Session 8 – POSTERS

Sunspot observations, normally made with small telescopes during the last four centuries, should be considered a world heritage for many reasons including purely scientific aspects and other cultural and social reasons.
The sunspot observations made by amateur and professional astronomers over the past four centuries are of crucial importance to today scientific community. They are the basis for reconstructions of solar activity. In particular, the «sunspot number» is constructed with the accumulation of these observations.
Furthermore, the «sunspot number» has become the most famous time series in astronomy and statistics. Furthermore, sunspots have become an element of the culture of humanity including, for example, literature. Sunspots are mentioned by important authors of English (Andrew Marvell), Spanish (Francisco de Quevedo, Luis Vélez de Guevera) or Italian (Emanuele Tesauro) literature.
Finally, these observations are essential for scientists to solve problems of greatest current interest to modern society such as space weather or climatic change.

Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences in the world. It is first and foremost a science of nature, although astronomical elements are to be found in soft sciences, arts, folklore and religion.
The 2020 pandemics has brought about a revolution in education, thanks to the pervasiveness of online teaching. Contents, methods and techniques can now be rapidly shared across the globe. On the downside, a number of disciplines have been neglected or dropped altogether. Our paper aims to address the following questions: How has Astronomy in culture been affected? Why is it important to keep it alive? What are the solutions?
We suggest that it has been dismissed for two reasons: first, it is perceived as a niche topic – some sort of erudite chatter about non-essential curiosities – that can be sacrificed in favour of more practical information; second, it is heavily culture-specific, meaning that it requires extra effort from the teachers, as it cannot be easily copied or translated from other sources.
However, it is precisely its interdisciplinary character that makes it so worthwhile. It teaches to draw connections not only between different branches of science, but also between science and arts, science and religion, science and local traditions, between the universal and the particular. Ultimately, it provides solid evidence demonstrating that the world can and should be seen through different lenses. Today, the importance of acquiring such a skill can hardly be overestimated.
We will first look back at the history of astronomy in order to draw important points that need to be addressed in education, and then I will look ahead at widely available technological resources (websites, youtube videos, podcasts etc) to show how we can easily and efficiently provide empowering resources to open the minds of the new generation.

The development of an online platform is presented that incorporates a set of student activities based on the freeware Stellarium planetarium software. The activities are inspired by observations made by the ancient Greeks and Babylonians and also the medieval Islamic and Chinese astronomers, whose contribution to the development of astronomy was immense. Although lacking important observational technology such as the telescope, those pioneers performed naked eye measurements and implemented simple but ingenious astronomical calculations. These include for example, estimating the distance to the Moon using a solar eclipse, the size of the Earth by observing the altitude of a star and using lunar eclipses for finding the direction to Mecca.
With the aid of the Stellarium software, activity instructions have been designed that enable the user to simulate some of these awe-inspiring scientific achievements. Adding a component of the history of science to the teaching of astronomy enhances student interest and helps to counter misconceptions and prejudices. The use of planetarium software has the advantage of including a visual aspect in the learning procedure thus offering greater realism. Overall, students can closely follow the ingenious methods devised by those sky observers of the past thus obtaining an understanding of the contribution of both western and non-western cultures to the development of science.

Nowadays, in the construction of most temples and public buildings, their orientation is not taken into account, mainly due to the value of the land and urban planning laws. It is built where and how it can be. But it was not always like this.
All religious buildings are oriented. From the pyramids of Egypt and Mexico to the Hindu and Chinese temples, in all of them he is concerned with placing the temple in a specific position and orientation.
Roman temples and Catholic churches were oriented on the east-west axis, so the temple often took the shape of a Latin cross. Although this orientation of the Catholic churches is undoubtedly due to purely religious beliefs as we read in the Treaty of Prayer written by Origenes of Alexandria “Since there are four cardinal points, the north, the south, the west and the east, who does not Do you immediately recognize that the East is the side from which the true Light appears? ”, in no way can we lose sight of the knowledge of astronomy that church builders possessed in the High and Late Middle Ages.
In this presentation we are going to focus on the small and beautiful romanic churches that populate the north of Spain following the Camino de Santiago.
Romanesque churches are oriented with the apse (where the altar is located) located to the east. The opening or window of the apse through which the light enters and illuminates the altar, is located so that the first rays of the Sun, at dawn, enter through it on the days of the equinoxes, that is, that window is oriented exactly towards the point cardinal east.
Here we show the hermitage of San Adrián de Sasavé in Borau, Huesca (Spain), which, like others, has three windows in its apse. These windows are located in the apse in such a way that the first rays of the Sun enter through the central window on the days of the equinoxes, through the one to the north of the central one, on the days of the summer solstice and through the one to the south. the days of the winter solstice.
As we know, the points of sunrise and sunset on the horizon depend on the latitude of the place, being, therefore, different for each church the angular distance that must separate the three windows of the apse in a romanic church. So we can conclude that the builder of these Romanesque churches should have extensive knowledge of Astronomy. In this work we check in San Adrián de Sasavé what was explained in the last two paragraphs.

Many authors have studied and compiled records of ancient total and annular solar eclipses. This has provided a large number of publications that have proven useful for research both from the historical and astronomical point of view.
If we focus on the Medieval Age, roughly understood as the period from the 5th to the 15th century, most of the observations were compiled from the Far East, especially China and Japan. In this case, the observer is usually a professional astronomer who provides relevant data, such as the duration of the eclipse, the precise place of the observation, the time and even the magnitude. A smaller number of observations come from European sources, although in these cases, and at least until the middle of the fifteenth century, the records do not usually come from professionals, but are found in narrative sources mixed with historical facts to which they usually provide some kind of reinforcement. The causes of this shortage are very numerous, highlighting the cultural ones, with the generalized loss of knowledge of classical culture that only survived in very limited areas and the historical vicissitudes that were experienced in these centuries, including the Arab occupation of southwestern Europe, the border tensions both in the East and the West, the fragmentation of the European territory first in two and later in multiple kingdoms and the constant wars among them. Given this context, it is not surprising that the records come from monastic codices, chronicles, or public or private diaries. However, there are several isolated cases in which the observations were recorded in a particularly original way: on stone. In this poster we will show the only four cases in which this occurred in Europe and we will analyze some relevant conclusions that can be obtained from them.

Astronomy in southern Africa has a diverse and unique history. On the occasion of the bicentenary of The National Research Foundation’s (NRF) South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) we honour this heritage and early understanding of astronomy through Khoi and San starlore. This occasion grants us the opportunity to recall our scientific achievements as well as celebrate together our country’s rich and varied cultural heritage.
The main campus of the SAAO is of international scientific significance and has been the subject of a UNESCO World Heritage Site report. On December 21, 2018, the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) officially declared the SAAO a National Heritage Site. It is important that this cultural heritage is not only preserved but incorporated and celebrated in the context of the SAAO site and history.
The SAAO is constructing a new Visitors Centre in Cape Town which will house exciting and engaging exhibits showcasing the science and technology of the SAAO and incorporating artworks, informative exhibits and animations based on traditional Khoi and San starlore. The installations and animations will be accompanied by a conceptual write up of each piece provided initially in four languages: Khoekhoegowab, isiXhosa, Afrikaans and English. This multilingual approach to communication and education is at the forefront of inclusivity at the new Visitors Centre, with hopes to expand such offerings in the future into additional national and minority languages.
Selected content from the Visitors Centre will also be freely available online. However with internet access being a limitation, screenings of the newly developed resources will take place in key locations throughout the country in order to engage directly with South African communities. Such commitments to sharing these rare resources is key to furthering education in the field of astronomy and supporting local cultural heritage. The combination of African heritage and modern science makes for relevant and enticing content previously divided in our country’s history.
This project is a collaboration between the SAAO and African Tongue, and is a truly unique partnership between astronomers, professional linguists, artists, as well as remaining mother-tongue speakers of Khoi and San languages in southern Africa. The combination of astronomy, art and starlore in the expression of traditional stories through digital storytelling techniques will undoubtedly serve as an example of inclusivity and celebration of African culture into the 21st century.

The library at the university of Southern Denmark has recently acquired a large collection of observatory publications from the now discontinued historical library collections at the Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen University. The material in the collection dates from a period of several centuries. Observatory publications comprise the work of astronomers from observatories around the world and are exchanged between libraries. The material consists of tables of observations, bulletins, annual reports, circulars, newsletters, reprints etc. Large collections of observatory publications seem to be rare; a simple search on the Internet only reveals very few. Notable examples are the Woodman Astronomical Library at Wisconsin-Madison and the Dudley Observatory in Loudonville, New York. Due to the irregularities in receiving material, the collections are generally often incomplete both with respect to the observatories included as well as volumes and specific numbers. In order to assess the unique properties of the collections, we summarize and compare the observatories present in our own as well as the collections from Woodman Library and Dudley Observatory. Although we found a large overlap between the collections, a number of observatories were not present in all three collections. The material received from the same observatories also turned out to be different in some cases. Of course, many studies are published in the major, astronomical journals but more specialised offprints and especially older material can only be found in the collections of observatory publications. Many publications are registered in the ADS database, but we encourage astronomers looking for different types of hard-to-find, rare material to be aware of and search at least one major library that possesses an observatory collection.

The Astronomical Society of Japan starts authorization of Japan Astronomical Heritage, recognizing that the reservation, inheriting, notification and utilization is an important mission of the society. Among candidates sent from members of the society, the committee of Japan Astronomical Heritage selects and presents a few to the representatives for approvement. The first call for candidate was August 2018, and two heritages were selected: “Meigetsuki”, a diary of a famous medieval poet which includes description of astronomical phenomena such as the supernova explosion, SN1054, now known as crab nebula, and “Aizu Nisshinkan Tenmondai-Ato”, a historic site of an early 19th-century observatory at which observation for making luni-solar calendar was done. The second call of 2019 results in three heritages: one is «Kitora Kofun Tenjo Hekiga», a fine mural of star chart drawn on the cieling of late 7th- or early 8th-century tomb, another is «Meiji-20nen Kaiki-Nisshoku Kansokuchi oyobi Kansoku-Nisshoku-Hi», a historic site where the first modern observation of total solar eclipse was done in 1887, and the other is «6m Mili-Ha Denpa Bouenkyou», the cornerstone telescope of Japanese radio astronomy made in 1970. The certification of heritage is presented to the owner or the managing organization at the next spring meeting of the society, though the latest was postponed to this September due to COVID-19.
The heritages include National Treasures of historic era but also local heritages which are not well known nationwide and modern equipment that should be preserved. Japan Astronomical Heritage advances the recognition of historically important properties and promotes the utilization such as in the astronomical community and the local community.

We present the data related to the revealed astronomical oldest observatories at the territory of modern Ukraine and describe principles of observations which could be realized at these sites with usage of stones and menhirs. Among these oldest observatories: Bakhchysaray Menhir, the stone complex at the Lysyna Kosmatska mountain, the Mauritius Maidan as a complex of shafts having the correct relief form.

The main setting for the hymns of the Rgveda, which is the most ancient Indian literary text, is the area of the region of north India bounded by the Sindh and the Ganga rivers. Some of the astronomical information in the Vedic texts which are tentatively dated contains the list of 27 nakshtras. The Vedanga Jyotisa is the first astronomical text ever found. The instruments that were used in Indian astronomy include water clock, gnomon, armillary sphere, sundial and astrolabe. The culmination of the Indian tradition of instrument making occurred between 1724 and 1734, when Swai Jai Singh II built five masonry observatories in Jaipur, Varanasi, Delhi, Ujjain and Mathura. Jai Singh’s designs are so important due to its amalgamation of Islamic and Persian tradition. He also became acquainted with contemporary European astronomical knowledge through his relationship with Jesuit scholars. This paper will try to give an outline on great Indian astronomical heritage.

In the era of big data telescopes are producing images, spectra, and lightcurves of objects concerning the current state of the sky. However, the evolution of astronomical objects takes place on much longer time scales than telescopic data is available. Thus, it would be worthwhile – for questions of astrophysics as well as questions of history – to be able to reconstruct the historical frames of reference in order to give accurate positions of historical observational records of any astronomer on Earth. Many historical frames of reference are sets of constellations. Hence, we need to reconstruct as many historical sky cultures as possible and visualize them in planetarium software. The difficulty is to reconstruct all sky cultures independently.TheGreek constellations has roots in the Babylonian sky culture, e.g. because they imported the zodiac from there, but it also consists of some own developments and influences from many other cultures conquered by Alexander the Great as part of a new empire. We first have to distinguish the many variants in the Greek sky culture, additionally reconstruct the many variants of the Babylonian sky culture independently and, then, we can possibly derive the ways of knowledge transfer and transformation. Additionally, with an accurate set of constellations for each epoch and culture we could derive much better which position of transient phenomena is given by the historical observers. For instance, the Far Eastern astronomy (Chinese and derivatives) had a strong focus on observing transients, often called «guest stars». Recent research of the last few decades tried to indentify historical Chinese guest stars with modern nova eruptions and, therefore, extend the temporal baseline of human observations of these systems of close binary stars. They often fail because of the lack of accurate knowledge of the historical constellation and the naming of stars within these constellation. Thus, this accurate reconstruction has to be done independently with respect to the historical cultures, their astrometrical systems, accuracy of measurements, religious and mythological context and so on.

This contribution will describe how to do reconstruct historical constellations and demonstrate their visualization in Stellarium as well as the side product to display them on big planetarium domes.