49
votes
Accepted
Who first called natural satellites "moons"?
Chistiaan Huygens in 1656 is the first documented evidence.
The invention of the telescope limits this to after 1610. Since Galileo was the first to observe such objects, it was Kepler who in 1611 ...
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47
votes
Accepted
What is the earliest mention of space travel?
You should define more precisely what do you mean by "space travel" when you are talking about pre-Galileo times.
For example, Elijah, the prophet, was taken to heavens in a chariot of fire, ...
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32
votes
Accepted
How did Vasco da Gama know about the Southern Cross?
In 1460, at the time of the death of Prince Henry, the Navigator, the Portuguese had mapped the western coast of Africa down to the 8 N parallel. The Southern Cross is well seen at this latitude. ...
- 6,991
27
votes
What is the earliest mention of space travel?
The earliest mention I know of the possibility was the novella A True History by Lucian in the 2nd century AD, where at one point the protagonists are taken to the moon by a whirlwind, meet the ...
- 3,155
25
votes
Accepted
When did we know the color/appearance of all the planets in our solar system?
Vector site provides a nice summary of what we know about the planets. That will be the source for my answer.
Some planets were fairly well known to the ancients, but they could only use their eyes ...
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24
votes
Who first called natural satellites "moons"?
A publication from 1665, Philosophical Transactions, in an article which tosses about names like Huygens and Cassini, has a discussion concerning a publication by Giuseppe Campani.
This article ...
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19
votes
Accepted
Was Uranus a Roman god?
I can find no evidence that Uranus was a Roman god. Note that the article you cited in your question provides no sources.
In academic sources, I can find no mention of Uranus as a Roman god. Among the ...
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14
votes
Was Uranus a Roman god?
Of course, Uranos is basically Caelus: a Greek god as seen in the interpretatio Romana a mere translation; that is a god Romans recognised, but themselves did not worship very much, as already in ...
- 79.9k
13
votes
Before European influence circa 1600, did any Chinese believe the Earth was spherical, and did they ever try to measure it?
See Joseph Needham's momumental work : Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth, Cambridge UP (1959), page 212-213:
"Rather ...
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12
votes
When did we know the color/appearance of all the planets in our solar system?
tl;dr
If we define "color" as true visible light color and "appearance" as being able to make out surface features, that just leaves "planet".
If we include Pluto, 2015 when New Horizons flew by ...
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12
votes
Did contemporary scholars draw a connection between Great Schism and Crab Nebula Supernova (1054 A.D.)?
There are several points to be considered in this question. Let us start by seeing some hard facts. As quoted by Wikipedia article SN1054:
"Crab Nebula probably appeared in April or early May, rising ...
- 781
11
votes
Did anyone predict the death of the Sun before science?
In Norse mythology, the Sun, named Sól, is chased by a wolf, named Sköll or Fenrir. At the end of times (Ragnarök), Fenrir will catch Sól and eat her. This is not great news:
High then quotes stanza ...
- 5,552
10
votes
How did ancient cultures identify a new moon when it can never be seen?
In Jewish custom, all calendar questions were decided by the court (Synedrion).
It was a duty of everyone who spotted the new Moon to report to this court as soon as possible.
But of course, the new ...
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9
votes
What is the earliest mention of space travel?
Definitely not as old as the other answers, but a classic book about space travel is Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon, dating back to 1865. I'm quite surprised you didn't find that one.
Of ...
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9
votes
Accepted
Did anyone predict the death of the Sun before science?
The Aztecs believed that the sun was the fifth in a line of suns, and that each of the preceding four had been destroyed before its successor was created. Various natural disasters had destroyed the ...
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7
votes
When did we know the color/appearance of all the planets in our solar system?
This depends a lot on exactly what you mean by "color/appearance of all the planets".
If you consider just the classical planets (Mercury through Saturn) we knew their color in prehistoric times. We ...
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7
votes
What is the earliest mention of space travel?
The Epic of Gilgamesh dates from as early as the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2100 BC), and mentions travel, e.g., see the Standard Babylonian version tablets II–V, specifically:
he spoke to Young Hero ...
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6
votes
Accepted
Did contemporary scholars draw a connection between Great Schism and Crab Nebula Supernova (1054 A.D.)?
Brecher, K., R. A. Fesen, S. P. Maran, and J. C. Brandt. “Ancient Records and the Crab Nebula Supernova.” The Observatory 103 (June 1, 1983): 106–13.
A more likely explanation for the lack of ...
- 2,043
6
votes
Before European influence circa 1600, did any Chinese believe the Earth was spherical, and did they ever try to measure it?
I am not sure about 1600, but there is a famous book on astronomy called
Zhou bi suan jing, which is usually translated as "The Arithmetic Classic of the Gnomon and the Circular Paths of
Heaven". It ...
- 38.1k
6
votes
When did people first recognize the estimate sizes/scales and nature of celestial bodies?
This was a very slow and gradual process, which still continues,
so the question "when" has no meaning here.
Ancient Greeks already knew that "The moon is larger than Peloponnese".
But the first ...
- 38.1k
6
votes
Who is "Rhadir of Seville"?
Within all probability, the most likely explanation seems to be that this is a mixup. The correct name should be: "Abū Muḥammad Jābir ibn Aflaḥ", a Muslim astronomer also known as latinised ...
- 79.9k
5
votes
Accepted
When did people first recognize the estimate sizes/scales and nature of celestial bodies?
Other people have given some of the history on discovering distances to planets, so I'll focus on the issue of "how did people learn the sizes of planets"?
Though I will point out that accurate ...
- 2,183
5
votes
Did any Chinese scholars propose a heliocentric model?
Although it doesn't state whether a heliocentric model was proposed, I'd imagine some Chinese scholars entertained the possibility. Foremost, they had to overcome the accepted beliefs of their time, ...
- 189
5
votes
When did people first recognize the estimate sizes/scales and nature of celestial bodies?
Aristarchus is the first to measure the relative size of Earth and the Moon in the third century B.C., at a ratio of 8:3. This is a bit lower than the modern calculation at 3.7:1 due to ignorance of ...
- 70.2k
5
votes
Why did Galileo decide to flame Fr. Grassi over the latter's theory of comets, making sure to lose the Jesuits’ support?
The short, simple answer is: personal pride and professional disagreement.
BACKGROUND
In the latter half of 1618, three comets appeared
Jesuit mathematicians at the Roman College studied the ...
- 107k
5
votes
Did anyone predict the death of the Sun before science?
Yes. Probably the first rigorous hypothesis about the source of Sun's energy is the Helmholtz-Thompson mechanism (or Helmholtz-Kelvin) of gravitational contraction which predicts something like 20 ...
- 1,711
4
votes
Accepted
Accuracy of Ancient Dates of Persian/Middle East Based on Astronomy
All our system of exact dating of events of ancient history is based on Babylonian astronomical observations.
There is a large number of astronomical cuneiform tables found in Mesopotamia.
Only in ...
- 38.1k
4
votes
Accepted
How is the accuracy of the Maya Calendar measured?
The Gregorian, and indeed the Roman, Egyptian, and Chinese calendars all include occasional intercalary periods to make up the 0.24 of a solar day that is left over when using a 365-day calendar. ...
- 27.4k
4
votes
Where can I find the complete texts of Churchill's essays on extraterrestrial life?
A BBC article from 15 Feb 2017, Winston Churchill's views on aliens revealed in lost essay on the same subject has a relevant detail (emphasis mine):
Dr Livio told BBC News that there were no firm ...
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3
votes
When did we know the color/appearance of all the planets in our solar system?
Here is a discussion of the astrological symbolical colors of various planets.
http://cura.free.fr/22plcome.html1
Mercury: variable, brown, or multicolored.
Venus: white, blue, or green.
Mars: red....
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible