Our Place in the Universe What Our Ancestors Saw.
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Transcript of Our Place in the Universe What Our Ancestors Saw.
What Our Ancestors Saw
• For thousands of years humans have used the sky as a source of information.– Time of day
– Date
– Weather
– Position on earth
– Tides
– When to plant
– When to harvest
• Farmers took their cues from changes in the “celestial bodies”
• Sailors navigated the vast voyages by navigating by the stars
• Political and religious leaders often made important decisions based on observations of the sky.
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Ancient Cultures
• Many cultures based large parts of their societies on the sky.
• Astrologers were important people in many societies.
• People believed that their destinies could be told in the stars.
So…what is going on up there?
• Many different cultures had their own accounts about how the celestrial bodies were formed.– Hindu…seven wise men … Pleiades– Native North Americans … Ursa Major– Greeks … Orion the Hunter