Cheomseongdae, located in South Korea

Pretelescopic astronomy is the science of observing celestial objects with the naked eye.

History

It is believed that the first pretelesopic astronomers were the Chinese due to conclusive evidence such as the Gan Shi Xing Jing (the oldest recorded star catalog which was produced during the 5th century BCE). This primitive form of astronomy was once considered a rather crucial facet to very science and technology in China?so crucial, in fact, that if a Chinese astronomer were to inaccurately predict the occurrence of a comet or eclipse, he would be subsequently ordered to a beheading by the Chinese hierarchy.

Notwithstanding the Chinese being considered among the first to document stellar activity, some of the oldest observatories on Earth are still extant throughout various regions of Korea, Egypt, Great Britain, Cambodia, et cetera.

Although despite the pretelescopic observatories boasted by the previously ennumerated nations, China also boasts its own rather impressive observatories such as the Beijing Ancient Observatory?an advanced facility constructed during the 13th century; equipped with an array of revolutionary instruments including an armillary sphere, a quadrant, a theodolite and an astronomical sextant.

Introduction of the telescope

Although telescopes existed during the age of many pretelescopic observatories, the apparatus was, indeed, not, during that era, utilised for the fulfillment of astronomical endeavours. For it was not until the introduction of Galileo Galilei's "perspicillum" in 1609 (a contrivance later amended by Johannes Kepler in his book Astronomiae Pars Optica) that led the telescope to serve as the chief instrument in all ulterior astrononomical endeavours.

Oldest observatories

The five oldest, extant observatories according to NASA are as follows:

1. Abu Simbel, Egypt
2. Stonehenge, Great Britain
3. Angkor Wat, Cambodia
4. Kokino, Republic of Macedonia
5. Goseck circle, Germany

References

• Hetherington, Barry (1992) A Chronicle of Pre-Telescopic Astronomy, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-95942-1

See also

• Naked-eye planets
• Chinese astronomy
• Archaeoastronomy

External links

• Institute and Museum of the History of Science - Pretelescopic astronomy

es:Astronomía pretelescópica fr:Astronomie prétélescopique

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