Sources 1.Howard Turner 2.Clive Ruggle 3.FSTC Limited 4.Islamic Research Foundation International 5. Marika Sardar 6. Packet 7. University of Illinois 8. Asma Afsaruddin 9. Jim al-Khalili 10. Britannica 11. Martyn Shuttleworth DC

Astronomy2 S201 Recorded observations of sun, moon, planets, and stars on tablets called zijes DC

Astonomy2 P200 Islamic astronomy grew w/out influence of European astronomy until 1800s Style of astronomy based on indigenous folk astronomers, Greek & Babylonian documents, and Persian & Indians DC

Astonomy2 P200 Anwa- a set of 28 “stations” in the sky that the moon crosses that helps determine where the moon will be the following nights and what time in the month it is DC

Astonomy2 P199 Islamic scientists connected ancient Babylonian & Greek astronomy to modern Started translating Greek astronomical documents into Arabic in 800s CE DC

Astronomy2 S201 Folk astronomy- less precise than mathematical astronomy, it can be used by anyone, used for everyday life. Farmers used anwas to tell time Observed the skies to make predictions of everyday life Helped determine when Ramadan started, when they should fast and pray DC

Astronomy2 S202 Folk astronomy also determined qibla- “sacred direction” Qibla is the way one should face during prayers, which is toward Mecca Precision of their methods of determining qibla varied Today, not known exactly how a qibla was to be determined probably based off of sunrise/set and the stars DC

Astronomy5 P CE, Islamic astronomy heavily influenced by previous works by Greeks, Indians, and Iranians Translated many Sanskrit, Pahlavi, and Greek works into Arabic Studied the paths of sun, stars, moon, and planets Studies of the sun helped determine exactly what time they should pray during the day DC

Astonomy5 S1 Astronomers of the time worked off of Ptolomey’s work, which went against Aristotle’s model of the universe, with the Earth in the center Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi- wrote Illustrated Book of the Fixed Stars, a book that records his observations on 48 constellations. Al-Biruni- wrote about movement of the sun, moon, and planets Ibn al-Haytham studied how the atmosphere effected observations of the sky DC

Astronomy9 S167 Ibn al-Haytham- mathematician that wrote 25 works on astronomy based on his work in conics in math Wrote about cosmology, astronomical observation and calculations, meridians, and how to find the direction of Mecca DC

Greatly influenced by work of Ptolemy Some built off of Ptolemy’s work, others disagreed with it and corrected it Major centers of astronomy found in Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus DC Astronomy8 S136

Astronomy8 S136 Al-Khwarizmi- astronomer that wrote first Islamic astronomy book, based off of Ptolemy and Indian work Figured out when the new moon can be seen, which was used to make a monthly calendar DC

Astronomy9 S136 Astrolabe- device that is used for basic astronomy Can fit into a pocket and can be used by everyday farmer Ibn al-Shatir improved it in 1300s so that it can be used for calculating spherical astronomy problems DC

People9 Q152 “The seeker after truth is not one who studies the writings of ancients and…puts his trust in them, but rather the one who…questions what he gathers from them.” “…the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads and…attack it from every side” Ibn al-Haytham DC

Astronomy11 S1 Early nomadic Arabs needed a sense of direction during their travels Learned to use the stars to guide them DC

Astronomy11 S2 Al-Battani- one of the most notable Islamic astronomer Wrote a book Klitabal-Zij’ that built off of the work of Ptolemy His work eventually made its way into Europe Famous astronomers like Galileo were influenced by his books corrected the works of other scholars, especially Ptolemy DC

Astronomy11 S3 Abd-al-Rahman Al Sufi- his book, Illustrated Book of the Fixed Stars, fixed some mistakes Ptolemy made Many of the Arabic names he created for the stars are still in use today First to observe cloud-like shapes in the sky that are now known to be other galaxies DC

Astronomy11 S3 Greeks invented astrolabes, but Arabs enhanced it to be able to do much more and be more precise Al Jazari- invented an hourly clock in 12 th century DC