Historical divergence

From ancient times until the 17th century, astrologers constantly desired more accurate astronomical tables, and for this reason, they instigated and even funded many important developments in astronomy. The role of astrology as an important motivation for astronomical research diminished as the works of Galileo and others solved the problems in celestial mechanics that were of interest to astrologers, and as belief in astrological influences or correlations became extinct among astronomers. The needs of modern navigation and physics became more important motivators for astronomical research.

Astrology and astronomy began to take divergent paths during the rise of the rational and the scientific method in the Western World. The science of astronomy as we know it today (mathematical, mechanical, empirical) is of relatively recent origin. This discipline became separated from and generally antagonistic towards astrology only beginning around the time of the "Great Astronomers" -- Galileo, Kepler, Copernicus, Brahe, etc. (though they were all still astrologers as well as astronomers). This period is defined as the beginning of the scientific revolution, leading on into The Age of Enlightenment, sometimes referred to as The Age of Reason -- as stated, the two fields diverged completely in the West between approximately 1750-1800.

It is a commonly held belief among astrologers that Isaac Newton had an interest in astrology. However, Newton's writings fail to mention the subject and the handful of books in his possession that contained references to astrology were primarily concerned with other subjects such as the writings of Hermes Trismegistus (and mentioned astrology only in passing.) In an interview with John Conduitt, Newton said that as a young student, he had read a book on astrology, and was "soon convinced of the vanity & emptiness of the pretended science of Judicial astrology" (D.T. Whiteside, M.A. Hoskin & A. Prag (eds.), The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1967), vol. 1, pp. 15-19).

Perhaps the words astrolomer/astrolomy or astronoger/astronogy would be sufficient to describe the aforementioned dual roles of just about every person seriously studying (astronomy) and interpreting (astrology) the sky from antiquity until about 1750-1800. In Medieval Europe the word Astronomia was often used to encompass both disciplines as this included the study of astronomy and astrology jointly and without a real distinction; this was one of the original Seven Liberal Arts.

Astrology and astronomy stayed together for a very long time - the funding from astrology supported major astronomical research, which was in turn used to make more and more accurate ephemerides for use in astrology. As the funding and technology progressively increased, this inexorably lead to greater and greater discoveries that eventually drove the two apart.

Most of the very early, ancient astronomers/astrologers up until about 1750-1800 were simultaneously employed as astrologers for the powerful and the wealthy; many Kings and Queens employed court astrologers to aid them in the running of their kingdom, and this is where most of the money that was used to fund much need astronomical research came from.

University medical students were taught astronomy/astrology for use during their practice as physicians; they needed to know how to observe (astronomically) in order to be able to interpret (astrologically) and treat the illness. (See Medical astrology.)

More often than not it was only because of the prospect of getting better and more accurate astrological predictions that the rich (Royalty) were willing to invest in the very expensive projects of creating observatories and funding constant astronomical observations (see Tycho Brahe), which were very time consuming and just didn't seem quite as interesting as the 'mystical' art of astrology.

Distinguishing characteristics

* The primary goal of astronomy is to understand the physics of the universe. Astrologers use astronomical calculations for the positions of celestial bodies along the ecliptic and attempt to correlate celestial events (astrological aspects, sign positions) with earthly events and human affairs. Astronomers consistently use the scientific method, naturalistic presuppositions and abstract mathematical reasoning to investigate or explain phenomena in the universe. Astrologers use mystical/religious reasoning as well as traditional folklore, symbolism and superstition blended with mathematical predictions to explain phenomena in the universe. The scientific method is not consistently used by astrologers.

* Astrologers practice their discipline geocentricically [12] and they consider the universe to be harmonious, changeless and static, while astronomers believe that the universe is without a center and is dynamic, expanding outward. [13]

* Astrologers are deterministic; that is, they believe that everything in the universe is orderly, predictable and predetermined, that nothing happens at random.[14] Astronomers, on the contrary, believe that both order and randomness simultaneously exist in the universe; that is, astronomers believe the universe is not entirely orderly, predictable and predetermined, that randomness does in fact exist in the universe to at least some extent. Random cosmic collisions and other random phenomena occur everywhere in the universe.

* Both astrologers and astronomers see Earth as being an integral part of the universe, that Earth and the universe are interconnected as one cosmos (not as being separate and distinct from each other). However, astrologers philosophically and mystically portray the cosmos as having a supernatural, metaphysical and divine essence that actively influences world events and the personal lives of people.[15]. However, astronomers teach that nothing in the universe is divine or supernatural, and that nothing in outer space directly manipulates world events or the personal lives of people in supernatural or divine ways. Astronomers believe that, because the Earth is an integral part of the universe, celestial objects are just as humbly natural as terrestrial objects, being composed of exactly the same substances, and controlled by exactly the same forces, as objects on Earth. The substances iron, hydrogen, sulfur, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, as well as the fundamental interactions of gravity, electromagnetism, weak force and strong force, are just as prevalent within the stars and planets as they are on Earth.

* Astronomers refers to star patterns as "constellations" and "asterisms", while astrologers refer to star patterns as "signs". Contemporary astronomers, who are academic instead of mystical or superstitious, have little use for the constellations, accepting them only as "regions" or "provinces" of the sky for scientific observation and academic study, instead of as real pictures in the sky. Unlike the mystical and superstitious astrologers, who believe and teach that pictures truly exist among the constellations and have supernatural or divine influences on people, today’s academic mainstream astronomers believe and teach that pictures do not truly exist among the constellations. Instead, today’s academic mainstream astronomers believe and teach that people and cultures throughout history only imagined pictures among the constellations and composed myths and stories about what they imagined in the sky, and that such mere "pictures of the imagination" have no supernatural or divine influences on people whatsoever. Today’s academic mainstream astronomers believe and teach that a constellation is nothing more than a group of stars in a specific region of the sky, and that any person or culture, at any time or place, can imagine whatever picture they wish among a particular group of stars, as history proves via the many ancient and modern cultures, each culture having its own unique star lore.

* Astrologers and astronomers differ in their approach to concepts such as constellations. Astronomers recognize a thirteenth constellation, Ophiuchus, in addition to the twelve astrologers recognize. Astrologers traditionally omit Ophiuchus from their zodiacal signs, preferring twelve due to a long-standing conceptual system in which twelve signs are vital. In addition, due to the 26,000 year precession cycle of Earth on its axis of rotation, the constellations along the ecliptic are no longer positioned the same as they were during Aristotle and Ptolemy's day (when the current astrological system was first established). The Sun, for example, no longer enters Aries on the vernal equinox, instead, it now enters Pisces during that time, making Pisces the true contemporary first sign of the zodiac instead of Aries. Precession only affects the astrological traditions employing the tropical zodiac, such as Western astrology, however. Indian astrology, which uses the sidereal zodiac, uses modern star positions.

Astronomy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Astronomy Portal

Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, and galaxies) and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere (such as the cosmic background radiation). It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the formation and development of the universe.

Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. Astronomers of early civilizations performed methodical observations of the night sky, and astronomical artifacts have been found from much earlier periods. However, the invention of the telescope was required before astronomy was able to develop into a modern science. Historically, astronomy has included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, the making of calendars, and even astrology, but professional astronomy is nowadays often considered to be synonymous with astrophysics. Since the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring and analyzing data, mainly using basic principles of physics. Theoretical astronomy is oriented towards the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. The two fields complement each other, with theoretical astronomy seeking to explain the observational results, and observations being used to confirm theoretical results.

Amateur astronomers have contributed to many important astronomical discoveries, and astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can still play an active role, especially in the discovery and observation of transient phenomena.

Old or even ancient astronomy is not to be confused with astrology, the belief system that claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects. Although the two fields share a common origin and a part of their methods (namely, the use of ephemerides), they are distinct.^[1]