A short history of astronomy

Astronomy is the oldest science by far. As long as mankind exists we have looked up to the skies and wondered what was out there. Almost every culture throughout history has studied the Sun, Moon and stars, and watched how celestial bodies move across the sky. For early civilisations, like the ancient Egyptians, astronomy was a way to keep track of the changing seasons. They used it to know when it was time to plant and harvest crops and it was used to make calendars and sundials to keep track of time. In 1000 BC, Indian and Babylonian astronomers had already calculated length of a year as 360 days (which resulted in a 360 degree circle, with each degree representing a solar day). Later the ancient Egyptians refined this calculation to 365.25 days. The most important discoveries

The Milky Way

On a clear, moonless night away from the city lights, you can see a pale white band stretching across the sky. This hazy band of light is our own inside view of the city of stars that form the galaxy we are part of, the Milky Way Galaxy.

There are many myths involving the formation of the Milky Way, but the best known is probably the Greek myth of Hercules. In Greek mythology, Hercules was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman. It was said that when Zeus’ wife, while suckling Hercules, found out that his mother was a mortal woman, she pulled her breast away and her milk flowed among the stars.

But what is the Milky Way really?It is a spiral shaped galaxy, a vast collection of stars, gas and dust of which the solar system with our Sun and its system of planets, is a part. We are located about halfway

Breathtaking stars

As a child I already had a fascination for stars. I think I was about nine years old when my brother in law pointed out the Big Dipper to me for the first time, and from that moment I was hooked. Although I already owned a book about astronomy when I still lived in the Netherlands and had looked up to the breathtaking sky of the southern hemisphere during our travels, the real fascination came when I came to live here in South Africa. Especially in winter the sky here is so clear that you can see the Milky Way beautifully.

Corné also got interested and