Earth Space Standards – History

I) I have a few key standards that I believe are omitted by the committee, and yet essential to all students of Earth Space ScienceB) A teacher of earth and space science must demonstrate a historical understanding of earth and space science, and in this effort, I refer to the importance of Astronomy throughout history. The teacher must:

There is no branch of science that has had as significant an impact on world history and culture as Astronomy. From the dawn of human civilization when man first took a good look at the night sky, it has proven to be mysterious, awesome, fearsome, and difficult to unravel its secrets. Due to the study of Astronomy, the calendar was created, myths written, leaders made fearful of leaving their houses, presidents altered their schedules, world explorers exploited the conquered, and institutions challenged. The courage of just one man, Nicholas Copernicus, changed forever man’s view of himself as well as the way western civilization looked upon a Judeo-Christian God. It was the heliocentric model that changed man’s look on the Universe, man’s look on this Earth, and man’s look on himself. It opened the Age of Enlightenment and brought a close to the Dark Ages.

1) Understand and be able to explain to students the origin of the calendar and its importance to civilization.

This unit is divided up into three parts, each of which builds upon the others. The first section is about what the earliest people saw when they looked at the night sky. The study of the stars gave rise to the calendar and the prediction of when to plant crops to insure a successful harvest, the ability to navigate by Polaris and thus venture out from a city to unknown lands with the tools to safely return, and the use of the planets among the constellations as predictors for various activities from war to celebrations.

ArchaeoastronomyEver since man took a good look at the night sky, he has wondered why things move and look as they do. Astronomy is the oldest of all sciences and its history is really very interesting. While the ancients did not make a lot of early attempts to solve the riddles of celestial motion, they certainly worked to decipher those motions for basic survival needs. Some of the earliest drawings found in the prehistoric caves of France depict lunar cycles, as do ivory sculptures from Africa ... both over 20,000 years ago. The ancients had nothing to do in their evenings for entertainment. They lacked a big screen tv, ice cream desserts, night club dancing, or even something as simple as a soft light and engrossing book. With so little to do, as well as no city light pollution, stargazing for wonderment was replaced with stargazing for understanding. Basic questions had to be answered. Our story of the most ancient historical Astronomy begins with the Babylonians.

An early chapter of the Biblical book "Genesis" describes a man named "Nimrod." While his name may carry negative meaning today, Nimrod was described as a mighty hunter and credited with the founding of the cities of Babylon and Ninevah. As the potential founder of one of the greatest kingdoms ever, it becomes exciting to think about how such a mighty man may have built such great cities. Certainly his skills as a hunter may have been unparalleled, but was there more to this man than mere brute strength like Conan the Barbarian? Could Nimrod have also been blessed with a high level of intellectual and intuitive ability?

What sort of observational understanding must Nimrod have possessed which would bring about a change for a nomadic people toward a more settled civilian form? Did Nimrod and his assistants figure out something from watching the stars which might give them such a competitive advantage over the other surrounding tribes and lead to the development of a mighty kingdom? Below is my thinking on this subject.

The ancient Babylonians mapped the path of the sun against the stars of the night sky. As the sun moved through the sky, it moved through a path called the ECLIPTIC. Although the light of the sun makes impossible the seeing of the sun and stars simultaneously, the ancients knew that the stars were still there, but just blinded out of sight. Through careful recording of the changing positions of specific star constellations throughout the year, early astronomers were able to trace the sun's path through such star groupings. The 12 constellations through which the sun traveled in the ecliptic became known as the ZODIAC.

Below are some key terms:

ECLIPTIC = the apparent circular path of the sun across the sky.

ZODIAC = twelve constellations which fall in the ecliptic (ZONE OF ANIMALS)

The image on the previous page shows the star groupings which occupy the ecliptic.

The Zodiac = CAPRICORN, AQUARIUS, PISCES, AIRES, TAURUS, GEMINI, CANCER, LEO, VIRGO, LIBRA, SCORPIO, and SAGITTARIUS, starting in June and finishing in May. A thirteenth constellation occupies the ecliptic, Ophiuchus, between Libra and Sagittarius, but is not included in the Zodiac calendar.The ancients also noticed that certain aquatic constellations were occupied by the sun during the worst storm periods ( Capricorn = sea goat, Aquarius = water bearer, Pisces = fish), and this helped develop a predictable calendar with best dates for planting spring crops. The development of the calendar was the critical piece of information which enabled a civilized society to develop for the people could build a walled city for protection, farm food on soil in surrounding areas without a need for wandering and gathering, and predict the times for successful planting times. A person, like Nimrod, who could predict the best time for planting would give his followers a strong advantage.

As you can see in the diagram to the above, the earth is following its path around the sun, moving

counterclockwise. While we know this today, the Babylonians thought the sky rotated. To their perspective, the constellations of the Zodiac changed on a monthly basis. In the image to the left, earth star watchers would see Leo straight to the south at midnight, while at noon the sun would be occupying a spot in the constellation Aquarius. Since Aquarius and Pisces are considered two of the three water constellations, the sun's position in them would indicate the impending rainy season and be a good time for crop planting. It was not so much a matter of which constellation was visible at night as it was which constellation was occupied by the sun.

 

 

 

The Babylonians went further following the development of their calendar, for they noticed that several starlike objects did not remain in close association with the stars of

specific constellations. These 7 objects wandered in and out of the 12 zodiac constellations. The seven objects are Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn ... the day and night lights as well as the 5 naked-eye visible planets. In fact, the word "planet" is derived from a Greek word for "wanderer." There was a belief that the location of these 7 objects among the various zodiac constellations held great meaning. Armies might be encouraged to wage war if Mars, the red planet, was in Sagittarius. An entire study developed called "Astrology" that offered to explain the meaning behind the location of such celestial objects. People believed that their life histories would be influenced by the birthday orientation of the 7 objects, and others would make decisions based on the same. Even today, a large percentage of the population regularly consults the

newspaper for their daily horoscope and hopes to find money or romance by the end of the day. Nancy Reagan, wife of the late former American president Ronald, was a big believer in meaning attached to the zodiac and planet motions. Ronald's advisors had to consult with Nancy first about scheduling meetings lest his meeting occur on an ominously bad date. Calendars were given to the advisors from Nancy and her astrologer/advisor with dates blacked out for any activity for her husband. It seems strange now to look back at the 1980's when Ronald was president and think that our national policies may have been influenced by his wife's astrologer! The image below is a modern look at the Astrologer's chart with dates for each zodiac sign and thoughts about the meaning of planets and sun and moon. While I do not hold any belief in the motions of the solar system influencing my life, plenty of others do. The Astronomy Society of the Pacific holds annual meetings for astronomy educators, one of their stated missions being to debunk myths in Astronomy ... Astrology being one of them. However, if you still are interested in learning more about Astrology, click on the chart image, or go to a more detailed study at Astrology.

Development of the Calendar

The ancient Greeks are credited with organizing the first widely accepted calendar, dividing the week into seven days based on the motions of the seven planets. Since the Greek word "planet" means wandering object, the Sun and the Moon were considered planets as well. These seven "planets" were then organized by an order based on their stability in the sky. Saturn appeared to move the least against the background stars, so it was considered the most stable. Next in line was Jupiter, and then Mars. Surprisingly, for most astronomy students, the Sun was the next in line, in terms of its stability. It moved in the sky more than Mars, and yet actually appeared to move less wildly than either Venus or Mercury which came afterward in the Greek system. Finally, the least stable "planet" was the Moon, for it moved like the Sun, but went through cyclical phases.

Now, the Greeks divided the day into 24 hour time periods, and named each hour after the seven planets, ascending in time from the most stable planet to the least stable seven hours later, and then starting over again. This system looked like the chart below:

SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

Saturn Sun Moon Mars Mercury Jupiter Venus

jupiter venus saturn sun moon mars mercury

mars mercury jupiter venus saturn sun moon

sun moon mars mercury jupiter venus saturn

venus saturn sun moon mars mercury jupiter

mercury jupiter venus saturn sun moon mars

moon mars mercury jupiter venus saturn sun

saturn sun moon mars mercury jupiter venus

jupiter venus saturn sun moon mars mercury

mars mercury jupiter venus saturn sun moon

sun moon mars mercury jupiter venus saturn

venus saturn sun moon mars mercury jupiter

mercury jupiter venus saturn sun moon mars

moon mars mercury jupiter venus saturn sun

saturn sun moon mars mercury jupiter venus

jupiter venus saturn sun moon mars mercury

mars mercury jupiter venus saturn sun moon

sun moon mars mercury jupiter venus saturn

venus saturn sun moon mars mercury jupiter

mercury jupiter venus saturn sun moon mars

moon mars mercury jupiter venus saturn sun

saturn sun moon mars mercury jupiter venus

jupiter venus saturn sun moon mars mercury

mars mercury jupiter venus saturn sun moon

The Greeks then gave the name of the day of the week after the name of the planet which fell on the first hour. Some of the names are different from the Greek system because we have adopted some of the Norweigian names. The first three days are Greek in origin: Saturn's day, Sun's day, and Moon's day. Tuesday is derived from a variation on Aries as the god of war. Finally, the Norse gods are found for Woden's Day, Thor's Day, and Frie's day.

The information within this page was learned while I was attending the spring meeting of the AAVSO and HEA in Kohala, Hawaii in the summer of 2002. The AAVSO is the Astronomical Association of Variable Star Observers, and the HEA is the High Energy Astrophysics symposium. Dr. Karen Meech gave an evening talk about archaeoastronomy, and this was one of her topics.

But the Babylonians were not the only group to develop the science of Astronomy, and tracking the motion of the Sun or Moon were not the only items of interest to the earliest civilizations. Early peoples also were interested in the timing of the rising and setting or particular stars or constellations. These motions are called "heliacal risings and settings."

Imagine there is a particular star you like a great deal, say Sirius. Remember that the Earth makes a complete rotation in roughly 23 hours and 56 minutes. Yet we measure the length of the day to be 24 hours between high noons. The extra 4 minutes of time required for the Sun to be at the highest point in the sky is due to the necessary 4 minutes of time for Earth to revolve in its orbit and realign with the Sun. Meanwhile, the stars were properly aligned relative to the Earth 4 minutes previously. This disparity in time means that any given star will rise 4 minutes earlier each night. You look for Sirius, but on one sunrise, it is exactly in line with the Sun and therefore hidden in its glare. The following morning, Sirius will rise 4 minutes ahead of the Sun, but it will still be hidden in the Sun's glare. Eventually, a morning will come when you can see Sirius ahead of the rising Sun. This morning you would mark as a special event for you ... the heliacal rising of Sirius. Well, many civilizations followed heliacal risings and settings of various stars or constellations. The rising of the Pleiades, Sirius, Capella, and others were all used by

different ancient civilizations to mark seasonal or festival-worthy events. While the Papagao Indians used the Pleiades heliacal rising at sunrise to mark seasonal events, the ancient Hawaiians used the heliacal rising of the Pleiades at sunset to mark important events.

Across the world in America were the native Americans in the north, Mayan and Aztecs in the middle, and Incas to the south, all of whom also devised wonderful astronomical methods and structures to organize their lives. Of great interest to archaeologists is the discovery that odd-shaped buildings typically are or astronomical importance. Cities typically have straight walls and streets, neatly organized and shaped residences and palaces and others. But often is found a single structure that looks unlike any other building. That building is often aligned with stars and solstices and constructed in such odd shapes to necessarily be properly oriented.

Anasazi

Pueblo of southwestern USA also developed a calendar, but used a different method than the passage of the constellations. Depending on the culture, a chief or priest would look to the horizon at the rising or setting sun and watch for its appearance or disappearance relative to a distant geological feature or to a manmade structure of building. Careful notation was made for the summer and winter solstices when the sun would rise from the farthest northeast or southeast point respectively. Notation was made for the equinoxes, when the sun rose straight from the east and the daylength and nightlength were the same. In such a manner, these Native Americans were able to construct a meaningful calendar

and plant their crops at the appropriate time. This was crucial to any people, but especially to those living in mountains or in more high latitudes. Planting crops too soon would result in the potential for the seedlings to freeze. Planting crops too late would result in the return of winter before harvest. By clicking on either southwestern American Indian name above, you will find some very interesting information if you want to learn more details. The Anasazi site is a bit more upper division in its technical writing, while the Pueblo site is easier to follow.

Besides the creation of the calendar, organization of ritual feasts and celebrations, the ancients learned how to navigate according to the stars. Early astronomers quickly noted that one star in the night sky never moves from its position, and throughout the course of the night, the rest of the stars make a sweeping circle around that one star. While the Earth spins on its axis and wobbles in such a manner as to cause that north star to change, it will be simpler for our present discussion to assume that these ancients oriented themselves by the same North Star which we see there today. Indeed, islanders from the south seas were masters at navigating by the stars, and Samoans and Fijians went on very long journeys to colonize the Hawaiian Islands. Some think the ancient Egyptians may have navigated across the Atlantic and given rise to Inca, Aztec, and Mayan cultures, but there is less evidence for this conjecture. You might find it interesting to learn that several species of migratory birds orient themselves according to star patterns, and when they were placed in large warehouses with different constellation patterns overhead, the birds became confused and flew in the wrong direction!

The ancients further discerned that the tides coincided with the passage of the moon, that high tides were higher and low tides lower at new and full moon, and that the length of the female menstrual cycle was as long as the "moonth" (associating fertility with the goddess of the moon).

Today, on any clear night, you can see about 2,000 stars with the naked eye, but only if you venture away from the light pollution of city lights. Most of you will look up from your backyards and barely be able to make out even the most prominent of the constellations. I will never forget a trip high into the mountains of Wyoming and seeing so many stars that I could not discern constellations. I thought how incredible it must have looked to people before large cities were built with their resultant night-polluted skies.

One of the more interesting sites of ancient astronomy is the Stonehenge site in England. Scholars continue to debate on a date of construction, but the use of the site and some of astronomical predictions are better understood. To learn more about Stonehenge, click on the image and read the short article. By the way, there is a relatively new ordinance by the site prohibiting visitors from coming near the megaliths, in hopes of preserving the location for future generations.

The Stonehenge site was constructed over a long period and in three major phases of increasing complexity. Initially built to follow solstice and equinox times, the

site now has been purported to predict eclipses, phases of the Moon, and a host of important heliacal risings and settings. In truth, there are enough potential alignments that one could find almost anything one desires simply due to the great number of marker

stones. One must exercise caution when trying to read into Stonehenge more than is really there.

One event is certain, and that is the rising of the Sun at summer solstice. An examination of the photograph of this moment shows the Sun to be just slightly to the side of a prominent heel stone. Were the builders inaccurate in their alignment? Afterall, there is not much of an error. Recent archaeological work has uncovered a hole which would have held a second heel stone. When this hole was properly filled, the solstice rising Sun fit neatly between two heel stones. The early builders were remarkably precise!

 Finally, the Mayan culture organized an elaborate city that was centered on their worship of Venus. I would like you to peruse the Mayan site for some extra information about the motion of Venus and their worship of this star. Please click on Maya Astronomy for your study. Archaeologists have discovered very few bits of information since much of it was burned as Satanic material by the conquering Spaniards. Our present understanding of the Mayan astronomy is owed to what the conquering Spaniards wrote down. Since they abhorred the practices of the Mayan and Aztec peoples, they only wrote what was of interest to them, and much material of clarification was lost. Apparently the Dresden Codex, a sort of textbook on Mayan civilization, survived, and study of this book has revealed much about the Mayan astronomers. They tracked a regular time when Venus could be found in a particular place in the morning sky (its heliacal rising), and following this 585 day cycle when Venus, Earth, and Sun would realign. Of greater importance would be when Venus, Sun, Earth, and the same stars would all realign, repeatedly every 8 years and 10 months. Great wars were staged to coincide with this 8 year occurrence, but there was little actually battlefield killing. Many prisoners were taken and ritually slaughtered atop their pyramid temples. The priest would cut into a victim and rip out the heart while their blood flowed down the temple steps to a great pit at the pyramid base. The pit would literally fill with blood, that was believed to fertilize the earth and ensure successful harvests. Venus was their "death star" as opposed to the view of the Greeks. Strange soccer games were played celebrating the appearance of Venus. The losing teams were beheaded. (Go Hopkins! ... and you may wonder what the expression, "Play to Win" may have meant to the Mayan players.)

South of the Mesoamerican cultures lay the vast empire of the Inca. These people did not leave any writings, and constructing their astronomy has been more difficult. Once again, the Incas had a single building in their central city that was built unlike any other. Examination of the building with its narrow light slits have revealed the division of the empire along the heliacal risings of different stars. The empire was not laid out according to simple north, south, east, west boundaries. Here the Incas divided their kingdom in unequal segments based on the rising of different stars.

The result of this teaching of ancient history reveals to students that the goal of early astronomers was to gain information for planting crops, navigating across the territory, and organizing rituals at specific dates of the year. There was little need to provide or search for a natural explanation.

Without Astronomy, people would have continued a pattern of hunting and gathering wherever the food existed and lived a nomadic life. With the understanding of the movement of stars in the night sky or the location of the rising sun, an accurate calendar was created which guaranteed a successful planting and harvesting of crops. People could build a city, divide labor, grow crops outside of walls, and develop trades. This is the first evidence of the influence of Astronomy on society.

2) Understand and be able to explain to students the naming of the constellations, wandering stars, and pseudosciences of mythology and astrology.

Once the ancients had developed an understanding of the seasons and perhaps organized their societal events on the basis of the locations of stars amid the constellations, astronomers next shared their legends through the shapes of constellations. Mythology had much of its root in the stars. This part of the Astronomy course serves to show students how the ancient cultures viewed their world, and even opens the door to a discussion on how we perceive the world today, and how easily people are influenced.

THE BIRTH OF ASTRONOMY

Up until 500 years ago, people thought the world was flat. In 1609, Galileo Galilei made his first telescope and looked at the moons of Jupiter, lunar craters, and thousands of faint stars in the Milky Way. His telescope may have been of low power, but it opened a door to discovery. The history of Astronomy up to Galileo's telescope and Newton's mathematical formulae is more fascinating than the history of any other branch of science, and by tracing its progress it is possible to gain a better understanding of the Earth, planets, and stars. In the previous section, we looked at very ancient archaeological astronomy sites and how the development of the calendar and navigation tools gave birth

to civilization. Now we will focus our attention on the cradle of civilization ... Mesopotamia and nearby nations to see how Astronomy grew from mythological worship to a natural understanding of celestial motion.

The early peoples thought the earth was flat and that the entire sky revolved around it. This is still quite obvious to anyone who looks outside. After all, the earth does not look rounded. A ball will not roll indefinitely on the curved surface. The earth cannot be spinning, or we would feel the motion and be continually dizzy. Everything MUST revolve around us, and since the students who are taking this course are typical high school students, it feels reasonable to conclude that everything revolves around you anyway. Even modern television weather forecasters refer to sunrise and sunset. Either they believe at the earth is in the center, or they are just too lazy to say, "The earth will rotate into view of the sun at 7:12 AM, and rotate out of view of the sun at 6:54 PM. They must still be members of the "Flat Earth Society."

Here are some of the basic questions asked by ancients:Where would they expect the water go at the edges of the Earth?Why should sailors never venture away from sight of land?What might be at the edges?What is underneath?What holds everything up?

Vedic priests of India believed the earth was supported on twelve massive pillars. During the hours of darkness the sun passed underneath, somehow managing to pass between the pillars without hitting them.

Hindus believed the earth stood on the back of four elephants. These elephants rested on the shell of a huge tortoise, while the tortoise was supported by a giant serpent which floated on a limitless ocean. The shining scales of the serpent were the night stars,

The Chinese thought eclipses were caused by giant dragons which were trying to eat the sun. They would make as much noise as possible to scare the beast away. The entire population took part, shouting, wailing, beating gongs and pans to add to the uproar. Eventually, they came to learn that any eclipse is likely to be followed by another in 18 years and 11 days (a period of timed they named the SAROS). By keeping records, they were able to be prepared for the return of the dragon (not to be confused with Bruce Lee who starred in "Enter the Dragon," a truly fabulous karate movie featuring John Saxon and Bolo Yeung in inspiring Kung Fu action scenes, but this has nothing to do with Astronomy, but I like the movie and want to see if you might really read this stuff). One year, the eclipse came at an unexpected time and the people were caught unprepared for the dragon. So angry was the Emperor that he had his court astronomers Hsi and Ho immediately executed. I will try to keep you accurately informed of upcoming celestial events and thus keep you from attempting to behead me.

The Egyptians lined up their pyramids with Polaris, the North Star. This important fact helped us determine the approximate age of the pyramids by measuring the direction of

the pyramid locations against the known location of Polaris many years ago (the stars appear to stay in the same location, but actually move slightly due to precession, and term which will be discussed later in the course).Both the Egyptians and Chinese kept careful records, but neither tried to explain anything like comets, meteors, and planets. They thought these objects were divine.

The Israelites believed that their God created all things in 6 episodic days, and that the flat earth was in the center of the universe, while all else revolved around it. Biblical accounts of Joshua praying for the sun to stand still while they routed an enemy people and Hezekiah asking the sun to move backward a short distance evidence their geocentric thinking. Of great interest here was the announcement several years ago by NASA engineers that careful computer calculations revealed an extra 24 hour period when one should not have been there, and even the presence of an extra 40 minutes beyond this. Now that is certainly something to ponder, huh?

Stanford University has created a really wonderful website which explores many of the beliefs and explanations for celestial events in ancient history. If you would like to learn more about ancient world cultural views of Astronomy, click on Solar Folklore and browse the site for interesting subjects from Joshua's prayer to Mayan worship of Venus.

The Babylonians named many of the stars and constellations. The stars in Orion bear Babylonian names: Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Rigel, Saiph, Mintaka, Alnitak, Alnilam. To them, the stars told stories, or rather, their stories were retold by the patterns in the sky. They noticed that stars remained in their patterns year after year, unchanging. Orion never shoots Taurus successfully. Night after night he hunts the bull with his club and bow, but he never shoots it.

The ancients gave names to the constellations in the northern sky. Plenty of stars existed in the southern sky, but the people of the north did not travel south to see the stars and give them names. Of great interest to the ancients was the star Polaris. This star, alone from all of the others, did not move during the course of the night. Every other star moved in a counter-clockwise direction around Polaris. This star was always straight north, and provided a means to aid in navigating.

Besides the constellations, there were seven wandering objects that moved in different manners from the stars. Certainly the Sun and Moon moved differently, but there were five other wandering objects that did not stay in their same relative locations from night to night. The Greeks named Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn “planets” which means “wanderer.” As you have seen earlier, the location of these wandering objects among the background constellations provided the basis for Astrology. Moving among the constellations, Mars might signal the time for war if its red color was near a hunting constellation. The location of the beautiful Venus must mean love under special circumstances. The study of stars became Astrology, and not Astronomy. No concern for how things in the sky work existed … only what it might mean.

At this point in the class, it is always fun to point out the process of precession.

The two diagrams seen above demonstrate how the Earth slowly wobbles on its axis over a 22,000 year period. The result of this motion is a change in the time when the Zodiac constellations appear during the months of the year. Unless your astrologer makes compensation for the precession of the Earth, the original astrological charts are all off and valueless. Imagine placing your hopes on a daily horoscope that reads, “ the alignment of the planets today is a good indication that you need to take a chance on love with a long-forgotten friend, invest in an obscure stock, and enjoy peace from a stressful life.” If you were to follow this advice you might be sadly disappointed in not knowing your adjusted horoscope for the day really reads, “nothing short of disaster is forecast by a very unfavorable alignment … stay in your house all day and hope midnight passes before you lose everything dear to you.”

Astrology is not based on any experimental procedure. It is merely a device used by the writers of horoscopes to make some money. Read your horoscopes for fun, but do not base your life decisions on the advice of Serena at her 1-900 number

There seem to be a lot of silly notions a long time ago, but remember that these people were of the belief that events in the sky were mystical in nature and therefore to glorify their deities, they named many of the constellations after their gods or after objects which were important to them. In some civilizations, the myths were born in the mind first and then stars told the story, while other cultures saw stories in the sky and developed mythology to explain what they saw happening there. What do you see when you look into the night sky. You assignment for this part of the course is write you own mythical

account of what you see when you look at the night sky. You do not need to do any observing, but will need a star chart and some creative imagination.

Write Your Own Myth

If you have ever taken the time to look at the night sky with a star finder chart in your hands, you may wonder how these constellations ever got their names. Ursa Major looks nothing at all like a big bear, so why didn't the ancients simply call it the Big Dipper? Canis Minor looks like two stars, so why didn't the ancients name it The Wizard's Wand? You might see the constellation Taurus and visualize a giant predatory insect with huge antennae rather than a bull. Therefore, you are being given the opportunity to describe what you see in the night sky yourself. As the Babylonians saw mythical creatures in the heavens waging various battles, you might see something completely different.

Your assignment is to take any portion of the night sky for any season of the year and write a mythical account of what you think the stars are doing. The story should be a minimum of 250 words and completely creative on your part. This is designed to be something fun, but also to help acquaint you with how the asterisms got names in the first place.

When you are finished, send the assignment to me via e-mail (Tom_Franke@hopkins.k12.mn.us). I am not looking for grammatical correctness nor am I really worried about spelling. You will receive full credit for having the myth be of the correct length and being on time.

The writing of a myth has been enjoyed by students for a long time because it allows creative writing and collaboration if I have the students work in pairs. The stories are read to the class, much to everyone’s delight, and in particular to the writers.

The Greeks were the first group to ask questions. Now this is typical of the ancient Greek philosophers, who spent hours each day on the steps of the Agora engaging in simple chatter, just like we will be doing on specified evenings. A fine example of this is seen in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" depiction of Socrates, one of the most famous of the Greek philosophers. If you cannot or have not seen this movie, you will have to imagine the scene of men sitting on the steps and discussing the natural world.