It may not look like much, but at over 1300 years old, it’s the oldest surviving astronomical observatory in Asia (that anyone knows about.)
DAILY PHOTO: Cheomseongdae Observatory, Gyeongju
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Tag Archives: Astronomy
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]
When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
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Astronomical Fail [Limerick]
The astronomer Francesco Sizzi worked himself into a tizzy: "More rocks in space? There're seven holes in a face! Pssh! Galileo calls himself scientist, but is he?"
Note: When Galileo suggested Jupiter had moons, Sizzi summarily rejected the idea based on the “rationale” that there couldn’t be more than seven natural satellites because there are seven holes in a mammal’s head, seven days in a week, and [somehow] seven metals… ergo, seven astronomical bodies, maximum.
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DAILY PHOTO: New Delhi Mishra Yantra
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DAILY PHOTO: Jantar Mantar, New Delhi
Taken at the Jantar Mantar, Delhi on December 16, 2016
The Jantar Mantar are astronomical clocks / calendars. Five of them were built in early 18th century India by order of Maharaja Jai Singh II. The others are in Jaipur, Varanasi, Ujjain, and Mathura. The one at Jaipur is said to be the most impressive, and I can attest that it’s more impressive than the complex in Delhi. However, I’ve only visited the two. What we read of the Varanasi one didn’t make it sound worth the trip, even though we were in the area of it. (It’s atop one of the buildings near the main ghat.) I haven’t been to the other two cities, but I’ve heard that not all of the Jantar Mantar remain intact, so they may just be ruins.
When we were visiting the location in Jaipur, a guide asked: “Do you believe in these things, astrology and astronomy?”
To which the natural response is: “That’s like asking whether I believe in ghosts and gravity.”
At any rate, if you are into science these sites are worth your time.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 