Astronomy has had a central place in the history of mankind. It must have been awe-inspiring for our ancient forebears in the deep, dark recesses of the night to raise their eyes and see the mottled moon with its changing shape, and all the tiny pinpricks of light that changed their positions in the sky, some slowly and some more rapidly. Movement and change…but also regularity. And it was this regularity that mankind used for great enterprises that included navigation across the surface of this planet, and for the measurement of time. It also acted as a spur for philosophical speculation on man’s place in the universe and the concomitant religious beliefs.
One of the useful beauties of astronomical time measurement is that there are different intervals available. The year is an obvious one when the Sun, for example, reaches its highest, or lowest, position relative to some datum point, but so is the more convenient (because shorter) lunar month. Historically, different astronomical observations were used by different groups of people for the simple reason that what was observable depended on where you were on the planet. To the ancient Egyptians, it was Sirius that held immense importance.
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