Related papers: Nowruz, Umar Khayyam, Calendar and Constellations
Did the Indian and Babylonian astronomy evolve in isolation, was there mutual influence, or was one dependent on the other? Scholars have debated these questions for more than two centuries, and opinion has swung one way or the other with…
The Sun has long been considered a constant star, to the extent that its total irradiance was termed the solar constant. It required radiometers in space to detect the small variations in solar irradiance on timescales of the solar rotation…
A common flaw of astronomers is to believe that they know the truth even when data is scarce. I provide ten examples where this approach led to wrong strategic decisions in research plans, causing unnecessary delays in finding the truth. In…
We investigate the anomalies in the Earth - Moon system using ancient eclipse data. We identify nine groups of anomalous eclipses between 400 and 1800 AD recorded in parts of India that should have completely missed the subcontinent as per…
We point out serious shortcomings of a very recent article (Iorio in Astrophys. Space Sci. 364:126, 2019) wrongly claiming that the current precision with which we know orbits of planets in the Solar System rules out the possibility of…
Studying solar wind conditions is central to forecasting impact of space weather on Earth. Under the assumption that the structure of this wind is constant in time and corotates with the Sun, solar wind and thereby space weather forecasts…
Mathematical and astronomical achievements of the Islamic World during its golden era are briefly exposed. Thie article is based on the invited talk delivered remotely at the ICRANet-Isfahan Astronomical meeting, November 2-5, 2021, which,…
We use the corrections to the Newton-Einstein secular precessions of the longitudes of perihelia of some planets (Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) of the Solar System, phenomenologically estimated as solve-for parameters by the…
The evolution of the solar activity comprises, apart from the well-known 11-year cycle, various temporal scales ranging from months up to the secondary cycles known as mid-term oscillations. Its nature deserves a physical explanation. In…
This thesis assesses the influence of astronomical phenomena on the Earth's biosphere and climate. I examine in particular the relevance of both the path of the Sun through the Galaxy and the evolution of the Earth's orbital parameters in…
We confirmed the presence of regular UBVRIc light variations of the object in the centre of planetary nebula Sh 2-71, the improved period of them being P =(68.132+/-0.005) days. The shapes and amplitudes of light curves in particular…
The galactic environment of the Sun varies over short timescales as the Sun and interstellar clouds travel through space. Small variations in the dynamics, ionization, density, and magnetic field strength of the interstellar medium (ISM)…
Although the Sun is our closest star by many orders of magnitude and despite having sunspot records stretching back to ancient China, our knowledge of the Sun's magnetic field is far from complete. Indeed, even now, after decades of study,…
As the 7 December 2007 equinox of Uranus approached, ring and atmosphere observers produced a substantial collection of observations using the 10-m Keck telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope. Those spanning the period from 7 June 2007…
We present a short review of the existing evidence in favor of neutrino mass and neutrino oscillations which come from different kinds of experiments. We focus our attention in particular on solar neutrinos, presenting a global updated…
This paper examines the predictions made by Chinese, Muslim and Jesuit astronomers of the eclipse of 21 June 1629 in Beijing, allegedly the event that determined Emperor Chongzhen's resolution to reform the calendar using the Western…
We propose to use a modest fraction of the re-purposed Kepler mission time and apertures to greatly increase the quantity and quality of our knowledge of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) rotation and shape. NEAs are important for understanding…
The transit of Mercury occurred two times in this century: 2003, May 7 and 2006, November 8. In 2016 there is another opportunity to observe this phenomenon and measure the solar diameter with the method of comparing the ephemerides with…
This paper presents a simple geometrical fact which could relate to the history of mathematics and astronomy. This fact shows a natural link between the circle and the multiples of 6 and it makes it possible to obtain a simple…
The solar luminosity in the visible changes at the 10-3 level, following an 11 years period. In X-rays, which should not be there, the amplitude varies 100000 times stronger, making their mysterious origin since the discovery in 1938 even…