Ligabue Magazine 54

Thanks to articles by leading experts and scholars, this issue takes us on a trip through the millennia of human history, illustrating what scientists have invented to explore and explain the celestial vault. The articles highlight the great curiosity and inventiveness of individual scholars, like Galileo, but also of whole civilisations, like the Maya. So ultimately our journey is not so much into the cosmos as into the mind.
We begin with a question: when did man begin studying the stars? Nomad hunters surely attempted to explain the lights which gradually moved in the night sky and also the brightness of comets or planets. We will never know the ideas, theories or myths they elaborated to explain them. In the Near East, the first people to leave written accounts on the subject were the Mesopotamians.

The earliest written text on astronomy is a cuneiform tablet from Nippur- a list of observations of the stars with calculations. By reading this list, the experts have concluded that the Mesopotamians believed the universe was made up of eight heavens enclosed within each other. The observations and documents gradually produced by Mesopotanian priests are evidence of their knowledge of the stars, which still surprises scholars today, as Gabriele Rossi Osmida relates.
We continue with an unusual journey into ancient Egyptian astronomy. By analysing the texts, myths and hieroglyphics left by this early civilisation, Nedim Vlora provides us with an interesting analysis of the state of knowledge at that time. The resultant picture includes many new ideas which overturn conventional knowledge about ancient Egypt. In short, Nedim Vlora explores the stars as they were seen by the eyes of the ancient pyramid builders.

The stars and their movements also influenced other great civilisations, many very far apart both geographically and historically. Thus, for example, we have the Maya, Olmecs and Zapotecs in Mesoamerica. Significantly, although the first people to arrive and settle in the American continent were still nomad hunters, they gradually and completely independently built not only cities and empires but also observatories and astronomical calendars. The reasons why they studied the stars and the methods they used are vividly described by Sabrina Mugnos and Maria Longhena. We thus discover that the Maya believed that the planet Venus embodied the powerful god Quetzacoatl, “the feathered serpent”, responsible for war and destruction. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the Maya priests kept a close watch on Venus.
We move to another continent with Lorenza-Ilia Manfredi, who takes us on a fascinating trip to Algeria, a melting pot of ethnic groups, cultures and civilisations. By associating the constellations in the sky with the character of the peoples living exactly below in this corner of North Africa, she sets off on an extremely interesting exploration of ancient sites, peoples, and historical events, including descriptions of some leading figures and their very human stories.

Our journey into space and through the centuries of history continues with Galileo Galilei, a founding father of modern scientific thought. By reconstructing his life, including his troubled family situation, Gabriele Rossi Osmida pieces together an unusual private portrait of the great scientist- from his relationship with the pope to that with his daughters. His discoveries, theories and the “black legend” of his infamous trial are seen in a new light, thus correcting the commonly accepted story. Gabriele Rossi Osmida provides an accurate, profound but also very human description of Galileo’s life. He also debunks a number myths such as, for example, his authorship of the historic phrase “and yet it moves!”.

On gazing at the night sky how often have we wondered if there is life up there? Many experts believe that life may have originated elsewhere in the universe. Giancarlo Ligabue illustrates the now frequently debated theory that life was spread in the cosmos by meteorites, comets or other bodies which “contaminated” planets after impacting on them, thus in a certain sense spreading the “epidemie” of life – a very thought-provoking revolutionary idea. In another contribution, again by observing some of the lesser-known aspects of nature and the surrounding world, Giancarlo Ligabue gives us a fascinating account of an ancient creature which has literally re-emerged from the depths of the abysses and prehistory: the Nautilus. We are used to seeing the beautiful shell of this mollusc in museums, shop windows or proudly displayed in drawing rooms. Its spiral geometry with so many “septa” is often said to exemplify the perfection of nature. But very few people know that the Nautilus is also an extraordinary “calendar” of the past. As Giancarlo Ligabue explains, examining fossil species of the Nautilus has made it possible to calculate the number of days in a month in prehistory with the surprising result that months were once shorter than today. This secret has been revealed by the ancient organism which, from time immemorial, every night silently surfaces from the ocean depths to feed and then sinks back down at first light of day.

As I mentioned earlier, this year is the 40th anniversary of the lunar landing. Ligabue Magazine and the Ligabue Study Centre have been involved in expeditions to remote places for such a long time now that we feel a duty to retell the extraordinary adventure of the journey to the most distant place ever reached by man. Our behind- the-scenes description of the Apollo 11 mission highlights the full drama and many lesser-known aspects of the first lunar landing.
Lastly, in such a significant year for astronomy, we thought it was important to survey the present and future of astronomical studies with an article by Piero Rafanelli, who illustrates the methods and techniques now used to observe the sky and also outlines how they developed.
This is the final stage on a long journey through prehistory, ancient civilisations and modern science to the future. Retelling it not only highlights man’s relationship with the cosmos but also many forms of human knowledge.

Enjoy your trip up among the stars!