Related papers: Dante, astrology and astronomy
The changing heavens have played a central role in the scientific effort of astronomers for centuries. Galileo's synoptic observations of the moons of Jupiter and the phases of Venus starting in 1610, provided strong refutation of Ptolemaic…
Are symmetries discovered or rather invented by humans ? The stand you may take firmly here reveals a lot of your epistemological position. Conversely, the arguments you may forge for answering to this question, or to one of its numerous…
The aggregate appearance of the naked-eye stars would appear to Galileo to be direct observational support for his ideas about the stars, and indirect observational support for the Copernican theory over the rival Tychonic theory. Brief…
A formulation of anomalies in terms of star products is suggested which promises insight from an alternative and unifying point of view.
Modern science developed within a culture of Judeo-Christian theism, and science and theism have generally supported each other. However, there are certainly areas in both science and religion that puzzle me. Here I outline some puzzles…
Imagining what life on other planets, and intelligent life in particular, may be like is a long-running theme in human culture. It is a manifestation of the innate human curiosity about the Cosmos, and it has inspired numerous works of art…
Possible signatures which may indicate an existence of antimatter in the Galaxy and in the early universe are reviewed. A model which could give rise to abundant antimatter in the Galaxy is considered.
The Olbers conjecture, that under reasonable assumptions, light from the stars should sum at the Earth to make the sky bright at night, has been a subject of study since the early 19th century. It has been incorporated into some of modern…
Since the early days of humankind, people have been asking questions about Nature of two kinds: why did that happen? And how can that be used? In a broad sense, science was born that day. We show indeed that science has two complementary…
Examples are presented for appearance of geometric symmetry in the shape of various astronomical objects and phenomena. Usage of these symmetries in astrophysical and extragalactic research is also discussed.
This article is the written version of the closing talk presented at the conference `A Century of Cosmology' held at San Servolo, Italy, in August 2007. I focus on the prospects of constraining fundamental physics from cosmological…
Using the model based on the Regge-like laws, new analytical formulas are obtained for the moment of inertia, the rotation frequency, and the radius of astronomical non-exotic objects (planets, stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies).…
Astrophysics gives evidence for the existence of Dark Matter and puts constraints on its nature. The Cold Dark Matter model has become "standard" cosmology combined with a cosmological constant. There are indications that "Cold" Dark Matter…
The Anthologies of the second-century astrologer Vettius Valens (120-c.175 CE) is the most extensive surviving practical astrological text from the period. Despite this, the theoretical underpinnings of the Anthologies have been…
The determination of chemical abundances from stellar spectra is considered a mature field of astrophysics. Digital spectra of stars are recorded and processed with standard techniques, much like samples in the biological sciences.…
The Nabateans built several monuments in Petra and elsewhere displaying a decoration with a preference for astronomical motifs, possibly as a reflection of their religion. However, due to the lack of direct written accounts and the scarcity…
Information Extraction from scientific literature can be challenging due to the highly specialised nature of such text. We describe our entity recognition methods developed as part of the DEAL (Detecting Entities in the Astrophysics…
The apparent fine-tuning of several fundamental parameters that determine the properties of our Universe and make it hospitable to life is sometimes used as an argument for God from design. I review the concept of cosmic fine-tuning and…
We review the current state of data mining and machine learning in astronomy. 'Data Mining' can have a somewhat mixed connotation from the point of view of a researcher in this field. If used correctly, it can be a powerful approach,…
In this paper, we survey some recent results on the Artin conjecture and discuss some aspects for the Artin conjecture.