Related papers: The genesis of Hippachus' celestial globe
``One could imagine that as a result of enormously extended astronomical experience, the entire universe consists of countless identical copies of our Milky Way, that the infinite space can be partitioned into cubes each containing an…
Modern society has led many people to become consumers of data unlike previous generations. How this shift in the way information is communicated and received - including in areas of science - and affects perception and comprehension is…
After presenting the main characteristics of the Sky of Salamanca, we analyse whether what is represented in it is motivated by astrological or astronomical considerations. We will see that the astrological explanation based on the system…
An emerging theme in modern astrophysics is the connection between astronomical observations and the underlying physical phenomena that drive our cosmos. Both the mechanisms responsible for the observed astrophysical phenomena and the tools…
We analyzed the Hipparcos astrometric observations of 47 stars that were discovered to harbor giant planets and 14 stars with brown-dwarf secondary candidates. The Hipparcos measurements were used together with the corresponding stellar…
The Cassini spacecraft collects high resolution images of the saturnian satellites and reveals the surface of these new worlds. The shape and rotation of the satellites can be determined from the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem data,…
For most of its history, cosmology was a qualitatively constrained discourse on the universe, shaped by limited observational access and the absence of global dynamical laws. This situation has changed decisively in recent decades. Modern…
We consider the deformation that has recently been observed in the inner part of the circumstellar disk around Beta Pictoris with the HST. Our recent ground based adaptive optics coronographic observations confirm that the inner disk is…
For several decades a portrait of Johannes Kepler has been widely circulating among professional astronomers, scientific and academic institutions, and the general public. Despite its provenance and identification having been questioned in…
This book chapter, Saturn's Polar Atmosphere, is to be published by Cambridge University Press as part of a multi-volume work edited by Kevin Baines, Michael Flasar, Norbert Krupp, and Thomas Stallard, entitled "Saturn in the 21st Century."…
During the last centuries of human history, many questions was repeated in connection with the great problems of the existence and origin of human beings, and also of the Universe. The old questions of common sense and philosophy have not…
New estimate of the distances of 36 nearby galaxies is presented. It is based on the calibration of the V- and I-band Period-Lumi- nosity relations for galactic Cepheids measured by the HIPPARCOS mission. The distance moduli are obtained in…
As an extension of a previous work in which perihelion advances are considered only and as an attempt to find more stringent constraints on its parameters, we investigate effects on astronomical observation and experiments conducted in the…
Planetary science beyond the boundaries of our Solar System is today in its infancy. Until a couple of decades ago, the detailed investigation of the planetary properties was restricted to objects orbiting inside the Kuiper Belt. Today, we…
The geocentric universe, in its most developed form as set out by Ptolemy, was a remarkably successful and coherent theory. It did not, however, specify the order of the planets, that is, which was closer to Earth and which farther away.…
Quel est, ou pourrait \^etre, la topologie globale de la partie spatiale de l'Univers ? L'Univers entier (pr\'ecis\'ement, l'hypersurface spatiale de celui-ci) est-il observable ? Les math\'ematiciens, les physiciens et les cosmologistes…
The solar system has changed dramatically since its birth, and so did our understanding of it. A considerable research effort has been invested in the past decade in an attempt to reconstruct the solar system history, including the earliest…
The measurement of the positions, distances, motions and luminosities of stars represents the foundations of modern astronomical knowledge. Launched at the end of the eighties, the ESA Hipparcos satellite was the first space mission…
Work published in Sky and Telescope in 2004 discusses Galileo's observations of the star Mizar. These observations raise questions regarding Galileo's assumptions about the universe and the conclusions he drew from his observations. Galileo…
We have summarized here the astronomical knowledge of the ancient Hindu astronomers. This knowledge was accumulated from before 1500 B.C. up to around 1200 A.D. In Section \ref{equiv} we have correlated terms used by the Hindu astronomers…