo Palace in Buenos Aires. While references to Dante Alighieri and his poetry are scattered in streets, buildings and monuments around the Western world, in the city of Buenos Aires, the only street carrying Dante’s name is less than three blocks long and, appropriately, is a continuation of Virgilio street. A couple of Italian immigrants—a wealthy businessman, Luis Barolo, and an imaginative architect, Mario Palanti—foresaw this situation nearly a century ago, and did not save any efforts or money with the aim of getting Dante and his cosmology an appropriate monumental recognition, in reinforced concrete. The Barolo Palace is a unique combination of both astronomy and the worldview displayed in the Divine Comedy, Dante’s poetic masterpiece. It is known that the Palace’s design was inspired by the great poet, but the details are not recorded; this paper relies on Dante’s text to consider whether it may add to our understanding of the building. Although the links of the Palace’s main architectural structure with the three realms of the Comedy have been studied in the past, its unique astronomical flavor has not been sufficiently emphasized. The word of God, as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church in Sacred Scripture, Aristotle’s physics and Ptolemy’s astronomy, all beautifully converge in Dante’s verses, and the Barolo Palace reflects this.

Take the long view

Sue Bowler, Editor In these tough times – for everyone – it is worth thinking a bit about the real value of our sciences. Rather than accept decisions made on the basis of a snapshot of today’s successes, we should all be aware of our catalogue of achievements in the long term. And I don’t mean just the considerable astronomical and navigational heritage embodied by, for example, the Tompion clock now at home in the Royal Observatory Greenwich – replica of the original 17th-century world-leader. Much of this issue is dedicated to the more than half a century of science in a new field: geophysical and astrophysical fluid dynamics. This is a field largely sparked by the deceptively simple experiments devised and carried out some 60 years ago by Raymond Hide. This whole new field, arising from observing the flow of fluid between two cylinders, now illuminates studies of stellar and planetary interiors, climate modelling and even brings us better weather forecasts. None of these were goals of the original experiments. They arose from curiosity, ingenuity and hard work, coupled with a lovely appreciation of the significance of the results. These are the things that make good science – and they are what attracts people to science. Just look at the responses to telescopes at a music festival, and the chance to study astronomy at school, documented in this issue. Curiosity, fascination with physical phenomena and a drive to explore are what draw people into our physical sciences. And that in turn brings them excellent employment prospects and higher than usual salaries. UK science has been very successful for many decades – even centuries. If we can keep up investment in science, science will in turn reward UK industry as well as keep our science leading the world. Editorial NEws

A unique astronomical heritage place: the 28 May 585 BCE solar eclipse

AbstractProbably the only reliably recorded solar eclipse event during a day-time war is the 28 May 585 BCE event, famous also for several other reasons. It has a credible written record, mentioned by the ancient historian Heredotus and his History notes that the eclipse was predicted by Thales of Miletos (the Ionian capital city in Western Anatolia). The location of the war between Lydians and the Medes is now firmly located as the plain in front of ancient city of Pteria, the Anatolian capital of the Medes. The historical record mentions that the war stopped and a peace treaty was signed, with the wedding of a prince and a princess from rival kings. All these features make the event and place an excellent candidate for a World Astronomical Heritage site to be preserved.

Reconstructing the astronomical heritage

AbstractStudies of the astronomical heritage can deal with the ancient astronomical knowledge, traditions and myths, as well as with old instruments and observatories. It is urgent to work for their recovery, before they are definitely forgoten, lost or destroyed. On the cultural side, the Joint ALMA Observatory is sponsoring the study of the local cosmology and sky of the indigenous people living in the region where ALMA is currently being build. In the case of ancient instruments, several success stories already exist, the most recent one being the reconstruction of the Madrid 25ft Herschel telescope. Examples of notable instruments pending reconstruction are listed.

COMMISSION 41: HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY

Commission 41 of the International Astronomical Union deals with all aspects of astronomical history and heritage from ancient sky knowledge to developments in modern astronomy that have occurred within living memory. It encourages and supports research in the history of astronomy and related fields such as archaeoastronomy and is also concerned with the identification, documentation and preservation of vital aspects of our astronomical heritage such as sites, artifacts, instruments and archives. Commission 41 is one of the largest Commissions in the Union, and is a member of Division XII on Union-Wide Activities.

Australian astronomy looks forward

Over the next decade, a new generation of instruments will come into being for the benefit of astronomers across the world. Australian astronomers hope to build on their strong astronomical heritage and continue to take part in astronomy at the highest international level. To this end, they have prepared a Decadal Plan that envisages building, with international partners, a world-class radio telescope, greater invovlement with 8 metre telescopes, as well as making the most of the Antarctic opportunities that Australia offers.

Selling Our Southern Skies: recent public astronomy developments at the Carter Observatory, New Zealand

Carter Observatory is the gazetted National Observatory of New Zealand, and opened in 1941 December. From the start, the main function of the Observatory was to provide for the astronomical needs of the citizens of, and visitors to, the Wellington region, and today this remains one of its four recognised functions (Orchiston and Dodd, 1995). The other three are to conduct astronomical research of international significance; provide a national astronomy education service for school students, teachers, and trainee teachers; and assist in the preservation of New Zealand's astronomical heritage.

Coping with a New Curriculum: The Evolving Schools Program at the Carter Observatory, New Zealand

Carter Observatory is the National Observatory of New Zealand and was opened in 1941. For more than ten years the Observatory has maintained an active education program for visiting school groups (see Andrews, 1991), and education now forms one of its four functions. The others relate to astronomical research; public astronomy; and the preservation of New Zealands astronomical heritage (see Orchiston and Dodd, 1995).Since the acquisition of a small Zeiss planetarium and associated visitor centre in 1992, the public astronomy and education programs at the Carter Observatory have witnessed a major expansion (see Orchiston, 1995; Orchiston and Dodd, 1996). A significant contributing factor was the introduction by the government of a new science curriculum into New Zealand schools in 1995 (Science in the New Zealand Curriculum, 1995). “Making Sense of Planet Earth and Beyond” comprises one quarter of this curriculum, and the “Beyond” component is astronomy.

Life Detection Instruments

Introduction The field of biology has been confronted recently with the paradox of being the only natural science which has yet to demonstrate that any of its terrestrially based conceptual schemes have any universal significance. The various thoughts, ideas, and principles of present day biology apply to only one kind of life-life on Earth. Prior to recent times, biologists were not in a position to attempt any progress in what was to become a new biological discipline of exobiology, or the study of extraterrestrial life. The sciences of physics and chemistry have long enjoyed the utilization of celestial mechanics and stellar spectra as a means of extending terrestrial principles to levels of universal significance. But now, with the growing space program, there are tools with which biologists can undertake the exploration of other planets in an attempt to detect, understand, and perhaps one day, develop an abstract definition of life as it exists throughout the Universe. The relationship of our planet's geologic history, as well as its past and present astronomical heritage, has provided a somewhat well understood model of how life has arisen, evolved, and is presently existing on Earth. The exploration of other planets in terms of astronomical and geologic experiments can lead to certain conclusions regarding extraterrestrial life. The Russian biochemist, A. I. Oparin, has pointed out that: Consequently, the origin of life is not a fortunate, extremely improbable event, but quite a regular phenomena subject to a deep and scientific analysis and allaround study. It is obvious that there must be numerous inhabited planets in the Universe and, in particular, in our Galaxy. This quite indisputable assertion, however, is based on consideration of a general nature and must be confirmed in each concrete case by an examination of the actual conditions which prevail on the cosmic bodies accessible to investigation by the methods of modern science. (1) The most advantageous condition for the study of extraterrestrial life would be to have an actual sample of it for study right here on Earth. The process of returning planetary samples over millions of miles of space is, as yet, beyond the present capabilities of space technology. In fact, by the time such an advanced state of technology is reached, it may not be necessary, as manned spacecraft flights to Mars and Venus may have become equally feasible. (2) What follows is an attempt to describe the present approaches to designing automatic life detection devices which available launch vehicles can transport to the surfaces of various planets. These instruments range in various stages of develcpment from laboratory-based experiments to operational models currently being tested for space flight. The techniques for carrying out such missions have been well demonstrated by American and Russian interplanetary space probes. Most notable among these missions was the 1964-65 American Mariner IV fly-by of Mars at a distance of 7,000 miles. The prime trajectory and mid-course secondary trajectory maneuvers of the spacecraft Mariner IV illustrated the excellent state of the art with regard to interplanetary spacecraft control. The numerous experiments and vidicon television photographs of the Martian surface substantiated the telemetry reception capabilities of