Astronomical Material Research Articles

Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan: Characteristics, actions and battlefield operationalization

The longest war in the history of America resulted in an Afghan Taliban victory. Despite astronomical material and capacity superiority of the American-led NATO forces vis-à-vis Afghan Taliban, the latter overcame the greater forces and captured Kabul in a lightning-fast sweep across the country. Failure of the US to realize a superior military force in achieving a political victory on the field lies in the characteristics, actions, and effective operationalization of Afghan Taliban’s warfare tactics on the battleground. Tribalism, networked structures, and innovative recruiting principles, coupled with the Afghan government(s) own inefficiencies and rampant corruption led to the demise of American power in Afghanistan.

Ancient didactic astronomical texts

The article focuses on ancient astronomy as an academic dis-cipline. Antiquity created a holistic image of the world and a cul-ture of thinking, in which the natural and exact sciences and lib-eral arts were not artificially differentiated and remained in har-monious unity, becoming the basis of an interdisciplinary ap-proach in education. Therefore, even the exact sciences were studied literarily from poetic works. On the example of ancient culture, the connection between the astronomical worldview and other components of the mindset is particularly clearly traced. This is crucial in terms of technology since ancient pedagogy contained all the criteria for technological effectiveness. In the Homeric age, the basic mnemonic rules for navigating by the stars, the definition of the conditions for visibility of heavenly bodies in all seasons, the connection of celestial phenomena with the calendar, known since the Cretan-Mycenaean age, were liter-arily recorded in the epic. This trend was further developed in Hesiod’s didactic epic and took shape in the content as a para-digm of astronomical education. The appearance of Cleobulina’s astronomical riddles appeared, which are allegorical in nature and show similarities with the allegories of Homer, took place approximately at the same time. In subsequent periods (from the 5th century BC), the school study of the Homer and Hesiod’s works required writing comments on the astronomical passages of these and later other authors. With the development of natural philosophical doctrines, new methods of presenting astronomical material appeared. The original form of the philosophical epic was replaced by a prosaic form. The reaction to the natural philo-sophical revolution led to a preference for the traditional Homer and Hesiod. Special educational astronomical texts written by such authors as Aratus, Germanicus, Alexander Aetolus, etc. came to exist-ence as a separate group.

“I Counted Sun’s Faces” in the Short Recension of 2 Enoch

Abstract 2 Enoch without any doubt is one of the most interesting and enigmatic texts of Slavonic Pseudepigrapha. Since the publication of the first fragments of it in the middle of the 19th century, there has been a protracted debate on all the questions concerning the history of the pseudepigraphon. And the “astronomical information” in it is possibly one of the most mysterious parts of 2 Enoch. The contents of the two main recensions are quite different in the chapter dealing with astronomical material. The paper studies the fragment, in which, in the short recension, it is literally said: “I [Enoch] counted Sun’s faces”.

THE SCIENCE OF FALAK ON VIRTUAL REALITY

In the era of the industrial revolution 4.0, astronomers as well as modern society in general cannot turn away from the reality of virtual life. People get information, read and study any knowledge is very easy because everything is available in their hands. Faced with this condition, what about astronomy scholarship? Amid the assumption that astronomy and experts are very rare. So astronomers are demanded to be able to adapt and develop themselves with 'literacy' technology to be able to package the astronomy knowledge and present its content to the public easily and to construct it in digital form. Why does this virtual reality have to be faced and how to deal with it? Associated with efforts to answer the needs of the public about astronomical scholarship in virtual reality, various innovations and creativity of astronomers emerged in the form of digitizing material, books (books) and astronomical applications. This variety of innovations will increase the interest of millennial students to learn and master it. Through this paper,-some of the digitization pattern-, the author will study it with the content analysis method and describe it descriptively-interpretatively. From the results of studies, the author has led to a conclusion that; the first, found a number of patterns of celestial scientific digitalization; from the side of the content, the digital astronomical material consists of the calculation of qibla direction, prayer time, the beginning of the month and eclipse and the practice of its determination, from the media aspect, the astronomy knowledge is presented through social media, such as facebook, instagram, whatsApp and youtube; through website-based media, such as bimasislam.kemenag.go.id, and if.walisongo.ac.id., in the form of smartphone applications, such as digital falak, mizwandroid, qiblat, usholli and so on. While the design of the presentation is varied, in the form of text, video, images and pdf. The second, each of these patterns has made a valuable contribution to the virtual learning of astronomy for millennial society in the current era of the industrial revolution 4.0.

Rivers of Risk and Redemption in Gregory of Tours’ Writings

Rivers of Risk and Redemption in Gregory of Tours’ Writings

The Aratean corpus in Vat. Grec. 1087

For nearly 150 years, scholars have devoted considerable effort trying understand the various means by which the astrothesic knowledge of the Graeco-Roman world passed to the modern age. Thanks to the magisterial work of Paul Kunitzsch and others, our grasp of the tortuous journey of Ptolemy's Syntaxis mathematike from the original Greek to its Latin translations in the twelfth century has become much firmer. But despite the attention of a far wider range of scholars, the intricacies of the transmission of the Phaenomena of Aratus to the Latin West remain more elusive. This is primarily due to the fact that, soon after its composition, the poem attracted a huge entourage of ancillary material: the so-called 'Aratean corpus', composed of a rudimentary star catalogue, sets of celestial maps, a series of illustrated mythological explanations of the forms of the individual constellations and a potted biography of the author.Realising that the sorts of questions generated by the 'Aratean corpus' have yet to be solved by the practitioners of a single discipline working in isolation, the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa organised the first of what one hopes will be a continuing series of interdisciplinary workshops devoted to examining a specific set of tightly-defined topics from a variety of scholarly viewpoints.Their first subject of study was the Vatican manuscript, BAV Vat. grec. 1087, which is a collection of astronomical material compiled sometime between the late 1320s and early 1330s by the Byzantine astronomer, historian, theologian and antiquarian, Nicephoros Gregoras. Its contents include one of the oldest manuscripts of the introduction to Ptolemaic astronomy by Theodoros Metochites (the Stoicheiosis astronomike , completed in 1316); Metochites's Commentary on the Syntaxis mathematike ; a fragment of Theon of Alexandria's Commentary on the Syntaxis mathematike ; a set of unique excerpts and annotated illustrations connected to the catasteristic fables reputedly collected by Eratosthenes, now known as the 'Fragmenta vaticana catasterismorum' ; and a melange of two versions of a Treatise on the astrolabe by Gregoras himself. The codex was probably produced in the scriptorium at the monastery complex of Chora, just outside the city walls of Constantinople. Even though several scribal hands have been identified, the whole manuscript bears traces of corrections and annotations in Gregoras's own hand.The essays within this volume provide a fascinating series of short studies of several key issues. Filippomaria Ponanti presents an introduction to the astronomical texts and sets them within the larger ambit of Byzantine astronomy during the Paleologian renaissance of the latter half of the thirteenth and early years of the fourteenth centuries. …

Descriptive Acceptance Aspect and the Meaning of Astronomical material 'Teaul' in Korean Old Novels

Descriptive Acceptance Aspect and the Meaning of Astronomical material 'Teaul' in Korean Old Novels

The first massive astronomical observation event in Mexico City

AbstractOn the night of the 20th of February 2008 there was a total eclipse of the moon visible from Mexico City, with a total duration from 19:42 hrs to 23:09 hrs. At the Instituto de Astronomía, UNAM, we took this opportunity to organise a massive astronomical party on the central plaza of the city, the Zocalo. Over a period of about 6 hrs. we set up a huge astro-party, with free use of over 100 telescopes, where we estimate over 40,000 persons looked through an astronomical telescope at the moon and Saturn, most for the first time in their lives. Numerous stands including a children's games, an Astronomy conference room, and the free distribution of Astronomical material were organised. Here we describe some of the issues associated with the planning and implementation of the event. Coordination issues were complex, involving interaction with divers and numerous authorities, city, national, police, traffic, medical assistance in readiness, aide from other universities, and amateur astronomical societies, which supplied most of the telescopes. An extensive publicity campaign was launched with several weeks of anticipation, and although we had no way of estimating the public response, we were ready with over 800 volunteers at the Zócalo on the 20th of February. The public response was massive and overwhelmingly positive, thousands swarmed the square in a completely peaceful and well organised interaction between Astronomy and society at large, over many complementary levels

Studies on Babylonian goal-year astronomy I: a comparison between planetary data in Goal-Year Texts, Almanacs and Normal Star Almanacs

A large body of astronomical material remains from the Late Babylonian period (c. 750 BC to AD 75) covering observations, calculations and predictions of astronomical events. Astronomical texts from the period are generally divided into two categories: mathematical texts, which include theoretical schemes and calculated predictions; and non-mathematical texts, which include observations and empirical predictions derived from these observations. This paper attempts to catalogue some of the relationships between the various non-mathematical astronomical texts of the Late Babylonian period, particularly the use of Goal- Year Texts in compiling the predictive texts known as Almanacs and Normal Star Almanacs.

Imaging the Cosmos: Astronomical Ekphraseis in Euripides

Ekphraseis of works of art exist at several levels. There is the physical, observable reality of an object or objects, or the potential for such. That (potential) reality may then be depicted within a work of art. A literary artist imaginatively (re-)presents that depiction, in the ekphrasis itself, and may further imbue the resultant description with a symbolic value for the story in which it is set. Not all of these layers need exist, nor need the correspondence between them be precise or even real. An ekphrasis, for example, may describe a completely fictitious object, which itself, however, reflects a possible actuality in the physical world of the senses. Or the question of symbolic value may appear irrelevant, if the purpose of the ekphrasis is instead to provide relief from the temporal drive of the narrative.This paper seeks to elucidate the two surviving ekphraseis with astronomical content from Euripides, one from his Elektra describing a shield of Akhilleus, and the other from his Ion describing a ceiling tapestry. I take the view that if we can discern and then understand a potential reality described in an ekphrasis, then it is worth asking whether this reality helps us to understand better the literary image and hence its possible symbolism too. The need to answer such a question is the greater with regard to texts involving astronomical material, as this tends to lie outside modern readers' experience or knowledge, but lay well within the day-to-day experience of people in antiquity.

Parua figura poli: Ovid's Vestalia (Fasti 6.249–468) and the Phaenomena of Aratus

arte Syracosia suspensus in aere clausostat globus, immensi parua figura poli (Ovid, Fasti 6.277–8)‘The astronomy in the Fasti is indebted to Aratus, as was presumably Ovid's own Phaenomena’. The relationship between the astronomical material in Ovid's Fasti and the astronomical poem by Aratus of Soli, composed under the auspices of Antigonus Gonatas in about 278 B.C., is indisputable; but the nature of this relationship has not been explored. Such an exploration may add a new layer of meaning to Ovid's poem, as an entity which responds not only to aetiological models but also to ‘scientific’ didactic models.

Philosophical Cosmology in Judaism

AbstractIn this paper I shall examine the philosophical cosmology of medieval Jewish thinkers as developed against the backdrop of their views on time and creation. I shall concentrate upon the Neoplatonic and Aristotelian traditions, with a particular eye to the interweaving of astronomy, cosmology and temporality. This interweaving occurs in part because of the influence of Greek cosmological and astronomical texts upon Jewish philosophers. The tension between astronomy and cosmology is best seen in Maimonides' discussion of creation. Gersonides, on the other hand, is more willing to incorporate astronomical material into his cosmological thinking. By examining these motifs, we shall arrive at a greater understanding of the dimension of temporality within Jewish philosophy.

Further Astronomical Material of Abbo of Fleury

Further Astronomical Material of Abbo of Fleury

Astronomy in Ireland from earliest times to the eighteenth century

Evidence that the builders of Irish passage graves and stone circles may have possessed some knowledge of basic celestial cycles is discussed. The introduction of Celtic culture to Ireland circa 600 B.C. is next described and an account of the astronomical learning of the Celts provided based on classical documentation and Irish vernacular sources. Following on the coming of Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, the necessity to construct Easter tables led Irish monks to such related activities as establishing collections of computi, compiling Annals and undertaking studies of available astronomical material. In particular, through exposure to Helenistic writings, they understood celestial motions in terms of the Ptolemaic model and were recognised authorities in Europe in the eighth and ninth centuries on astronomical matters. The influence of the Viking and Norman invasions in disrupting the intellectual life of the country is then outlined and the circumstances relating to the creation of conditions leading to the brilliant flowering of Irish astronomy in the eighteenth century are elucidated.

Astronomical material in Nuffield O-level physics

Astronomical material in Nuffield O-level physics

The Use of the Electronic Computer for the Urgent Publication of Astronomical Material

A system is described for processing scientific information with automatic type-setting of tabular text.

Summary-Introduction

This paper is an introduction to the astronomical material underlying the Varenna Symposium on Aerodynamical Phenomena in Stellar Atmospheres. The term « aerodynamical phenomena » rather than simply « velocity fields » is used in the title of the symposium to imply that primary concern centers as much on the physical phenomena and consequences associated with the presence of velocity fields as it does simply on the velocity fields themselves. To fully appreciate this distinction between aerodynamical phenomena and velocity fields from the astronomer's viewpoint, one must consider it against the background of the classical theory (*) of stellar atmospheres, which assumes that all the properties of the atmosphere are strictly controlled by the radiation field. The thermodynamic state of the classical atmosphere is fixed by the three conditions of radiative equilibrium (no energy transport other than by radiation), hydrostatic equilibrium (no mechanical momentum transport), and local thermodynamic equilibrium at a temperature fixed by the local energy-density of the radiation field (complete coupling between radiation field and atomic degrees of freedom). Analyses of stellar spectra under the framework of this classical atmospheric model take account of the presence of velocity fields (other than thermal) only in their effect upon the atomic absorption coefficient, not in their energetic or momentum coupling to the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere. Thus, if we become interested in aerodynamic phenomena in stellar atmospheres, we must investigate the possible perturbation these velocity fields may have upon the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere. We develop a primary concern with differential motions, velocity gradients, and dissipation mechanisms — all quantities which may produce a local non-relative energy source — rather than directing our attention only at stellar rotation and uniform expansion of an atmosphere. Thus, what we call aerodynamic phenomena embraces not only velocity fields but also their influence upon the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere.

Chalcidius and Neo-Platonism

In view of the fact that Chalcidius, the author of the Latin commentary on the Timaeus, falls within the period dominated by neo-Platonism, it is perhaps only natural that he has sometimes been regarded as a member of this school. Thus Baeumkerl and Praechter2 place him among the neo-Platonists of the West along with Macrobius and Boethius. More recent is Eduard Steinheimer's3 effort to prove the neo-Platonic character of the commentary and to show that in certain sections Chalcidius' source was Porphyry. While I am in complete agreement with Steinheimer's arguments against the conclusion of Switalski4 that Chalcidius' source is Posidonius' commentary on the Timaeus, I find his own reasoning in behalf of the use of a neo-Platonic commentary so unsatisfactory that I desire to reopen the question. We shall have little occasion to discuss the mathematical, musical, and astronomical material which forms a large part of the first one hundred and eighteen chapters of Chalcidius. Hiller5 and Switalski have shown from resemblances to Theon of Smyrna that most of this comes from the commentary of Adrastus upon the Timaeus. In chapters 21-22 Chalcidius sets forth the theory which assigns three qualities to each element. It seems that the only parallels to this are Nemesius (De natura hominis 5) and Proclus (In Timaeum ii. 40). Arguing from these parallels Steinheimer, following Krause,' regards it as probable that Chalcidius is following Porphyry. There appears to be no evidence to indicate where or when this theory of the elements arose. If it were the property of any one of his pre-