All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

astronomy

Statue of Tycho Brahe, characteristically looking up. Source: Sven Rosborn / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Who was Tycho Brahe? Astronomy with a Naked Eye (and a Missing Nose)

The name Tycho Brahe is not a familiar one to most people. And those who have heard the name, perhaps in the same sentence as Copernicus, or Galileo, may struggle to remember what the man himself was...
The 16th century astrolabe recovered from Bay of Biscay in Galicia, Spain. Source: La Voz de Galicia

Spanish Divers Discover the World’s 108th Ancient Astrolabe

In 2012, a team of divers in Spain discovered two 16th century cannons, and that was huge news. But nobody could have dreamed that an ancient astronomical compass, known as an astrolabe, would...
Stone altar at the Ñaupa Iglesia, Peru

Who Built the Ñaupa Iglesia? Mysterious Ruins in Peru’s Sacred Valley

Ñaupa Iglesia is a fascinating Peruvian ruin in the Sacred Valley of the high Andes. It is located between Ollantaytambo and Urubamba; Ollantaytambo being only 30 Km (18.64 miles) from Machu Picchu...
10th Century Astronomical Text of Abd-al Rahman al-Sufi Unveiled

10th Century Astronomical Text of Abd-al Rahman al-Sufi Unveiled

The “suwar al-kawakib" or the Book of Fixed Stars is a 10th century astronomical Arabic text, authored by the famed scholar Abd-al Rahman al-Sufi in the year 964 AD. It was produced by the powerful...
Have Oumuamua Aliens Been Watching Us? One Harvard Scientist Thinks So

Have Oumuamua Aliens Been Watching Us? One Harvard Scientist Thinks So

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb created quite a stir in the scientific community in 2018, when he wrote a paper suggesting an interstellar object spotted in our solar system might be a surveillance...
The German Stonehenge at sunset in Pömmelte.       Source: Mattis Kaminer / Adobe stock

Pömmelte Ring Sanctuary Eclipses Stonehenge With Homes and Ghastly Burials

Scientists think an ancient astronomical observatory in Pömmelte, Germany will overshadow England’s famous Stonehenge in terms of archaeological data and the number of human burials. Over 4,000 years...
Anomalous Metallic Object Discovered Inside a 4.5 Billion-Year-Old Meteorite

Anomalous Metallic Object Discovered Inside a 4.5 Billion-Year-Old Meteorite

As meteorite dealers, my wife Linda and I have continued supplying meteorites and importing new stock throughout lockdown. On Friday, April 17th 2020, I received a parcel of meteorites I had ordered...
Ancient Stargate: Can Sakwala Chakraya Unlock Interstellar Travel?

Ancient Stargate: Can Sakwala Chakraya Unlock Interstellar Travel?

Located in the city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, the so-called “Stargate of Sri Lanka” is a mysterious place with much that is yet to be unveiled. There are many stories about UFOs and other strange...
The Neolithic Builder of the Aberdeenshire Recumbent Stone Circles

The Neolithic Builder of the Aberdeenshire Recumbent Stone Circles

In my recently published book, I write “It is astonishing that so much attention is given to the prehistoric monuments of both Stonehenge and Avebury henge when the remains of a far greater Stone Age...
The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius by Carlo Crivelli

Early Ideas About Extraterrestrial Life: What Might Inhabitants from Other Planets Look Like?

The Christian Church attempted to censor Galileo’s findings in the first decades of the 17th century, but it was a time of expanding knowledge, so it did not take very long for the information to get...
One of the Junapani stone circles in Maharashtra, India, which are now increasingly viewed as astronomically aligned burial sites.                   Source: Ganesh Dhamodkar, CC BY-SA 3.0

Junapani Stone Circles: India’s Astronomical Megalithic Tombs

India has a rich historical and archaeological record. Something that may be less known about the Indian subcontinent is its many megalithic sites. Many of these sites are found across India. The...
The Planet Venus as a Symbol of Death and Resurrection in Ancient Mesoamerica

The Planet Venus as a Symbol of Death and Resurrection in Ancient Mesoamerica

Do our myths come from the stars or do we project our myths onto the stars? The story of Mithras truly does come from astronomical discoveries in the ancient world. It was noticed that every 2,160...
Finding the Grave of Nicolaus Copernicus - Heretic Turned National Hero

Finding the Grave of Nicolaus Copernicus - Heretic Turned National Hero

Today, Nicolaus Copernicus is hailed by many historians as the originator of heliocentrism, one of the first steps towards modern cosmology and away from the Aristotelian cosmology which had...
Lost ‘Cosmic’ Amazonian Villages Discovered in Brazilian Rainforest

Lost ‘Cosmic’ Amazonian Villages Discovered in Brazilian Rainforest

Helicopter Lidar scans have revealed an ancient Amazonian “cosmos” of circular settlements, all connected by straight roads. Acre is an Amazonian rainforest state in northwestern Brazil known for...
Planets Align To Form ‘Star of Bethlehem’ This Winter Solstice

Planets Align To Form ‘Star of Bethlehem’ This Winter Solstice

This year, as dusk gives way to darkness on the night of the Winter Solstice (December 21 st 2020), residents of the United States, the United Kingdom, and other nations across the Northern...
Where Death Rings in the Hour: The Amazing Medieval Astronomical Clock of Prague

Where Death Rings in the Hour: The Amazing Medieval Astronomical Clock of Prague

The technical sophistication of the Middle Ages tends to be underestimated. Near the end of the High Middle Ages, mechanical technology such as clocks and water mills, for example, were becoming...
Ten Things the Ancients Did Better than Us

Ten Things the Ancients Did Better than Us

Just a couple of decades ago, the people of ancient civilizations were viewed as simple, primitive people. However, numerous discoveries since then have revealed a number of surprising facts about...
The Nebra Sky Disk

Bombshell Study Calls Astronomical Theories of the Nebra Sky Disk “Obsolete”

Until today, the Nebra Sky Disk was known as the oldest concrete depiction of cosmic phenomena worldwide. Scholars believed it was a 3,600-year-old artifact depicting a sun or full moon, a lunar...
The magi or three kings who followed the Star of Bethlehem to find the new-born Jesus. Source: Pawel Horazy / Adobe Stock

Did Augustus' Royal Coins Lead the Magi from Parthia to Bethlehem?

One of the great mysteries of the New Testament is the Star of Bethlehem and the magi (the three kings or wise men) who “followed” the star to pay their respects to the newborn Jesus . Most...
Ophiuchus, the 13th zodiac sign, as depicted in Urania’s Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c. 1825.	Source: Sidney Hall / Public domain

People Alarmed Over Announcement of 13th Astrological Sign

NASA , the American civilian Space Agency, has moved quickly to tell people not to panic about the announcement of a 13 th zodiac sign , Ophiuchus, which has been causing a panic among those who...
Bologna, San Petronio: Meridian of Giandomenico Cassini

Synchronizing Science and Religion? Why We Find Solar Observatories and Astronomical Features in Churches

It is often assumed that science and faith are always at loggerheads with each other. This, however, is a common misconception, as there are numerous instances demonstrating the co-existence and co-...
Uncovering the history of timekeeping through archaeological exploration and historic research. Source: jozefklopacka/Adobe Stock

A History of Timekeeping: Mankind’s Obsession With Time

From our humble hunter-gatherer beginnings to the most advanced of ancient civilizations, the sun and moon have always held a particular fascination for humanity. Several forms of tools, monuments,...
Omar Khayyam, ‘Earth Could Not Answer’ by Adelaide Hanscom Leeson.        Source: Public Domain

Omar Khayyam: Lasting Achievements of the Persian Polymath and Poet

Omar Khayyam was a Persian polymath who lived during the 11 th and 12 th centuries AD. During his time, Omar was a reputed scholar. He was especially known for his scholarly work in the fields of...
Painting of astronomers located at the Ulugh Beg Observatory in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Source: LoggaWiggler / CC0

The Star-Gazing Sultan and His Ulugh Beg Observatory

The Ulugh Beg Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on a hill near Samarkand, in modern day Uzbekistan. This observatory, which is often considered to be one of the finest of its kind in...

Pages