Unveiling Ancient Greek Astronomical Calculations: Earth, Moon, and Sun Distances
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In a tale as old as time, Eratosthenes, the ancient Greek mathematician, cracked the code to measure the Earth's size using nothing but the Sun's angle. Picture this: Eratosthenes, armed with his intellect and a trusty graduate student, paced the distance between two towns under the scorching sun. His calculations, with a margin of error around 10%, laid the foundation for cosmic revelations. Enter Aristarchus, who boldly ventured into the cosmos, using lunar eclipses to unveil the Moon's distance—about 60 Earth radii away, give or take a few.
But the plot thickens as the Greeks turn their gaze towards the Sun, pondering its size and distance. Through the mystical dance of solar eclipses, they uncovered a bizarre truth: the Sun and Moon, in the sky's grand theater, appeared almost identical in size. This cosmic coincidence unraveled the enigma of the Sun's magnitude, a puzzle solved by the Greeks with sheer ingenuity. Imagine the audacity, the brilliance, of these ancient minds, piecing together the celestial puzzle without the aid of modern technology.
As the Sun and Moon played their celestial charade, the Greeks, undeterred, sought to fathom the Sun's elusive distance. Armed with lunar phases and a keen eye for detail, they embarked on a quest to measure the fiery giant's domain. Through a series of clever deductions and astronomical acrobatics, they inched closer to unlocking the secrets of our solar system's celestial bodies. The Greeks, with nothing but their wits and a sprinkle of cosmic luck, paved the way for future generations to unravel the mysteries of the universe.
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Image copyright Youtube
Image copyright Youtube
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