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| The sun through the sky... |
denberg |
02/04/06 |
I'm a bit confused as to why astronomers say that the sun is in various constellations at different times. We can only see the sun by day when we can't see the stars and we can only see the stars by night when we can't see the sun. So how can we say that, for example, the sun is in the constellation of Leo or the Lion in late July when we can't see the sun by day?
Many thanks.
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Clarification/Follow-up by arcura on 02/04/06 1:38 pm:
The first star chart was made by the Chinese 1300 years ago. That's three hundred years before the first star maps made in Europe.
The Arabs were some of the first to plot and name stars that's why many still carry Arab names such as Mizar and Algor the apparent double in the middle of the handle of the big dipper. (One of them is difficult so see and was used as a test for good eye sight)
The ancient Greeks gave us many of the names of the various constellations that we use today
That plus knowing that the day was 24 hours long from observing a sun dial it was easy to determine what constellation the sun was in.
Hope that helps,
Fred
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