Arabic astronomy . After the decline of Greek studies and the entry of the West into a phase of obscurantism during the 10th to 15th centuries , the Arabs were the ones who continued their research in astronomy, leaving an important legacy: they translated the Almagest and cataloged many stars with the names that are still used today, such as Aldebaran, Rigel, and Deneb.
Summary
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- 1 Relevant astronomers
- 2 Umayyads
- 3 Astronomical publications
- 4 Source
Relevant astronomers
Among the most prominent Arab astronomers are Al Batani , Al Sufi and Al Farghani , an authority on the solar system who calculated that the distance to Saturn was 130 million kilometers (its distance is 10 times greater).
Umayyads
The Umayyads , one of the Arab border tribes, who had served as Roman auxiliary soldiers and had Hellenized themselves, are the spearhead for the introduction of scientific activity in the Arab world.
In 700 the Umayyads founded an astronomical observatory in Damascus . In 773 Al-Mansur had the Hindu astronomical works, the Siddhantas, translated.
Astronomical publications
In 829 Al-Mamúm founded the Baghdad Astronomical Observatory , where studies on the obliquity of the ecliptic were developed . For his part, Al-Farghani made, shortly after, “The Star Gathering Book”, an extraordinary catalog with very precise measurements of the stars.
Al-Battani, one of the astronomical geniuses of the time, worked at his Ar-Raqqa observatory, on the banks of the Euphrates River to determine and correct the main astronomical constants. His measurements on the obliquity of the ecliptic and precession of the equinoxes were more exact than those of Claudius Ptolemy.
In 995 Al-Hakin founded in the city of Cairo , the “House of Science” and, shortly after, around the year 1000, Ibn Yunis compiled the astronomical observations of the last 200 years and published the “Hakenite Tables”, called so for his protector, Al-Hakin. At the same time, Avicenna or Ibn Sina produced his “Compendium of the Almagest” and an essay on “the futility of astrological divination”.
In 1080 Azarquiel drew up the “Toledan Tables”, used for more than a century to establish the movement of the planets.
Arab astronomers began to reject Ptolemy’s conception of the Epicycles long before the Renaissance in Europe , since according to their studies, the planets had to revolve around a central body and not around a point. Averroes , Abúqueber and Alpetragio played a special role in this conception .
In 1262 Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (Mohammed Ibn Hassan), assisted by Chinese astronomers, successfully completed the construction of the Maragheh Observatory. He modified the model of Ptolemy, making highly accurate tracings of the movements of the planets.