Editing Astronomy (section)

=== Post-classical astronomy ===
[[File:Al- Fargānī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad – Compilatio astronomica, 1493 – BEIC 13262685.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Alfraganus]] in the ''Compilatio astronomica'', 1493. [[Islamic astronomy|Islamic astronomers]] began just before the 9th century to collect and translate [[Indian astronomy|Indian]], [[Persian astronomy|Persian]] and [[Greek astronomy|Greek]] astronomical texts, adding their own astronomy and enabling later, particularly European astronomy to build on.<ref name="n063">{{cite web | last=Akerman | first=Iain | title=The language of the stars | website=WIRED Middle East | date=2023-05-17 | url=https://wired.me/culture/arab-astronomy-the-language-of-stars/ | access-date=2024-11-23}}</ref>]]

[[Astronomy in medieval Islam|Astronomy flourished in the Islamic world]] and other parts of the world. This led to the emergence of the first astronomical [[Observatory|observatories]] in the [[Muslim world]] by the early 9th century.<ref name="Kennedy-1962">{{Cite journal |last=Kennedy |first=Edward S. |date=1962 |title=Review: ''The Observatory in Islam and Its Place in the General History of the Observatory'' by Aydin Sayili |journal=[[Isis (journal)|Isis]] |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=237–39 |doi=10.1086/349558 }}</ref><ref name="Micheau-992-3">{{Cite journal|last=Micheau|first=Françoise|editor-last=Rashed|editor-first=Roshdi|editor2-last=Morelon|editor2-first=Régis|title=The Scientific Institutions in the Medieval Near East|journal=Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science|volume=3|pages=992–93}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Nas |first=Peter J|title=Urban Symbolism|date=1993 |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |isbn=978-90-04-09855-8|page=350}}</ref> In 964, the [[Andromeda Galaxy]], the largest [[galaxy]] in the [[Local Group]], was described by the Persian Muslim astronomer [[Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi]] in his ''[[Book of Fixed Stars]]''.<ref name="NSOG">{{cite book |last1= Kepple |first1= George Robert |first2=Glen W. |last2=Sanner |title= The Night Sky Observer's Guide |volume= 1 |publisher= Willmann-Bell, Inc. |date= 1998 |isbn= 978-0-943396-58-3 |page=18}}</ref> The [[SN 1006]] [[supernova]], the brightest [[apparent magnitude]] stellar event in recorded history, was observed by the Egyptian Arabic astronomer [[Ali ibn Ridwan]] and [[Chinese astronomy|Chinese astronomers]] in 1006. Iranian scholar [[Al-Biruni]] observed that, contrary to [[Ptolemy]], the Sun's [[apogee]] (highest point in the heavens) was mobile, not fixed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Covington |first1=Richard |title=Rediscovering Arabic Science |url=http://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/200703/rediscovering.arabic.science.htm |access-date=6 March 2023 |work=[[Aramco World]] |issue=3 |volume=58 |date=2007 |archive-date=1 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301151438/https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/200703/rediscovering.arabic.science.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Some of the prominent Islamic (mostly Persian and Arab) astronomers who made significant contributions to the science include [[Al-Battani]], [[Thebit]], [[Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi]], [[Abu Rayhan Biruni|Biruni]], [[Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī]], [[Al-Birjandi]], and the astronomers of the [[Maragheh observatory|Maragheh]] and [[Ulugh Beg Observatory|Samarkand]] observatories. Astronomers during that time introduced many [[List of Arabic star names|Arabic names now used for individual stars]].<ref name="short history">{{cite book|first=Arthur|last=Berry|title=A Short History of Astronomy From Earliest Times Through the 19th Century|publisher=Dover Publications, Inc.|location=New York|date=1961|isbn=978-0-486-20210-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofas0000berr}}</ref><ref name="Cambridge history">{{cite book|editor=Hoskin, Michael|title=The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1999|isbn = 978-0-521-57600-0}}</ref>

It is also believed that the ruins at [[Great Zimbabwe]] and [[Timbuktu]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/royalkingdomsofg00patr|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/royalkingdomsofg00patr/page/103 103]|title= The royal kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: life in medieval Africa|first=Pat|last= McKissack|author2=McKissack, Frederick|date=1995|publisher=H. Holt|isbn=978-0-8050-4259-7}}</ref> may have housed astronomical observatories.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3137-eclipse-brings-claim-of-medieval-african-observatory.html|title=Eclipse brings claim of medieval African observatory|date=2002|journal=New Scientist|access-date=3 February 2010|last=Clark|first=Stuart|author2=Carrington, Damian|archive-date=30 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430173144/http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3137-eclipse-brings-claim-of-medieval-african-observatory.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Post-classical]] [[West Africa]], Astronomers studied the movement of stars and relation to seasons, crafting charts of the heavens as well as precise diagrams of orbits of the other planets based on complex mathematical calculations. [[Songhai Empire|Songhai]] historian [[Mahmud Kati]] documented a [[meteor shower]] in August 1583.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hammer|first=Joshua|title=The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2016|isbn=978-1-4767-7743-6|location=New York|pages=26–27}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Holbrook |first=Jarita C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DJpDW6IAukC&pg=PA182 |title=African Cultural Astronomy |author2=Medupe, R. Thebe |author3=[[Johnson Urama]] |date=2008 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-6638-2 |access-date=19 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817020340/https://books.google.com/books?id=4DJpDW6IAukC&pg=PA182 |archive-date=17 August 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Europeans had previously believed that there had been no astronomical observation in [[sub-Saharan Africa]] during the pre-colonial Middle Ages, but modern discoveries show otherwise.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2003/november/cosmic.htm |title=Cosmic Africa explores Africa's astronomy |access-date=3 February 2002 |publisher=Science in Africa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031203055223/http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2003/november/cosmic.htm |archive-date=3 December 2003 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DJpDW6IAukC&pg=PA180|title=African Cultural Astronomy|first=Jarita C.|last=Holbrook|author2=Medupe, R. Thebe|author3=Urama, Johnson O.|publisher=Springer|date=2008|isbn=978-1-4020-6638-2|access-date=26 August 2020|archive-date=26 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826084847/https://books.google.com/books?id=4DJpDW6IAukC&pg=PA180|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://royalsociety.org/news.asp?year=&id=4117 |title=Africans studied astronomy in medieval times|date=30 January 2006|publisher=The Royal Society|access-date=3 February 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080609112829/http://royalsociety.org/news.asp?year=&id=4117 |archive-date = 9 June 2008}}</ref><ref>Stenger, Richard {{cite news|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2002-12-05/tech/zimbabwe.observatory_1_supernova-forecast-eclipses-star |title=Star sheds light on African 'Stonehenge' |work=CNN |date=5 December 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512162930/http://articles.cnn.com/2002-12-05/tech/zimbabwe.observatory_1_supernova-forecast-eclipses-star?_s=PM%3ATECH |archive-date=12 May 2011 }}. CNN. 5 December 2002. Retrieved on 30 December 2011.</ref>

For over six centuries (from the recovery of ancient learning during the late Middle Ages into the Enlightenment), the [[Roman Catholic Church]] gave more financial and social support to the study of astronomy than probably all other institutions. Among the Church's motives was finding the [[Date of Easter|date for Easter]].<ref>J.L. Heilbron, ''The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories'' (1999), p. 3</ref>

Medieval Europe housed a number of important astronomers. [[Richard of Wallingford]] (1292–1336) made major contributions to astronomy and [[horology]], including the invention of the first astronomical clock, the [[Rectangulus]] which allowed for the measurement of angles between planets and other astronomical bodies, as well as an [[equatorium]] called the ''Albion'' which could be used for astronomical calculations such as [[moon|lunar]], [[sun|solar]] and [[planet]]ary [[longitude]]s and could predict [[eclipse]]s. [[Nicole Oresme]] (1320–1382) and [[Jean Buridan]] (1300–1361) first discussed evidence for the rotation of the Earth, furthermore, Buridan also developed the theory of impetus (predecessor of the modern scientific theory of [[inertia]]) which was able to show planets were capable of motion without the intervention of angels.<ref>Hannam, James. ''God's philosophers: how the medieval world laid the foundations of modern science''. Icon Books Ltd, 2009, 180</ref> [[Georg von Peuerbach]] (1423–1461) and [[Regiomontanus]] (1436–1476) helped make astronomical progress instrumental to Copernicus's development of the heliocentric model decades later.{{cn|date=March 2025}}