Drawing of the Transit of 2012 by Richard Proctor in his "Transits of Venus. A popular account of past and coming transits, from the first observed by Horrocks A.D. 1639 to the transit of A.D. 2012" (New York, 1875) @librarycongressloc.gov/resource/gdcmassbook…
Large-scale model/orrery of the solar system according to astronomical research current in the 1820s; it was designed and made as a low-tech version for use in academic settings by Joseph C. Hart in New York, NY, 1824 @WinterthurMuse museumcollection.winterthur.…
Diagram of the planets of the Solar System from Jaghmīnī's treatise on astronomy and geography with a preface and dedication to Ulugh Beg of Samarkand @upennlib, via openn.library.upenn.edu/Data…
Stone sculpture from India of planetary deities Shani (Jupiter), Rahu and Ketu (both associated with eclipses), 10thC-12thC; three of the nine planetary deities, or "navagrahas," of Hindu astrology @walters_museumart.thewalters.org/detail/22…
💫Line up for next Skyscape Archaeology Lecture Series run by us & @SophiaCentre @SophiaCentrePress & @bournemouthuni is now out. See sophia-project.net/lectures-… & 👀mark your diaries: we kick off 4pm GMT 22/2/23 with Camilla Power: 'Lunarchy: the original economics of time' Pls RT
"Celestial globe" (1929-30) by Swedish-born glass maker and designer, Edward Hald (1883-1980); engraved glass, mounted in pewter; manufactured by Orrefors glasbruk, Orrefors, Sweden @NatMus_SWEcollection.nationalmuseum.se…
Stone sculpture from India of planetary deities Shani (Jupiter), Rahu and Ketu (both associated with eclipses), 10thC-12thC; three of the nine planetary deities, or "navagrahas," of Hindu astrology @walters_museumart.thewalters.org/detail/22…
Paper fragment of either an apocalyptic or astrological prognostication, mentioning an eclipse of the sun and that a king will kill a king (date range, 6th-19thC; Judeo-Arabic; Hebrew); from the Cairo Genizah collection @CamDigLib cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-T…
OTD in 1997, the discoverer of planet Pluto—in effect, the discoverer of the class of ice dwarf planets & the Kuiper Belt—Clyde Tombaugh, died at 91.
His discovery of Pluto presaged the modern map of our solar system & led to the New Horizons mission to Pluto!
The constellation of Cassiopeia from a collection of astronomy and mathematics manuscripts from either Switzerland or Germany, 15thC; via pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/e…
"The great Qing Dynasty's complete map of all under heaven" shown pictorially on a fan, c. 1890; shows the Chinese system of coordinates of the major stars in the astronomical chart; the shape of China is distorted so as to fit the fan @librarycongressloc.gov/item/gm71005014/
Decorative bronze nocturnal from the late 19thC Germany; this is highly decorative with a leaf design, but the absence of a central hole would have meant it could not function as a working nocturnal so it may have been a "fake" @HSMOxfordhsm.ox.ac.uk/collections-onl…
💫Do you want to find out more about how monuments interact with the sky? Would you like a taster of what such research involves? Why not join us and @SophiaCentre on our next popular Skyscape Archaeology Lecture Series online? More details soon 👀 please share...