The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

It was not until the 14th century that scientists created the first sophisticated astronomical clocks. The Antikythera mechanism, with its precision gears bearing teeth about a millimeter long, is completely unlike anything else from the ancient world. 

It seems that the device could be used to predict the positions of the sun, moon and planets on any specific day in the past or future. The maker of the machine would have had to calibrate it with the known positions of these bodies. A user could then simply turn a crank to the desired time frame to see astronomical predictions. The mechanism displayed positions, for instance, on a “zodiac dial” on the front of the mechanism, where the ecliptic was divided into a dozen 30-degree sections representing the constellations of the zodiac. 


Read More: 
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-ancient-greek-astronomical-calculation-machine-reveals-new-secrets/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Dodecahedrons of the Roman Empire

Image
No mention of dodecahedrons has been found in contemporary accounts or pictures of the time. Speculative uses include:  A specific type of dice for a game since lost to history.  A magical object, possibly from the Celtic religion. A similar small, hollow object with protrusions was recovered from Pompeii in a box with either jewellery or items for magic.  A toy for children.  A weight for fishing nets.  The head of a chieftain’s scepter.  A kind of musical instrument.  A tool to estimate distances and survey land, especially for military purposes.  An instrument to estimate the size of and distance to objects on the battlefield for the benefit of the artillery.  A device for detecting counterfeit coins.  A calendar for determining the spring and autumn equinoxes and/or the optimal date for sowing wheat.  A candle holder. (Wax residue was found in one or two of the objects recovered.)  A connector for metal or wooden poles.  A knitting tool specifically for gloves. (That would explain
Read more

A Shopping Center Built on Toxic Land

Image
In Garfield Heights, Ohio sits one of the most toxic shopping centers constructed in the United States.  After nearly 2 years of construction, City View Center opened in 2006 as a power center, containing big-box stores such as Walmart, Giant Eagle, Circuit City, PetSmart, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bed Bath & Beyond, Office Max and Marshalls.  Issues arose due to the center being built atop a landfill. One tenant after another moved out over the years due to health concerns and structural issues, and the center was eventually abandoned.  So how exactly did all of this arise, and why was the center built here anyway? Read More ...
Read more

The Calming Effect of Amiga Utility Disks

Image
"I'm not sure why, but browsing through utility disks has a calming effect on me. The content selection and menus are interesting in themselves, and sometimes I even find a little hack I might include on one of the disks I release my own scene productions on. Browsing through the config files and examining the startup scripts feels like peeking at the past life of someone. It's a glimpse into the mind of a young boy, who sat down in front of his Amiga one rainy autumn day in 1989. His heart was filled with purpose and his head with hopes of making his handle known and spreading some software - possibly written by himself or someone in the very group of which he was a member. Perhaps what's so calming is the contrast this provides to fast paced SaaS apps and terabyte SSD drives. I don't know. But I do know it still gives these disks a purpose today. And I'm very happy about that." Carl Svensson https://www.datagubbe.se/utildisks/#gallery
Read more