Eva Iofe, Week 3 — Stargazing


 People have looked to the stars for guidance and comfort for millennia, and some still do to this day. Stargazing is a long-standing tradition throughout humanity's historical records, dating all the way back to Babylon, and has helped human society in so many ways, including improving navigation and tracking time. Being the first recorded civilization to chart the stars, Babylon has had many breakthroughs that eventually grew to inspire modern technology, like using astrolabes inspired by a Greek scholar, Hipparchus (who himself was inspired by the Babylonians), to the modern-day planisphere. Though not used for navigation anymore (thankfully, we live in the 21st century and have access to GPS), the planisphere is a handy tool for identifying what stars appear on what dates.

Though a planisphere can help astronomers or stargazers, it also reveals constellations to Zodiac lovers. The twelve Zodiacs, whether it be the Chinese version or the astrological one, have influenced cultures for centuries. From matchmaking to measuring time, to measuring time but with religion incorporated into it. Today, Zodiac signs are little more than a cute trend to “find out” who you are as a person, though they are extremely generalized and should not be taken seriously, but I think that it is interesting how far back astrology and be traced back, and that, even with modern-day technology, we know extremely little about the stars and vast universe we live in.


What is your Zodiac sign, and are the things people say about your Zodiac sign true?

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 4, 2023 at 11:09 AM

    I am a Virgo and in my experience and opinion, I don't believe in zodiac signs or the stars. I think there is a lot of information and history behind it, and I understand how some people could believe in this, but I don't at all. I think the information you provided in the first paragraph is very interesting and I completely agree with what you say in the second paragraph.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 8, 2023 at 8:56 PM

    This was very informative and interesting! My zodiac sign is an Aries and most people say that Aries are aggressive, rude, and sarcastic, which is somewhat true about me. However, I believe that zodiac signs are so general that anyone can say "ya that kind of applies to me," so its never been something I have followed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MeitalOctober 9, 2023 at 9:09 PM

    I am a Taurus which is something that I never looked into. I always thought that zodiac signs were not actually real and more of something that people use as content. However, learning about the actual history behind was really interesting. I would like to learn more about why each zodiac signs means what it means and who came up with those ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousOctober 10, 2023 at 10:56 AM

    My zodiac sign is Capricorn, as I was born December 28th, 2007. While I don’t believe in astrological signs being linked to personality, mine is oddly accurate, first results being low level of tolerance for restrictive authority, appears to be cool and collected but isn’t really, and overall creative. There are several more points that didn’t fit me at all, but seeing those few that did was very interesting.

    ReplyDelete

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