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The oldest astronomical instrument. Ancient astronomical instruments. Key provisions on which the Ptolemy system is built

Try to imagine yourself as an ancient observer of the Universe, completely devoid of any tools. In this case, how much can be seen in the sky?

During the day, attention will be paid to the movement of the Sun, its rise, rise to the maximum height and a slow descent to the horizon. If such observations are repeated from day to day, one can easily notice that the points of rise and fall, as well as the highest angular height of the Sun above the horizon, are constantly changing. With long-term observations in all these changes, you can notice the annual cycle - the basis of the calendar chronology.

At night, the sky is much richer in both objects and events. The eye can easily distinguish patterns of constellations, unequal brightness and color of stars, a gradual change in the appearance of the starry sky throughout the year. Particular attention will be drawn to the Moon with its variability of external shape, grayish permanent spots on the surface and very complex motion against the background of stars. Less noticeable, but undoubtedly attractive are the planets - these wandering non-flickering bright "stars", sometimes describing mysterious loops against the background of stars.

The calm, familiar picture of the night sky can be disturbed by the outbreak of a “new” bright unfamiliar star, the appearance of a tailed comet or a bright fireball, or, finally, “falling stars”. All these events, undoubtedly, aroused the interest of ancient observers, but they did not have the slightest idea about their real reasons. At first, it was necessary to solve a simpler problem - to notice the cyclical nature of celestial phenomena and create the first calendars based on these celestial cycles.

Apparently, the Egyptian priests were the first to do this, when, about 6,000 years before the present day, they noticed that the early appearance of Sirius in the rays of dawn coincided with the flooding of the Nile. This did not require any astronomical instruments- only great observation was required. On the other hand, the error in estimating the length of the year was great - the first Egyptian solar calendar contained 360 days in a year.

The needs of practice forced the ancient astronomers to improve the calendar, to clarify the length of the year. It was necessary to understand the complex motion of the Moon - without this, counting the time on the Moon would have been impossible. It was necessary to clarify the features of the planetary motion and compile the first stellar catalogs. All of these tasks involve angular measurements in the sky, the numerical characteristics of what has so far been described only in words. This is how the need arose for goniometric astronomical instruments.

The oldest of them gnomon (fig. 1). In its simplest form, it is a vertical rod that casts a shadow on a horizontal plane. Knowing the length of the gnomon L and measuring the length I the shadow it casts, you can find the angular height h Suns above the horizon according to the modern formula:

The ancients used gnomons to measure the midday height of the Sun on various days of the year, and most importantly on the days of the solstices, when this height reaches extreme values. Let the midday height of the Sun on the summer solstice be H, and on the day of the winter solstice h. Then the angle? between the celestial equator and the ecliptic is

and the inclination of the plane of the celestial equator to the horizon, equal to 90 ° -?, where? - latitude of the place of observation, calculated by the formula

On the other hand, by carefully monitoring the length of the midday shadow, you can quite accurately notice when it becomes the longest or shortest, that is, in other words, fix the days of the solstices, and therefore the length of the year. From here it is easy to calculate the dates of the solstices.

Thus, in spite of its simplicity, the gnomon allows one to measure very important quantities in astronomy. These measurements will be all the more accurate the larger the gnomon and the longer (all other things being equal) the shadow it casts. Since the end of the shadow cast by the gnomon is not sharply outlined (because of the penumbra), on some ancient gnomon, a vertical plate with a small round hole was fixed on top. The sun's rays, passing through this hole, created a clear solar flare on the horizontal plane, from which the distance to the base of the gnomon was measured.

As early as a thousand years BC, a gnomon was built in Egypt in the form of an obelisk 117 Roman feet high. During the reign of Emperor Augustus, the gnomon was transported to Rome, installed on the Champ de Mars, and with its help the moment of half a day was determined. At the Beijing Observatory in the XIII century A.D. NS. a gnomon with a height of 13 m, and the famous Uzbek astronomer Ulugbek (15th century) used a gnomon, according to some sources, 55 m. The tallest gnomon worked in the 15th century on the dome of the Florence Cathedral. Together with the building of the cathedral, its height reached 90 m.

The astronomical staff is also among the most ancient goniometric instruments (Fig. 2).

Along the graduated ruler AB the movable rail was moving CD, at the ends of which small rods were sometimes attached - sighting devices. In some cases, a reticle with a hole was also at the other end of the ruler. AB, to which the observer applied his eye (point A). By the position of the movable rod relative to the observer's eye, it was possible to judge the height of the star above the horizon, or the angle between the directions by two stars.

The ancient Greek astronomers used the so-called triquetrom, consisting of three rulers connected together (Fig. 2). To a vertical, fixed ruler AB rulers attached to the hinges Sun and AC. On the first of them, two sighting devices or diopters are attached. m and NS. The observer guides the ruler Sun to the star so that the star is simultaneously visible through both diopters. Then holding the ruler Sun in this position, a ruler is applied to it AS so that the distances VA and Sun were equal to each other. This was easy to do, since all three rulers, which make up the triquetra, had divisions of the same scale. Having measured the chord length on this scale AC, the observer then found the angle ABC, that is, the zenith distance of the star.

Both the astronomical staff and the triquetra could not provide high accuracy of measurements, and therefore they were often preferred quadrants- goniometric instruments that reached a high degree of perfection by the end of the Middle Ages. In its simplest form (Fig. 3), the quadrant is a flat board in the form of a quarter of a graduated circle. A movable ruler with two diopters rotates from this circle near the center (sometimes the ruler was replaced with a tube). If the plane of the quadrant is vertical, then by the position of the pipe or the line of sight directed to the luminary, it is easy to measure the height of the luminary above the horizon. In those cases when instead of a quarter of a circle its sixth part was used, the instrument was called sextant, and if the eighth part - octant. As in other cases, the larger the quadrant or sextant was, the more accurate its graduation and installation in the vertical plane, the more accurate measurements could be made with it. To ensure stability and strength, large quadrants were reinforced on vertical walls. Even in the 18th century, such wall quadrants were considered the best goniometric instruments.

The same type of instrument as the quadrant includes astrolabe or an astronomical ring (Fig. 4). A metal circle divided into degrees is suspended from some support by a ring A. In the center of the astrolabe there is an alidada - a rotating ruler with two diopters. By the position of the alidade directed at the luminary, its angular height is easily measured.

Often, ancient astronomers had to measure not the heights of the stars, but the angles between the directions of two stars, for example, to the planet and one of the stars). The universal quadrant was very convenient for this purpose (Fig. 5a). This instrument was equipped with two tubes - diopters, of which one ( AS) was motionlessly fastened to the arc of the quadrant, and the second (Sun) revolved around its center. The main feature of the universal quadrant is its tripod, with which the quadrant could be fixed in any position. When measuring the angular distance from a star to a planet, the fixed diopter was directed towards the star, and the moving one - towards the planet. The reading on the quadrant scale gave the desired angle.

Widespread in ancient astronomy received armillary spheres, or armilla (fig. 56). In essence, these were models of the celestial sphere with its most important points and circles - the poles and the axis of the world, the meridian, the horizon, the celestial equator and the ecliptic. Often armillas were supplemented with small circles - celestial parallels and other details. Almost all circles were graduated and the sphere itself could rotate around the axis of the world. In a number of cases, the meridian was also made mobile - the tilt of the axis of the world could be changed in accordance with the geographical latitude of the place.

Of all the ancient astronomical instruments, the armillas were the most tenacious. These models of the celestial sphere can still be purchased at the store of visual aids, and they are used in astronomy classrooms to solve various problems. Small armills and ancient astronomers also used it. As for the large armillas, they were adapted for angular measurements in the sky.

Armilla, first of all, was rigidly oriented so that her horizon lay in the horizontal plane, and the meridian - in the plane of the celestial meridian. In observations with the armillary sphere, the observer's eyes were aligned with its center. On the axis of the world, a movable declination circle with diopters was strengthened, and at those moments when a star was visible through these diopters, the coordinates of the star - its hour angle and declination - were counted by the divisions of the armilla circles. With some additional devices, with the help of armillas, it was possible to measure directly and right ascensions of stars.

Every modern observatory has an accurate clock. There were clocks at ancient observatories, but they differed greatly from modern ones in terms of their operation and accuracy. The oldest of the clocks is the sun clock. They were used many centuries before our era.

The simplest sundial is equatorial (Fig. 6, a). They consist of a rod directed towards the North Star (more precisely, towards the north pole of the world), and a dial perpendicular to it, divided into hours and minutes. The shade from the rod plays the role of an arrow, and the scale on the dial is uniform, that is, all hour (and, of course, minute) divisions are equal. The equatorial sundial has a significant drawback - it shows the time only from March 21 to September 23, that is, when the Sun is above the celestial equator. You can, of course, make a double-sided dial and strengthen another lower rod, but this will hardly make the equatorial watch more comfortable.

More common are horizontal sundials (Fig. 6, 6). The role of the rod in them is usually performed by a triangular plate, the upper side of which is directed to the north pole of the world. The shadow from this plate falls on the horizontal dial, the hour divisions of which this time are not equal to each other (only in pairs the hour divisions are equal, symmetrical with respect to the noon line). For each latitude, the digitization of the dial of such a watch is different. Sometimes, instead of a horizontal one, a vertical dial (wall sundial) or dials of a special complex shape were used.

The largest sundial was built at the beginning of the 18th century in Delhi. The shadow of a triangular wall whose apex is 18 m, falls on digitized marble arcs with a radius of about 6 m. This watch is still working properly and shows the time with an accuracy of one minute.

All sundials have a very big drawback - in cloudy weather and at night they do not work. Therefore, along with the sundial, the ancient astronomers also used an hourglass and a water clock, or clepsydras. In both, time is essentially measured by the uniform movement of sand or water. Small hourglasses are still found today, but clepsydras gradually fell out of use in the 17th century, after high-precision mechanical pendulum clocks were invented.

What did the ancient observatories look like?

The heavenly bodies have been of interest to people since time immemorial. Even before the revolutionary discoveries of Galileo and Copernicus, astronomers made repeated attempts to find out the patterns and laws of motion of planets and stars and used special tools for this. The tools of ancient astronomers were so complex that it took modern scientists years to figure out their structure.

1. Calendar from Warren Field

Although the strange depressions in Warren Field were discovered from the air back in 1976, it wasn't until 2004 that it was determined to be ancient. moon calendar... Scientists believe that the found calendar is about 10,000 years old. It looks like 12 depressions arranged in an arc of 54 meters. Each hole is synchronized with the lunar month in the calendar, and adjusted for lunar phase... It is also surprising that the calendar at Warren Field, which was built 6,000 years before Stonehenge, focuses on the point of sunrise at the winter solstice.

2. Sextant Al-Khujandi in painting

Very little information has survived about Abu Mahmoud Hamid ibn al-Khidr Al-Khujandi, except that he was a mathematician and astronomer who lived in the territory of modern Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It is also known that he created one of the largest astronomical instruments in the 9-10th centuries. His sextant was made in a fresco, located on a 60-degree arc between the two inner walls of the building. This huge 43-meter arc has been subdivided into degrees. Moreover, each degree was precisely divided into 360 parts, which made the fresco a stunningly accurate solar calendar. Above the arc of Al-Khujandi was a domed ceiling with a hole in the middle through which the sun's rays fell on the ancient sextant.

3. Wolwells and the zodiac man

In Europe at the turn of the 14th century, scientists and doctors used a rather strange type of astronomical instrument - the Volvella. They looked like several round sheets of parchment with a hole in the center, stacked on top of each other. This allowed the circles to be moved in order to calculate all the necessary data - from the phases of the moon to the position of the sun in the zodiac. An archaic gadget, in addition to its main function, was also a status symbol - only the richest people could acquire a volvella.

Also, medieval doctors believed that each part of the human body is controlled by its own constellation. For example, Aries was responsible for the head, and Scorpio was responsible for the genitals. Therefore, for diagnosis, doctors used volwells to calculate the current position of the moon and sun. Unfortunately, Volwells were quite fragile, so very few of these ancient astronomical instruments survived.

4. Ancient sundial

Today, the sundial is only used to decorate the garden lawns. But they were once needed to keep track of time and the movement of the Sun across the sky. One of the oldest sundials was found in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. They date from 1550 - 1070 BC. and are a round piece of limestone with a semicircle painted on it (divided into 12 sectors) and a hole in the middle, into which a rod was inserted to cast a shadow. Soon after the discovery of an Egyptian sundial, similar ones were found in Ukraine. They were buried with a man who died 3200 - 3300 years ago. Thanks to the Ukrainian clock, scientists learned that the Zrubna civilization possessed knowledge of geometry and was able to calculate latitude and longitude.

5. Heavenly disc from Nebra

Named for the German city where it was discovered in 1999, the "Celestial Disc from Nebra" is the oldest depiction of space ever found by man. The disc was buried next to a chisel, two axes, two swords, and two chain mail bracers about 3,600 years ago. The bronze disc, covered with a layer of patina, had gold inserts depicting the Sun, Moon and stars from the constellations Orion, Andromeda and Cassiopeia. No one knows who made the disc, but the arrangement of the stars suggests that the creators were located at the same latitude as Nebra.

6. Chanquillo Astronomical Complex

The ancient astronomical observatory of Chanquillo in Peru is so complex that its true purpose was only discovered in 2007 with the help of computer program designed to align solar panels. The 13 towers of the complex are built in a straight line 300 meters long along the hill. Scientists originally thought Chanquillo were fortifications, but it was an incredibly bad place for a fort, as it had no defensive advantages, no running water, or sources of food.

But then archaeologists realized that one of the towers was looking at the sunrise at the summer solstice, and the other at the sunrise at the winter solstice. Built about 2,300 years ago, the towers are the oldest solar observatory in America. That's why ancient calendar it is still possible to determine the day of the year with a maximum of two-day error. Unfortunately, the huge solar calendar from Chanquillo is the only trace of the civilization of the builders of this complex, who predated the Incas by more than 1000 years.

7. Hyginus' star atlas

The Hyginus' Star Atlas, also known as the Poetica Astronomica, was one of the first works to depict the constellations. Although the authorship of the atlas is controversial, it is sometimes attributed to Gaius Julius Hyginus (Roman writer, 64 BC - 17 AD). Others argue that the work bears a resemblance to the writings of Ptolemy.

In any case, when the Poetica Astronomica was reprinted in 1482, it became the first printed work to show the constellations, as well as the myths associated with them. While other atlases provided more specific mathematical information that could be used for navigation, Poetica Astronomica presented a more bizarre, literary interpretation of stars and their history.

8. Heavenly Globe

The celestial globe appeared even when astronomers believed that the stars move in the sky around the Earth. The celestial globes, which were created to represent this celestial sphere, began to be created by the ancient Greeks, and the first globe in a shape similar to modern globes was created by the German scientist Johannes Schöner. On this moment only two of Schöner's celestial globes have survived, which are true works of art depicting constellations in the night sky. The oldest surviving example of a celestial globe dates from about 370 BC.

9. Armillary sphere

The armillary sphere - an astronomical instrument in which several rings surround a central point - was a distant relative of the celestial globe. There were two different types of spheres - observation and demonstration. The first scientist to use such spheres was Ptolemy. With this tool, it was possible to determine the equatorial or ecliptic coordinates of celestial bodies. Along with the astrolabe, the armillary sphere has been used by sailors for navigation for centuries.

10. El Caracol, Chichen Itza

The El Caracol Observatory at Chichen Itza was built between 415 and 455 AD. The observatory was very unusual - while most of the astronomical instruments were set up to observe the movement of the stars or the sun, El Caracol (translated "snail") was built to observe the movement of Venus. For the Maya, Venus was sacred - literally everything in their religion was based on the cult of this planet. El Caracol, in addition to being an observatory, was also the temple of the god Quetzalcoatl.

For those who dream of discovering the world of heavenly bodies, it will be useful to be able to teach any beginner the intricacies of astronomy.

Astronomical instruments and devices - optical telescopes with a variety of devices and radiation receivers, radio telescopes, laboratory measuring instruments and other technical means used for carrying out and processing astronomical observations.

The whole history of astronomy is associated with the creation of new instruments that make it possible to increase the accuracy of observations, the ability to conduct research on celestial bodies in the ranges of electromagnetic radiation (see), inaccessible to the naked human eye.

Goniometric instruments were the first to appear in ancient times. The oldest of these is the gnomon, a vertical rod that casts a sun's shadow on a horizontal plane. Knowing the length of the gnomon and the shadow, you can determine the height of the Sun above the horizon.

The quadrants also belong to the old goniometric instruments. In its simplest form, a quadrant is a flat board in the shape of a quarter circle divided by degrees. A movable ruler with two diopters revolves around its center.

Armillary spheres were widely used in ancient astronomy - models of the celestial sphere with its most important points and circles: the poles and the axis of the world, the meridian, the horizon, the celestial equator and the ecliptic. At the end of the XVI century. the best in accuracy and grace astronomical instruments were made by the Danish astronomer T. Brahe. Its armillary spheres were adapted to measure both horizontal and equatorial coordinates of luminaries.

A radical revolution in the methods of astronomical observations took place in 1609, when the Italian scientist G. Galilei used a telescope to survey the sky and made the first telescopic observations. I. Kepler contributed much to improving the designs of refractor telescopes with lens objectives.

The first telescopes were still extremely imperfect, giving a fuzzy image, colored with a rainbow halo.

They tried to get rid of the shortcomings by increasing the length of the telescopes. However, the most effective and convenient were achromatic refractor telescopes, which began to be manufactured in 1758 by D. Dollond in England.

How to make an astrolabe?

You can make an astrolabe to measure horizontal angles and determine the azimuths of luminaries with a compass and a protractor. The rest of the necessary parts, in order not to distort the compass readings, must be made from improvised non-magnetic materials.

Cut a disc out of plywood, PCB, or plexiglass. The diameter of the disc must be such that a circular scale (limb) from the transport is located on it and a free field 2-3 cm wide would remain behind it.If you have, for example, the smallest of the produced transport with an arc of 7.5 cm in diameter, then you need a disc with a diameter of 14-15 cm.

Another important detail of the future astrolabe is the sighting bar. You can make it from a strip of brass or duralumin 2-3 cm wide and 5-6 cm longer than the disc diameter. Bend the ends of the strip protruding beyond the edge of the disc at a right angle upward and saw through them oblong or circular sighting holes. On the horizontal part of the plank, symmetrically to the center, make two wider slots so that you can see the dial reading through them. Attach the target plate, ready for installation, in its middle with a bolt, washers and nuts to the center of the disc so that it can rotate in a horizontal plane. Reinforce the compass on the target bar in the center. To do this, as for setting the dial, use commercially available high quality universal adhesives. You can make a limb from two transports (school protractors are made of light non-magnetic material).

In 1668 I. Newton built a reflector telescope, which was free from many optical defects inherent in refractors. Later, MV Lomonosov and V. Gershel worked on the improvement of this system of telescopes. The latter has achieved especially great success in the construction of reflectors. Gradually increasing the diameters of the produced mirrors, V. Herschel in 1789 polished the largest mirror (122 cm in diameter) for his telescope. It was the world's greatest reflector at the time.

In the XX century. Mirror-lens telescopes, the designs of which were developed by the German optician B. Schmidt (1931) and the Soviet optician D. D. Maksutov (1941), became widespread.

In 1974, the construction of the world's largest Soviet mirror telescope with a mirror diameter of 6 m was completed. This telescope is installed in the Caucasus - at the Special Astrophysical Observatory. The possibilities of the new tool are enormous. The experience of the first observations has already shown that objects of the 25th magnitude are available to this telescope, that is, they are millions of times fainter than those that Galileo observed through his telescope.

Modern astronomical instruments are used to measure the exact positions of the stars on the celestial sphere (systematic observations of this kind make it possible to study the movements of the celestial bodies); to determine the speed of movement of celestial bodies along the line of sight (radial velocities); for calculating the geometric and physical characteristics of celestial bodies; to study the physical processes taking place in various celestial bodies; to determine their chemical composition and for many other studies of celestial objects in which astronomy is concerned.

Astrometric instruments include a universal instrument and a theodolite similar in design; the meridian circle used to compile accurate catalogs of the positions of the stars; a transit instrument used to accurately determine the moments of passage of stars through the meridian of the place of observation, which is needed for the time service.

Astrographs are used for photographic observations.

Astrophysical research requires telescopes with special devices designed for spectral (objective prism, astrospectrograph), photometric (astrophotometer), polarimetric and other observations.

It is possible to increase the penetrating power of the telescope by using television technology in observations (see), as well as photomultiplier tubes.

Instruments have been created that make it possible to observe celestial bodies in various ranges of electromagnetic radiation, including in the invisible range. These are radio telescopes and radio interferometers, as well as instruments used in X-ray astronomy, gamma astronomy, infrared astronomy.

For the observation of some astronomical objects, special instrument designs have been developed. These are the solar telescope, coronagraph (for observations solar corona), comet finder, meteor patrol, satellite photographic camera (for photographic observations of satellites) and many others.

In the course of astronomical observations, series of numbers, astrophotographs, spectrograms and other materials are obtained, which must be subjected to laboratory processing for final results. Such processing is carried out using laboratory measuring instruments.

Astronomical rake

This simple homemade instrument for measuring angles in the sky got its name from the external resemblance to a garden rake.

Take two planks 60 and 30 cm long, 4 cm wide and 1 -1.5 cm thick.Prepare them thoroughly, for example, using fine abrasive paper, and then fasten both planks together in the shape of a T.

Attach a sight - a small metal or plastic plate with a hole to the free end of the longer plate. Taking the sighting hole as the center of the circle, draw an arc with a radius of 57.3 cm on the plane of the smaller plate using a cord of the appropriate size. Attach one end of it to the sight, and tie a pencil to the other end. Along the drawn arc, reinforce a row of teeth (pins) at a distance of 1 cm from each other. Use pins or thin nails pierced from the bottom of the board as pins (for safety, the nails should be blunt with a file). Two pins spaced 1 cm apart, when viewed through the sighting hole from a distance of 57.3 cm, are visible at an angular distance of 1 °. In total, 21 or 26 pins need to be reinforced, which will correspond to the largest angle accessible for measurements of 20 ° or 25 °. For the convenience of using the tool, make the first, sixth, etc. teeth higher than the rest. Higher tines will mark 5 ° intervals.

The size of the sighting hole should be such that all pins can be seen through it at the same time.

To make your astronomical rake have a more pleasant appearance, paint them with oil paint. Make the pins white so they will be better visible in the evening. Paint the smaller board with light and dark stripes 5 cm wide each. High pins should be their borders. It will also make it easier to work with the tool in dark time days.

Before using the astronomical rake to observe celestial objects, test them to determine the angular dimensions and distances between terrestrial objects in the daytime.

You will take more accurate angular measurements if you measure in 0.5 ° divisions. To do this, either place the teeth at a distance of 0.5 cm from each other, or double the length of the larger board. True, it is less convenient to use an astronomical rake with a handle of such a long length.

To measure the positions of images of stars in astrophotography and images of artificial satellites relative to stars in satelliteograms, coordinate measuring machines are used. Microphotometers are used to measure blackening in photographs of celestial bodies, spectrograms.

An important instrument for observation is the astronomical clock.

When processing the results of astronomical observations, electronic computers are used.

Radio astronomy, which originated in the early 30s, has significantly enriched our understanding of the Universe. our century. In 1943, Soviet scientists L.I. Mandelstam and N. D. Papaleksi theoretically substantiated the possibility of radar on the moon. The radio waves sent by man reached the Moon and, after being reflected from it, returned to Earth. 50s XX century - the period is unusually rapid development radio astronomy. Every year radio waves brought from space new amazing information about the nature of celestial bodies.

Radio astronomy today uses the most sensitive receivers and the largest antennas. Radio telescopes have penetrated depths of space that are still beyond the reach of conventional optical telescopes. The radio space opened up in front of man - a picture of the Universe in radio waves.

Astronomical observation instruments are installed at astronomical observatories. For the construction of observatories, places with a good astronomical climate are chosen, where the number of nights with a clear sky is large enough, where atmospheric conditions are favorable for obtaining good images of celestial bodies in telescopes.

The Earth's atmosphere creates significant interference in astronomical observations. The constant movement of air masses blurs and spoils the image of celestial bodies, therefore, in terrestrial conditions, telescopes with a limited magnification have to be used (as a rule, no more than several hundred times). Due to the absorption of ultraviolet and most of the wavelengths of infrared radiation by the earth's atmosphere, a huge amount of information about the objects that are the sources of these radiation is lost.

In the mountains, the air is cleaner, quieter, and therefore the conditions for studying the Universe are more favorable there. For this reason, since late XIX v. all large astronomical observatories were built on mountain tops or high plateaus. In 1870, the French explorer P. Jansen used a balloon to observe the Sun. Such observations are carried out in our time. In 1946, a group of American scientists installed a spectrograph on a rocket and sent it into the upper atmosphere at an altitude of about 200 km. The next stage of transatmospheric observations was the creation of orbital astronomical observatories (OAO) on artificial earth satellites. Such observatories, in particular, are the Soviet Salyut orbital stations.

Orbital astronomical observatories of various types and purposes have become firmly established in the practice of modern space research.

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The heavenly bodies have been of interest to people since time immemorial. Even before the revolutionary discoveries of Galileo and Copernicus, astronomers made repeated attempts to find out the patterns and laws of motion of planets and stars and used special tools for this.

The tools of ancient astronomers were so complex that it took modern scientists years to figure out their structure.

1. Calendar from Warren Field

Although the strange depressions in Warren Field were discovered from the air back in 1976, it wasn't until 2004 that it was determined to be an ancient lunar calendar. Scientists believe that the found calendar is about 10,000 years old.

It looks like 12 depressions arranged in an arc of 54 meters. Each hole is synchronized with the lunar month in the calendar, and corrected for the lunar phase.

It is also surprising that the calendar at Warren Field, which was built 6,000 years before Stonehenge, focuses on the point of sunrise at the winter solstice.

2. Sextant Al-Khujandi in painting

Very little information has survived about Abu Mahmoud Hamid ibn al-Khidr Al-Khujandi, except that he was a mathematician and astronomer who lived in the territory of modern Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It is also known that he created one of the largest astronomical instruments in the 9-10th centuries.

His sextant was made in a fresco, located on a 60-degree arc between the two inner walls of the building. This huge 43-meter arc has been subdivided into degrees. Moreover, each degree was precisely divided into 360 parts, which made the fresco a stunningly accurate solar calendar.

Above the arc of Al-Khujandi was a domed ceiling with a hole in the middle through which the sun's rays fell on the ancient sextant.

3. Wolwells and the zodiac man

In Europe at the turn of the 14th century, scientists and doctors used a rather strange type of astronomical instrument - the Volvella. They looked like several round sheets of parchment with a hole in the center, stacked on top of each other.

This allowed the circles to be moved in order to calculate all the necessary data - from the phases of the moon to the position of the sun in the zodiac. An archaic gadget, in addition to its main function, was also a status symbol - only the richest people could acquire a volvella.

Also, medieval doctors believed that each part of the human body is controlled by its own constellation. For example, Aries was responsible for the head, and Scorpio was responsible for the genitals. Therefore, for diagnosis, doctors used volwells to calculate the current position of the moon and sun.

Unfortunately, Volwells were quite fragile, so very few of these ancient astronomical instruments survived.

4. Ancient sundial

Today, the sundial is only used to decorate the garden lawns. But they were once needed to keep track of time and the movement of the Sun across the sky. One of the oldest sundials was found in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

They date from 1550 - 1070 BC. and are a round piece of limestone with a semicircle painted on it (divided into 12 sectors) and a hole in the middle, into which a rod was inserted to cast a shadow.

Soon after the discovery of an Egyptian sundial, similar ones were found in Ukraine. They were buried with a man who died 3200 - 3300 years ago. Thanks to the Ukrainian clock, scientists learned that the Zrubna civilization possessed knowledge of geometry and was able to calculate latitude and longitude.

5. Heavenly disc from Nebra

Named for the German city where it was discovered in 1999, the "Celestial Disc from Nebra" is the oldest depiction of space ever found by man. The disc was buried next to a chisel, two axes, two swords, and two chain mail bracers about 3,600 years ago.

The bronze disc, covered with a layer of patina, had gold inserts depicting the Sun, Moon and stars from the constellations Orion, Andromeda and Cassiopeia. No one knows who made the disc, but the arrangement of the stars suggests that the creators were located at the same latitude as Nebra.

6. Chanquillo Astronomical Complex

The ancient astronomical observatory of Chanquillo in Peru is so complex that its true purpose was not discovered until 2007 using a computer program designed to align solar panels.

The 13 towers of the complex are built in a straight line 300 meters long along the hill. Scientists originally thought Chanquillo were fortifications, but it was an incredibly bad place for a fort, as it had no defensive advantages, no running water, or sources of food.

But then archaeologists realized that one of the towers was looking at the sunrise at the summer solstice, and the other at the sunrise at the winter solstice. Built about 2,300 years ago, the towers are the oldest solar observatory in America. According to this ancient calendar, it is still possible to determine the day of the year with a maximum of two-day error.

Unfortunately, the huge solar calendar from Chanquillo is the only trace of the civilization of the builders of this complex, who predated the Incas by more than 1000 years.

7. Hyginus' star atlas

The Hyginus' Star Atlas, also known as the Poetica Astronomica, was one of the first works to depict the constellations. Although the authorship of the atlas is controversial, it is sometimes attributed to Gaius Julius Hyginus (Roman writer, 64 BC - 17 AD). Others argue that the work bears a resemblance to the writings of Ptolemy.

In any case, when the Poetica Astronomica was reprinted in 1482, it became the first printed work to show the constellations, as well as the myths associated with them.

While other atlases provided more specific mathematical information that could be used for navigation, Poetica Astronomica presented a more bizarre, literary interpretation of stars and their history.

8. Heavenly Globe

The celestial globe appeared even when astronomers believed that the stars move in the sky around the Earth. The celestial globes, which were created to represent this celestial sphere, began to be created by the ancient Greeks, and the first globe in a shape similar to modern globes was created by the German scientist Johannes Schöner.

At the moment, only two of Schöner's celestial globes have survived, which are true works of art depicting constellations in the night sky. The oldest surviving example of a celestial globe dates from about 370 BC.

9. Armillary sphere.

The armillary sphere - an astronomical instrument in which several rings surround a central point - was a distant relative of the celestial globe.

There were two different types of spheres - observation and demonstration. The first scientist to use such spheres was Ptolemy.

With this tool, it was possible to determine the equatorial or ecliptic coordinates of celestial bodies. Along with the astrolabe, the armillary sphere has been used by sailors for navigation for centuries.

10. El Caracol, Chichen Itza

The El Caracol Observatory at Chichen Itza was built between 415 and 455 AD. The observatory was very unusual - while most of the astronomical instruments were set up to observe the movement of the stars or the sun, El Caracol (translated "snail") was built to observe the movement of Venus.

For the Maya, Venus was sacred - literally everything in their religion was based on the cult of this planet. El Caracol, in addition to being an observatory, was also the temple of the god Quetzalcoatl.

Astrolabe
First appearing back in the days Ancient Greece, this device reached the peak of its popularity in Renaissance Europe. For more than 14 consecutive centuries, astrolabes in various forms have been the primary tool for determining latitude.

Sextant
A very interesting and very amazing story happened with the sextant. The principle of its operation was first invented and described by Isaac Newton in 1699, but for some reason it was not published. And a few decades later, in 1730, two scientists at once independently invented the sextant itself. Since the field of application of the sextant turned out to be much wider than just determining the geographical coordinates of the terrain, over time it rather quickly ousted the astrolabe from the pedestal of the main navigation instrument.

Nocturlabium
This device was invented at a time when the sundial was the main device for determining the time. Due to some design features, they could only work during the day, and sometimes people wanted to know the time at night. This is how the nocturlabium appeared. The principle of operation is very simple: the month was set in the outer circle, then through the hole in the middle, the device was sighted at the polar star. The pointer lever was directed to one of the reference non-setting stars. The inner circle showed the time. Of course, this “clock” could only work in the Northern Hemisphere.

Planisphere
Until the 17th century, planispheres were used as the main tool for determining the times of sunrise and sunset of various celestial bodies. In fact, a planisphere is a coordinate grid applied to a metal disk, around the center of which an alidade rotates. The image of the celestial sphere on the plane could be either in stereographic or in azimuthal projection.

Astrarium
This is not just an old astronomical clock, this is a real planetarium! In the XIV century, this complex mechanical device was created by the Italian master Giovanni de Dondi, which in turn marked the beginning of the development in Europe of technologies for the manufacture of mechanical watch instruments. Astrarium perfectly modeled the entire solar system, he showed exactly how the planets move around the celestial sphere. And besides that, he also showed the time, calendar dates and important holidays.

Torquetum
Not just a device, but a real analog computing device. Torquetum allows measurements to be made in different celestial coordinate systems and to easily switch from one of these systems to another. It can be horizontal, equatorial, or ecliptic. It is surprising that this device, which makes it possible to do such calculations, was invented already in the 12th century by the Western Arab astronomer Jabir ibn Aflah.

Equatorium
This device was used to determine the positions of the Moon, the Sun and other significant celestial objects without mathematical calculations, but only using a geometric model. The equatorium was first built by the Arab mathematician al-Zarqali in the 11th century. And at the beginning of the XII century, Richard Wallingford built the equatorium "Albion" to predict eclipses, in which the last stipulated date corresponded to 1999. In those days, this period, probably, seemed like a real eternity.

Armillary sphere
Not only useful, but also a very beautiful astronomical instrument. The rmillary sphere consists of a movable part depicting the celestial sphere with its main circles, as well as a support rotating around the vertical axis with a horizon circle and a celestial meridian. It serves to determine the equatorial or ecliptic coordinates of various celestial bodies. The invention of this device is attributed to the ancient Greek geometer Eratosthenes, who lived in the 3rd century BC. NS. And what is most interesting, the armillary sphere was used right up to the very beginning of the 20th century, until it was supplanted by more accurate instruments.