Saturday, January 12, 2008

295)Big Dipper and Little Dipper in the night sky: legacy of Astronomy during Islam's golden era.

102)Big Dipper and Little Dipper in the night sky.


http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070108.html :

The above is another photograph from the NASA website depicting 2 eminently recognisable star regions in space, the Big Dipper(lower group of stars) and Little Dipper(upper group of stars). If you place your mouse on the picture, the shapes of these two groupings will light up. In the desolate deserts of the middle east, navigation using the stars became the norm and many of these celestial landmarks bore Arabic names such as:

Big Dipper:

Dubhe:
The traditional name comes from the Arabic for "bear", dubb, from the phrase ظهر الدب الاكبر aż-żahr ad-dubb al-akbar "the back of the Greater Bear".

Merak:
The name is derived from the Arabic maraqq "loins" (of the bear).

Phecda:
The name comes from the Arabic فخذ faxð "thigh" (of the bear).

Alioth:
It also has the traditional name Alioth (from the Arabic word alyat—fat tail of a sheep).

Mizar:
The name comes from the Arabic ميزر mīzar, meaning a waistband or girdle.

Alkaid:
The name derives from القائد البنات النعش, al-qāid al-banāt an-nac meaning "The leader of the daughters of the bier". The daughters of the bier, i.e. the mourning maidens, are the three stars of the handle of the Big Dipper, Alkaid, Mizar, and Alioth.

Megrez


Little Dipper:

Yildun, Gildun, Vildiur, Yilduz, Pherkard, KochabAlifa al Farkadain, Anwar al Farkadain



Easy Nash aka easynash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)